The role of community assembly processes in biodiversity-ecosystems functioning experiments

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ernst-Detlef Schulze
• Co-Applicants: Professor Dr. Michael Scherer-Lorenzen; Professor Dr. Bernhard Schmid
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: from 2002 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5468999

A major unresolved question in biodiversity research is, whether effects of species numbers on ecosystem properties can be explained by following the fate of individual species. Two potential mechanisms are niche complementarity or sampling. In the first case species contribute more or less equally to ecosystem properties, whereas in the second case only a single or few species do. To distinguish between the two, the initial densities of species will be varied in sub-plots of constant species number, and the achieved densities will be followed over time. Response variables will be measured at the level of the plant individual ("phytometer"), population and community. With complementarity, the relationship between plant species number and response variables should be stronger when species have similar relative densities (high evenness). With sampling, species dominance (low evenness) should strengthen the relationship.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 456: The Role of Biodiversity for Element Cycling and Trophic Interactions: An Experimental Approach in a Grassland Community
• International Connection: Switzerland