C2 – Experimental Platforms and Plant Material

• Applicants: Dr. Marie Lara Bouffaud; Professor Dr. Martin Gossner; Professorin Dr. Katrin Heer; Professor Dr. Lars Opgenoorth; Professor Dr. Mika Tarkka
• Subject Area: Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems ; Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 507084794

Climate change and global species loss are the major environmental threats to human well-being in the coming decades. However, despite more than 200 years of organized forestry and research, some fundamental knowledge is still missing about (i) the phenotypic plasticity of forest trees, (ii) about the interplay of trees with their microbial symbionts, and (iii) about how these interactions may facilitate acclimation (regulatory changes) and adaptation based on genetic changes of trees and/or their symbionts. In PhytOakmeter, we seek to understand patterns and mechanisms of acclimation and adaptation (A&A) in trees focusing on of a holobiont tree model. In coordination project C2, we will set up the three experimental platforms of PhytOakmeter. This includes the Ecotron experiments in Freiburg and at iDiv in PLATFORM I, the Canopy Exposition Experiment in the research forests Swiss Canopy Crane II and Marburg Open Forest in PLATFORM II, and the PhytOakmeter gradient in PLATFORM III. Also, C2 is responsible for the provisioning of the DF159 Quercus robur clone as well as homogenized soil for all experimental platforms.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5571: Using clonal oak phytometers to unravel acclimation and adaptation mechanisms of long-lived forest tree holobionts to ecological variations and climate change
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Christian Lampei