Effects of woody species diversity and composition on individual plant growth and demography

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Werner Härdtle; Professor Dr. Goddert von Oheimb
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: from 2008 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 35758305

• Final Report Year: 2018

Final Report Abstract

Overall, the studies of SP2 showed that that the positive effects of biodiversity on forest productivity are primarily associated with local tree-tree interactions rather than processes operating at the community scale. Therefore, analyses of these local-scale interactions are crucial to advance our mechanistic understanding of diversity effects in forests.

Publications

• (2010). Tree morphology responds to neighbourhood competition and slope in species-rich forests in subtropical China. Forest Ecology and Management 260: 1708-1715
  Lang AC, Härdtle W, Bruelheide H, Geißler C, Nadrowski K, Schuldt A, Yu MY & von Oheimb G
  
• (2011). Individualtree radial growth in a species-rich subtropical forest: the role of local neighbourhood competition. Forest Ecology and Management 261: 499-507
  von Oheimb G, Lang AC, Bruelheide H, Forrester DI, Wäsche I, Yu MY & Härdtle W
  
• (2012). Horizontal, but not vertical canopy structure is related to stand functional diversity in a subtropical slope forest. Ecological Research 27: 181–189
  Lang AC, Härdtle W, Bruelheide H, Kröber W, Yu MJ, Schröter M, von Wehrden H, von Oheimb G
  
• (2012). Mechanisms promoting tree species coexistence: Experimental evidence with saplings of subtropical forest ecosystems of China. Journal of Vegetation Science 23: 837-846
  Lang AC, Härdtle W, Baruffol M, Böhnke M, Bruelheide H, Schmid B, von Wehrden H & von Oheimb G
  
• (2014). Assessing tree dendrometrics in young regenerating plantations using terrestrial laser scanning. Annals of Forest Science 71: 453-462
  Li Y, Hess C, von Wehrden H, Härdtle W & von Oheimb G
  
• (2014). Local neighbourhood competition following an extraordinary snow break event: implications for tree-individual growth. iForest e1-e6
  Lang AC, Härdtle W, Bruelheide H & von Oheimb G
  
• (2014). Mixed afforestations of young subtropical trees promote nitrogen acquisition and retention. Journal of Applied Ecology 51: 224-233
  Lang AC, von Oheimb G, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Yang B, Trogisch S, Bruelheide H, Ma KP & Härdtle W
  
• (2014). Site and neighborhood effects on growth of tree saplings in subtropical plantations (China). Forest Ecology and Management 327: 118-127
  Li Y, Härdtle W, Bruelheide H, Nadrowski K, Scholten T, von Wehrden H & von Oheimb G
  
• (2017). Crown and leaf traits as predictors for species-specific tree sapling growth rates in subtropical plantations. Journal of Plant Ecology 10: 136-145
  Li Y, Kröber W, Bruelheide H, Härdtle W & von Oheimb G
  
• (2017). From competition to facilitation: How tree species respond to neighbourhood diversity. Ecology Letters 20: 892-900
  Fichtner A, Härdtle W, Li Y, Kunz M, Bruelheide H & von Oheimb G