Forschungsvorhaben

Research

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The interdisciplinary Research Training Group 2300 (EnriCo) was established in 2017. In eleven closely linked subprojects, PhD students from forest science, soil science, animal ecology, wildlife science, nature conservation, modelling, economics, and applied statistics explore the potential of mixed forest stands for supporting multifunctional silvicultural approaches. More specifically, we focus on European temperate forests dominated by European beech and try to uncover the effect of admixed conifer tree species on ecosystem processes and services of such forests with a special focus on the importance of functional traits. Our study design includes five stand types composed of European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests and their mixtures. We hypothesize that mixtures of European beech with conifers show higher functional diversity than pure European beech stands, resulting in higher resilience and providing multiple ecosystem services. Preliminary results of the first funding period of EnriCo (2017-2022) suggest a strong effect of abiotic site conditions on many response traits, which turn out to be further modified by tree species identity. The second phase (2022-2026) focuses on ecosystem processes.

• TP 1-1: Rooting patterns, root growth, and water uptake in response to interspecific competition
• TP 2-1: Drought tolerance mechanisms of Douglas-fir, Norway spruce, and European beech in mixed and pure stands
• TP 3-1: Matter cycling and nutrient efficiency in mixed and pure stands
• TP 4-1: Molecular physiology of tree nutrition in mixed and pure beech-conifer forests: interaction with mycorrhizae
• TP 5-1: Community structure and guild patterns of soil decomposers
• TP 6-1: Arthropod diversity and functioning in mixed versus pure stands
• TP 7-1: Effects of small mammal communities on seed predation and seed dispersal
• TP 8-1: Resource availability and seedling establishment
• TP 9-1: Structure and dynamics of pure and mixed stands of European beech, Norway spruce, and Douglas-fir
• TP 10-1: Structured Additive Distributional Regression Models in Ecology and Forestry: Applications, Software, and Inference
• TP 11-1: Semiparametric regression with nonstationary spatial dependence structures
• TP 1-2: Rooting patterns, root growth, and water uptake in response to interspecific competition
• TP 2-2: Hydraulic efficiency and drought response of Douglas-fir, Norway spruce and European beech
• TP 3-2: Matter cycling and nutrient efficiency in mixed and pure stands
• TP 4-2: Molecular physiology of tree nutrition in mixed and pure beech-conifer forests: interaction with mycorrhizae
• TP 5-2: Decomposer communities and decomposition processes in temperate forests
• TP 6-2: Arthropod diversity and functioning in mixed versus pure stands
• TP 7-2: Interactions between small mammals and trees according to different forest compositions
• TP 8-2: Architectural traits of trees in response to different neighborhoods and their importance for stand structural characteristics
• TP 9-2: Predicting structural changes and growth in pure and mixed stands of European beech, Norway spruce, and Douglas-fir
• TP 10-2: Hierarchical Bayesian Regression Models with Applications in Ecology and Forestry
• TP 11-2: Economic implications of species mixtures in European beech stands enriched with coniferous trees
• TP 9-3: Modelling the effects of gradual climate change and extreme events on diameter growth
• PD-1: Impacts of enriching European beech forests with conifers on ecosystem functioning: holistic syntheses of overall project results
• PD-2: Computationally efficient multi-resolution model to account for between-and within-plot spatial dependence of the RTG’s plot data
• PD-3: Energy flux in soil food webs: Environmental drivers of multi-trophic biodiversity