Disentangling the effects of tree-species and microclimate on multi-trophic diversity in dead-wood

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Simon Thorn
• Subject Area: Forestry ; Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 436319592

Forests harbour major parts of global carbon stock and inhabit a significant amount of terrestrial biodiversity. A minimum of one quarter of all forest dwelling-taxa in all trophic levels depend directly or indirectly on deadwood. Two main factors that determine biodiversity in deadwood are microclimate and host tree species with varying importance to different taxonomic groups in different trophic levels. However, it remains unclear if the effect of host tree species and microclimate decrease or increase along with increase in trophic levels. The proposed project will test if a) the importance of microclimate on species diversity and network diversity (i.e. number of interactions between trophic levels) decrease with increasing trophic level, and if b) the importance of host tree properties on species diversity and network diversity decrease with increasing trophic level. Therefore, two unique experimental setups which allow to untangle the effects of tree species and sun exposure have been established. In the first experiment, 108 logs of six tree species have been exposed under closed canopies, on open meadows and under artificial shade (18 subplots arranged in six plots). Branch-bundles of 42 tree species were exposed on three sun-exposed and three shaded plots in the second experiment. Next generation sequencing will be used to identify microbial diversity as well as diversity of micro-arthropods. The obtained data will be analyzed with a cutting-edge network diversity approach based on Hill numbers to untangle the influence of microclimate and host tree species on diversity of saproxylic organisms in multiple trophic levels.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants