After life - decomposition

• Applicants: Privatdozent Dr. Marcell Peters; Professor Dr. Michael Scherer-Lorenzen
• Subject Area: Forestry ; Ecology of Land Use
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 459717468

The largest part of plant and animal biomass produced in forests enters the soil compartment, and returns into nutrient cycles as dead organic matter, which is decomposed by bacteria, fungi, arthropods and other soil organisms. The metabolic activity, population growth and community structure of these decomposers is intimately controlled by the local microclimate, and by the amount and composition of the dead organic matter. The structure of the forest canopy affects light, temperature and moisture conditions at ground level, and the quantity and quality of litter and dead wood produced, which thus determines decomposer biodiversity, rates of decomposition and nutrient cycling. Therefore, changes in forest management practices that alter the forest canopy can largely affect decomposers, decomposition processes and nutrient fluxes. However, links between local forest management practices and the diversity of decomposers, decomposition and nutrient fluxes at different spatial scales remain poorly understood. The project SP5 will quantify the diversity and composition of macrodetritivore communities, decomposition rates of eleven types of organic material differing in CN ratio, and will use tracer experiments to quantify nutrient fluxes from dead organic matter to plants. By linking these data with those of other projects of the RU, we aim at a mechanistic understanding of the effects of the Enhancement of Structural Complexity on the decomposition system at the patch (alpha), between-patch (beta) and forest district (gamma) level.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5375: Enhancing the structural diversity between patches for improving multidiversity and multifunctionality in production forests