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European species-rich grasslands are threatened both by land use intensification as well as land abandonment. The studies shown in this thesis tested the possible use of ecological knowledge to ensure hay productivity whilst maintaining diversity of grasslands, with a view to informing ecological restoration. The overall approach was to understand interactions between plants, to study diversity effects on productivity, and mainly investigate how plant functional groups that arrive first in the system can create priority effects that influence community productivity both above- and belowground. A grassland field experiment was established and monitored for four years, in order to verify the effects of manipulating the order of arrival of different plant functional groups, as well as the sown diversity level on productivity and methane yield. The overall findings were: a) sowing legumes first created priority effects aboveground (higher biomass) and belowground (lower root length), plants invested less in roots and more in shoots, b) priority effects were more consistent below than aboveground, c) sown diversity did not affect aboveground biomass, d) the order of arrival treatments indirectly affected methane yield by affecting the relative dominance of plant functional groups. Since the researchers lack information on how legumes and non-legumes interact spatially belowground, (particularly related to root foraging) a controlled experiment was performed, using two grass species and one legume. The identity and location of the neighbours played a role in interactions, and the order plants arrived modulated it. When the focal species (grass) was growing with a legume it generally equated to the same outcome as not having a neighbour. Roots from the focal species grew more toward the legume than the grass neighbour, indicating a spatial component of facilitation. Since these studies involved root measurements, a method study was also conducted to verify how comparable and accurate are root length estimates obtained from different techniques. Results showed that the use of different methods can lead to different results, the studied methods did not have the same accuracy, and the automated methods can underestimate the root length. Overall, the results allow to conclude that different groups of plants arriving before others affected above and belowground biomass, roots may be key drivers during the creation of these priority effects, and interaction outcomes between plants depended on neighbour identity and location, modulated by the order they arrive in. The results suggest that priority effects can be used by sowing different species or plant functional groups at different time to steer a community to a desired trajectory depending on the restoration goal. However, there is a need to test contingency, potential, and long term impacts of such possible tools for restoration.
Biodiversity loss could jeopardize ecosystem functioning. Yet, the evidences that support this demonstration have been mostly obtained in aquatic and grassland ecosystems. Howbiodiversity affects ecosystem functioning still remain largely unanswered in forests, particularly in subtropical broad-leaved evergreen forests (EBLF). Tree productivity, among a wealth of forest ecosystem functioning, is of particular interest because it reflects the carbon sink capacity and wood productivity. Biodiversity-productivity relationships have been usually investigated at community level. However, tree-tree interactions occur at small scale. Thus, local neighborhood approach may allow a better understanding of tree-tree interactions and their contributions to the effects of biodiversity on tree productivity / growth rates. This thesis aims to analyze the effects of biodiversity and the abiotic environmental factors on the tree growth rates using both local neighborhood and community-based approaches. Furthermore, tree growth rates vary among different tree species. Functional traits have been related to the species-specific growth rates to understand the effects of species identity. Therefore, I also evaluated the crown- and leaf traits to predict the interspecific difference in growth rates. For a better understanding of the mechanisms that underline the relationships of biodiversity and tree growth rates, data of high solution and along time series is required to scrutinize the tree-tree interactions. Thereupon, I evaluated the applicability of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) in assessing the tree dendrometrics. This thesis was conducted in the Biodiversity Ecosystem Functioning (BEF)–China experiment, which is located in a mountainous subtropical region in southeast China. A total of 40 native broad-leaved tree species were planted. In the first study, I used the local neighborhood approach to analyze how local abiotic conditions (i.e. topographic and edaphic conditions) and local neighborhood (i.e. species diversity and competition by neighborhood) affect the annual growth rates of 6723 individual trees. The second study used the community approach to partition the effects of environmental factors (i.e. topographic and edaphic), functional diversity according to Rao’s quadratic entropy (FDQ) and community weight mean (CWM) of 41 functional traits on community tree growth rates. The main question of the third study was how the species-specific growth rates are related to five crown- and 12 leaf traits.
In the fourth study, I investigated 438 tree individuals for the congruence between the conventional direct field measurements and TLS measurements. It was found that tree growth rates were strongly influenced by the local topographic and edaphic conditions but not affected by the diversity of local neighborhood. In contrast, results obtained by using the community-based approach showed that FDQ and CWMs of various leaf traits rather than abiotic environmental factors had significant impact on the community means of growth rates. Tree-tree interactions already occur in early life stages of trees, which were evidenced by the significant effect of competition by local neighborhood. These findings imply that the effects of abiotic environmental factors may be more evident at local scale and biodiversity effects may vary at different spatial scales. The species-specific growth rates were found to be related to specific leaf traits but not to crown traits and were best explained by both types of traits in combination. This finding supports the niche theory and provides the evidence for using functional diversity to examine the BEF relationships. The TLS-retrieved total tree height, stem diameter at 5 cm above ground, and length and height of the longest branch were highly congruent with those obtained from direct measurements. It indicates that TLS is a promising tool for high resolution, non-destructive analyses of tree structures in young tree plantations. Being one of very few studies to incorporate the individual tree scale in examining the biodiversity-productivity relationships within the BEF researches, this thesis stresses the importance of using individual-tree based approach, functional diversity and TLS to find the evidences of explanatory mechanisms of the observed biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (e.g. tree growth rates) relationships. Biodiversity effects may evolve along the successional stages. Therefore, incorporating the interaction between biodiversity and time in analyzing BEF relationship is also encouraged.
Excessive fertilizer use leads to nutrient imbalances and losses of these to the environment through leaching, runoff and gaseous emissions. Nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture is often low and improving it could increase the sustainability of agricultural systems. The main aims of this thesis were to gain a better understanding of plant-soil-microbe interactions in order to improve agricultural NUEs. The studies included experimentally tested how crops respond to addition of high carbon amendments, fertilizer application rates and timing, and crop rotations. Furthermore, methods for measurement of roots were compared and a protocol for measurement of roots was developed. The first experiment simulated an agricultural field using mesocosms. In this setting, the researchers tested the effect of 4 previous crops (precrops), which either had or did not have a symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)/rhizobia, on the focal crop (winter barley). They also tested the addition of high carbon amendments (wheat straw/sawdust) for immobilization of residual soil nitrogen (N) at harvest of the previous crop. Overall, the findings were that non-AMF precrops had a positive effect on winter barley yield compared to AMF precrops. Wheat straw reduced N leaching, whereas sawdust addition had a negative effect on the yield of winter barley. The second experiment tested the effect of different fertilizer (N/phosphorus (P)) application timings on plant traits grown in rhizoboxes. Overall, delaying N application had a more detrimental effect on plant biomass than delaying P application. The root system increased its root length initially due to N-deficiency, but was quickly thus N-limited that root length was relatively lower than the control group. Because of the many root related measurements in the second experiment, a step-by-step method for measuring root traits under controlled and field conditions was developed and included in this thesis. This method paper describes precisely how root traits of interest can be measured, and helps with deciding which approach should be taken depending on the experimental design. Additionally, the authors compared the bias and accuracy of several popular root measurement methods. Overall, these results highlight the importance of crop choice in crop rotations and the plasticity of root systems in relation to nutrient application. The results show high carbon amendments could reduce nitrate leaching after the harvest of crops, especially those with high risk of nitrate leaching, although they had only small impacts on yield.
Assessment of forest functionality and the effectiveness of forest management and certification
(2021)
Forest ecosystems are complex systems that develop inherent structures and processes relevant for their functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services that contribute to human wellbeing. With increasing climate change impacts, especially regulating ecosystem services such as microclimate regulation are ever more relevant to maintain forest functions and services. A key question is how forest management supports or undermines the ecosystems’ capacity to maintain those functions and services. The main objective of this thesis is the development of a concept to assess the functionality of forests and to evaluate the effectiveness of forest ecosystem management including certification. An ecosystem-based and participatory methodology, named ECOSEFFECT, was developed. The method comprises a theoretical and an empirical plausibility analysis. It was applied to the Russian National FSC Standard in the Arkhangelsk Region of the Russian Federation - where boreal forests are exploited to meet Europe's demand for timber. In addition, the influence of forestry interventions on temperature regulation in Scots pine and European beech forests in Germany was assessed during two extreme hot and dry years in 2018 and 2019. Microclimate regulation is a suitable proxy for forest functionality and can be applied easily to evaluate the effectiveness of forest management in safeguarding regulating forest functions relevant under climate change. Thus, the assessment of forest microclimate regulation serves as convenient tool to illustrate forest functionality. In the boreal and temperate forests studied in the frame of this thesis, timber harvesting reduced the capacity to self-regulate forests’ microclimate and thus impair a crucial part of ecosystem functionality. Changes in structural forest characteristics influenced by forest management and silviculture significantly affect microclimatic conditions and therefore forest ecosystems' vulnerability to climate change. Canopy coverage and the number of cut trees were most relevant for cooling maximum summer temperature in pine and beech forests in northern Germany. The Russian FSC standard has the potential to improve forest management and ecological outcomes, but there are shortcomings in the precision of targeting actual problems and ecological commitment. It is theoretically plausible that FSC prevents logging in high conservation value forests and intact forest landscapes, reduces the size and number of clearcuts, and prevents hydrological changes in the landscape. However, the standard was not sufficiently explicit and compulsory to generate a strong and positive influence on the identified problems and their drivers. Moreover, spatial data revealed, that the typical regular clearcut patterns of conventional timber harvesting continue to progress into the FSC-certified boreal forests, also if declared as "Intact Forest Landscape". This results in the need to verify the assumptions and postulates on the ground as it remains unclear and questionable if functions and services of boreal forests are maintained when FSC-certified clearcutting continues.The analysis of satellite-based data on tree cover loss showed that clearcutting causes secondary dieback in the surrounding of the cleared area. FSC-certification does not prevent the various negative impacts of clearcutting and thus fails to safeguard ecosystem functions. The postulated success in reducing identified environmental threats and stresses, e. g. through a smaller size of clearcuts, could not be verified on site. The empirical assessment does not support the hypothesis of effective improvements in the ecosystem. In practice, FSC-certification did not contribute to change clearcutting practices sufficiently to effectively improve the ecological performance. Sustainability standards that are unable to translate principles into effective outcomes fail in meeting the intended objectives of safeguarding ecosystem functioning. Clearcuts that carry sustainability labels are ecologically problematic and ineffective for the intended purpose of ecological sustainability.The overexploitation of provisioning services, i.e. timber extraction, diminishes the ecosystems' capacity to maintain other services of global significance. It also impairs ecosystem functions relevant to cope with and adapt to other stresses and disturbances that are rapidly increasing under climate change.
Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht am Beispiel der Lüneburger Heide und dem Neustädter Moor die Fragen: (1) Wie verläuft die kurzfristige Vegetationsentwicklung auf den gebrannten Flächen? (2) Wie hoch ist der aktuelle Eintrag der Nährelemente N, Ca, K, Mg und P aus der Atmosphäre? (3) Wie hoch ist der Austrag dieser Nährelemente durch kontrolliertes Brennen von Sand- und Moorheiden und welche Bedeutung hat dabei der Austrag von Nährelementen mit dem Sickerwasser in der Zeit nach dem Brennen? (4) Ist es möglich, durch kontrolliertes Brennen die Nährstoffeinträge aus der Atmosphäre zu kompensieren, um langfristig eine Nährstoffakkumulation im Ökosystem Heide zu verhindern? (5) Wie ändert sich durch das Brennen einer Heidefläche die Gesamtnährstoffbilanz des Systems bezogen auf das Verhältnis von N zu P und kann kontrolliertes Brennen in dieser Hinsicht als effiziente Maßnahme beurteilt werden, mittels derer sich Eutrophierungseffekte zumindest partiell kompensieren lassen?
Der Einfluss der Bewirtschaftung auf die Artenvielfalt und Artenzusammensetzung epiphytischer Moose und Flechten in Buchenwäldern Nordost-Deutschlands wurde analysiert. Die Untersuchungen erfolgten in einem unbewirtschafteten und einem benachbarten bewirtschafteten Waldgebiet in jeweils 45 Untersuchungsflächen à 400 m2. In den Untersuchungsflächen wurden die Stetigkeit der Epiphyten an jeweils 2–4 zufällig ausgewählten Trägerbäumen (100 Bäume je Waldtyp) sowie sieben Umweltvariablen aufgenommen. Im Naturwald war die Gesamtartenzahl sowie die mittlere Artendichte der Flechten bezogen auf die Mantelfläche höher als im Wirtschaftswald. Die Regressionsanalysen und die DCA wiesen den Brusthöhendurchmesser (BHD) als den für die Artenvielfalt und Artenzusammensetzung bedeutsamsten Faktor aus. Der BHD korrelierte positiv mit der Anzahl an Wuchsanomalien und der Rindenrauigkeit der Trägerbäume und ist deshalb ein guter Indikator für die Habitatqualität. Weiterhin zeigten die Lichtverhältnisse einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Artenzusammensetzung in beiden Waldtypen sowie auf die Artenvielfalt im Wirtschaftswald. Insbesondere schattentolerante und austrocknungsempfindliche Arten können durch die plötzliche Lichtstellung und Veränderung des Mikroklimas infolge von forstlichen Eingriffen geschädigt werden. Die Arten mit deutlich höherer Stetigkeit im Naturwald sowie die meisten seltenen Arten gelten als stenök, da sie die schattigen und luftfeuchten Bedingungen eines geschlossenen Waldinnenklimas benötigen und überwiegend an alten, starken Bäumen siedeln. Zur Erhaltung der Artenvielfalt epiphytischer Moose und Flechten, sollten daher im Rahmen forstlichen Managements starke Bäume über den Zieldurchmesser hinaus erhalten werden. Weiterhin ist eine einzelstammweise Nutzung anzustreben, um Schwankungen im Mikroklima zu minimieren.
Seit in den 1970er Jahren erkannt wurde, dass der Einsatz von „Pestiziden“ und die Fragmentierung der Landschaft den Rückgang der Arten maßgeblich verursacht haben, verstärkten sich die Bemühungen, diesen Rückgang zu stoppen. Um dem Aussterben vieler Tier- und Pflanzenarten in der Kulturlandschaft entgegen zu wirken, werden Auswege aus dem Konflikt zwischen ökonomischer Notwendigkeit und nötigem Naturschutz gesucht. Anfang der 1990er Jahre begann die Hansestadt Hamburg die ökologische Landwirtschaft zu fördern und parallel wissenschaftliche Begleituntersuchungen auf den auf ökologische Bewirtschaftungsmethoden umgestellten Flächen durchzuführen. In diesem Spannungsfeld zwischen Landwirtschaft und Naturschutz entstanden die vorliegende Arbeit, deren Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1993 bis 1995 durchgeführt wurden. Es wurde die epigäische Fauna mit Hilfe von Bodenfallen nach BARBER (1931) gefangen und die Laufkäfer bis auf Artniveau bestimmt. Es wurden verschiedene Qualitäten der Intensivierung und besonders die speziellen Bedingungen im Obstbau beleuchtet. Anschließend wurden die Auswirkungen der intensiven landwirtschaftlichen Nutzung auf die Laufkäfer betrachtet. Einer der Hauptgründe für den Rückgang der Laufkäfer auf landwirtschaftlich genutzten Flächen ist der Einsatz von chemischen Pflanzenschutzmitteln. Durch Extensivierungsmaßnahmen, wie z.B. der Umstellung auf die ökologische Wirtschaftsweise, kann die Diversität von Laufkäferzönosen zum Teil deutlich gefördert werden. Durch die vorliegende Arbeit, konnten – bezogen auf die Laufkäferzönosen – aber praktisch keine Unterschiede zwischen den ökologisch und nichtökologisch bewirtschafteten Flächen im Alten Land nachgewiesen werden. Es konnten jedoch – bei einer seit zehn Jahren ökologisch bewirtschafteten Fläche – erste Tendenzen zur „Erholung“ gezeigt werden. Als Gründe für ein Ausbleiben der Erholung der Laufkäferzönosen wurden folgende drei Bereichen diskutiert: 1. Die Größe der ökologisch bewirtschafteten Flächen, die – vor dem Hintergrund der Bewegungsmuster von Laufkäfern – durchweg zu klein bzw. zu schmal waren, um einen positiven Effekt auf das Gesamtökosystem des Alten Landes zu haben. 2. Die nach der Umstellung vorherrschende Bewirtschaftung, die man als sehr intensiv bezeichnen muss und die nicht automatisch mit einer Extensivierung gleichzusetzen war. 3. Die Möglichkeiten der Neubesiedlung, die Aufgrund der immer noch vorherrschenden integrierten Anbauweise im Alten Land, für viele Carabiden-Arten nicht möglich ist, da es keine spritzmittelfreien Korridore hin zu den ökologischen Flächen gibt. Es wurde empfohlen, die Bereitstellung von Ressourcen, die nicht oder nur temporär (z.B. als Fahrgasse) für den Kulturpflanzenanbau genutzt werden, in einem Förderprogramm zu berücksichtigen. Die Einsaat von Blütenpflanzen in den Mittelteil der Fahrgasse ist hierfür ein Beispiel. Weitere Maßnahmen (z.B. Förderung von Hochstammanlagen, Förderung und Wiederherstellung der Durchgängigkeit von Grabensystemen und deren sensible Pflege und eine extensivere Bewirtschaftung) sind dringend erforderlich, um eine Verbesserung im Naturhaushalt zu erzielen.
The dissertation deals with the impact of nitrogen deposition on the functioning of heathland ecosystems. Special interests were the displacement of heather (Calluna vulgaris) by the purple moor-grass (Molinia caerulea) as well as the fate of nitrogen loads in dry heathland ecosystems. The results of the studies undertaken in the field and in the greenhouse are presented as five individual journal articles. The nature of nutrient limitation was studied by means of fertilisation experiments with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus for heather and purple moor-grass (Articles I and II). The impact of nitrogen deposition on the outcome of competition between these two species was analysed during a competition experiment in the greenhouse (Article III). The aim of a 15N tracer experiment was to determine the fate of nitrogen deposition as well as allocation patterns (Article IV). In addition, the response of purple moor-grass to the combined effects of nitrogen deposition and summer droughts was investigated in a second greenhouse experiment (Article V). The fertilisation experiments showed that the growth of heather as well as of purple moor-grass is predominantly limited by N (Articles I and II). However, the results of the competition experiment demonstrated that only purple moor-grass has the ability to benefit from additional N loads, which in turn gives the grass the opportunity to displace heather (Article III). Drought treatment resulted in strikingly reduced biomass production of purple moor-grass in N-fertilised pots, mainly as a result of dying aboveground biomass during dry periods (Article V). This striking susceptibility of purple moor-grass to the combination of nitrogen deposition and drought must be taken into account, when predicting future developments of dry heathlands. The results of the 15N tracer experiment showed that the investigated heath is still in an early stage of N saturation, as indicated by a high immobilisation capacity and negligible leaching losses of 15N (Article IV). The findings of the dissertation contribute to a better understanding of the processes underlying the encroachment of purple moor-grass in dry heathlands and can enhance heathland management. The results can also be used to to evaluate the current and future status of this ecosystem particularly with regard to the various stages of N saturation as well as in the determination of “Critical Loads”.
In den Jahren 2006 und 2007 wurden auf dem Gebiet der Lüneburger Heide nach einer Vorstratifizierung im Rahmen ausgedehnter Feldforschung Umweltdaten für die stark bedrohte Spinnenart Eresus kollari Rossi 1846 und die eurytope Spinnenart Trochosa terricola Thorell 1856 erhoben. Ziel der Arbeit war es, die Habitatbindung beider Arten zu beschreiben und Heidepflegemaßnahmen vor allem für erstere zu benennen, um zu ihrem dauerhaften Erhalt beizutragen. Außerdem sollten beide Arten auf dem gleichen Standort in ihren Habitatansprüchen verglichen werden. Mit Hilfe der vorliegenden Untersuchungen konnte die spezifische Habitatbindung von E. kollari in der Lüneburger Heide beschrieben werden. Heidepflegemaßnahmen, die dazu führen, dass die organische Auflage des Bodens gering, die Temperatur auf Höhe der Röhren der Tiere (in 10 cm Tiefe) hoch und die Heidebedeckung gleichzeitig relativ groß ist, entsprechen den ermittelten Mikrohabitatansprüchen der Art Eresus kollari. Der Nischenvergleich der stenotopen Art E. kollari mit der eurytopen Art T. terricola zeigte, dass die beiden Arten sich hinsichtlich ihrer Habitatparameter nur in den drei Faktoren ‚Bedeckungsgrad Bäume‘, ‚Dicke der organischen Auflage‘ und ‚Bedeckungsgrad Gräser‘ unterschiedlich verhalten. Dabei stellt sich der Reaktionsraum von E. kollari wie eine Teilmenge desjenigen von T. terricola dar. Unter diesem Aspekt kann E. kollari nicht nur als Leitart sondern auch als Schirmart in der Lüneburger Heide dienen. Pflegemaßnahmen wie kontrolliertes Brennen und Schoppern, variabel in Zeit und Raum angewandt, erscheinen vor dem Hintergrund der Ergebnisse der Habitateignungsmodellierung als besonders geeignet, um langfristig die Mikrohabitatansprüche für E. kollari (aber auch für T. terricola) zu sichern. Angesichts des geringen Ausbreitungspotentials von E. kollari werden vielleicht manche geeignete Lebensräume nicht besiedelt. Ein Monitoring sowie (Wieder-) Besiedlungsexperimente auf geeignet erscheinenden Flächen sollten daher für den dauerhaften Erhalt der Art im norddeutschen Raum in naher Zukunft ausgeführt werden.