BEF CHINA

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in CHINA

Keywords: biodiversity, carbon storage, ecosystem functioning, nitrogen cycling, China, subtropical forests

Context

The joint Chinese-European research project external page BEF CHINA seeks to establish a new forest Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (BEF) experiment in subtropical forests, China. The objective of this experiment is to analyze the influence of tree and shrub species diversity on ecosystem functioning and services in one of the most prominent diversity hotspots in the northern hemisphere. Using a pool of 96 native tree and shrub species we will plant a total of 345600 trees and 277824 shrubs to establish experimental forest stands, varying in both tree and shrub species richness, on a total area of about 100 ha. A range of biodiversity and ecosystem variables will be measured to assess community dynamics and its relation to primary productivity, carbon and nitrogen storage, nutrient cycling, and prevention of soil erosion, a so-far disregarded ecosystem service in other projects but with prominent importance for this region. In addition, the experimental approach will include commercially important species and will be combined with comparative studies in existing forest patches.

Aim

Our subproject on carbon storage and nitrogen cycling will focus on (i) tree diversity effects on litter N pool dynamics, decomposition and mineralization, directly affecting nitrogen cycling and soil nitrogen availability; on (ii) the relationship between tree/shrub diversity and standing plant N pool sizes and soil N pool sizes, and their temporal variations. Finally, we will (iii) mechanistically investigate N use complementarity among coexisting species with ¹⁵N tracers.

Publications

2016

Trogisch S, He J-S, Hector A, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Impact of species diversity, stand age and environmental factors on leaf litter decomposition in subtropical forests in China (2016) Plant and Soil 400: 337-350 doi: external page 10.1007/s11104-015-2737-5