Core Project 9 "Soil" Linking biodiversity and land use to soil functions

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Marion Schrumpf
• Subject Area: Soil Sciences
• Term: since 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 193957772

Core project 9 - Soil - has the central task of providing information on the spatial and temporal variability of soil properties and soil functions along management gradients in the Biodiversity Exploratories (BE) and to support and coordinate the activities of the soil projects working in the BE. At the beginning of the new project phase, we will organise the sixth coordinated soil sampling on the experimental plots (EPs), the plots of the joint multi-site experiments (FOX, REX/LUX) and the new arable field plots. The coordinated soil sampling will enable all soil-related projects in the BE to work with the same samples. For all soil samples taken, we will analyse important soil properties such as pH value, carbon and nutrient content, root content, clay content and stone content. In this project phase, we will also analyse the extractable micronutrients (copper, zinc, iron, manganese) on all plots of the BE. Since 2015, we have also been recording litter input on all forest plots and also analyse enzyme activities, extractable phosphorus and nitrogen, and microbial biomass in the soil. Analysing the quality of the litterfall (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur content) will be supplemented with phosphorus in this phase and, in summer, the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese of the leaves and needles from the forest canopy will be determined. This allows us to analyse important ecosystem functions related to the carbon and nutrient cycle and their response to management intensity and associated shifts in biodiverstiy. In addition, we use land use and climate climate data to analyse their effects on important soil functions such as carbon storage in the soil. Our soil data, which has been collected continuously since 2011, also enable us to draw important conclusions about the long-term effects of changes in land use and biodiversity as well as extreme climate events on soil functions. In summary, this project will provide soil data and information for all BE plots, which is of great importance for all other projects and particularly for the synthesis in the BE.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1374: Biodiversity Exploratories