Competitive patterns of N partitioning between plants and microorganisms in intact plant-soil-systems

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Michael Dannenmann
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 168290258

Our knowledge on ecosystem N cycling processes is largely falsified by the disregard of plant-microbe interactions and -competition for N, and by the enormous variability of belowground N fluxes in space and time. To elucidate competitive patterns of N partitioning between beech and microorganisms and its responses to changing environmental conditions, stable isotopes (15N, 13C) will be followed in field experiments, lysimeter and microcosm studies through the plant-soil system. Triple labelling approaches (15N/13C glutamin, 15NH4 +, 15NO3 -) in mini-lysimeters in combination with 15N tracing modelling will allow to simultaneously mimic major N fluxes in intact plant-soil systems, and thus, to characterize plant-microbe competition in a process-oriented way. Furthermore, N2 and N2O emissions from intact soil cores will be measured directly in order to quantify the role of denitrification in the competition for NO3 - . Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) will be used to measure indicators of competition for N with high resolution in order to overcome the high temporal and spatial variation of N fluxes and competitive patterns of N partitioning.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Major Instrumentation: Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS)
• Instrumentation Group: 1820 Nah-Infrarot-Spektralphotometer