BIOTREE

The BIOTREE project (BIOdiversity and ecosystem processes in experimental TREE plantations) investigates the effects of tree diversity on ecosystem processes and the provision of goods and services. It is the world largest forest diversity experiment in terms of planted trees, with 107 experimental plots on a total area of 80ha, established at three different sites in Thuringia, Germany. Planting of a total of 250,000 trees has been finished in March 2005. The afforestation plots cover a wide gradient of tree species richness (from monocultures up to ten-species mixtures) or functional diversity (determined from trait matrices). The experiment also includes a `zero-management´ treatment to disentangle impacts due to silvicultural interventions from effects of tree diversity.

BIOTREE is embedded within a global network of manipulative biodiversity experiments with trees. Collaboration exists with all other sites in Panama, Borneo and Finland.

Publications

Don A, Arenhövel W, Jacob R, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schulze E-D (2007) Anwuchserfolg von 19 verschiedenen Baumarten bei Erstaufforstungen - Ergebnisse eines Biodiversitätsexperiments. Allgemeine Jagd- und Forstzeitung 178:164-172

Don A, Schumacher J, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Scholten T, Schulze E-D (2007) Spatial and vertical variation of soil carbon at two grassland sites – implications for measuring soil carbon stocks. Geoderma 141:272-282

Don A, Rebmann C, Kolle O, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schulze ED (2009) Impact of afforestation-associated management changes on the carbon balance of grassland. Global Change Biology 15: 1990-2002

Scherer-Lorenzen M (2005) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: basic principles. In: Barthlott W, Linsenmair KE, Porembski S (eds) Biodiversity: Structure and Function. In Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), vol Developed under the Auspices of the UNESCO. external pageEOLSS Publishercall_made, Oxford

Scherer-Lorenzen M, Körner C, Schulze E-D (eds) (2005) Forest Diversity and function: Temperate and boreal systems. Ecological Studies vol 176. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York

Scherer-Lorenzen M, Körner C, Schulze E-D (2005) The functional significance of forest diversity: the starting point. In: Scherer-Lorenzen M, Körner C, Schulze E-D (eds) Forest diversity and function: Temperate and boreal systems. Ecological Studies vol 176. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp 3-12

Scherer-Lorenzen M, Körner C, Schulze E-D (2005) The functional significance of forest diversity: a synthesis. In: Scherer-Lorenzen M, Körner C, Schulze E-D (eds) Forest diversity and function: Temperate and boreal systems. Ecological Studies vol 176. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp 377-389

Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schulze E-D, Don A, Schumacher J, Weller E (2007) Exploring the functional significance of forest diversity: A new long-term experiment with temperate tree species (BIOTREE). Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 9:53-70

Scherer-Lorenzen M, Potvin C, Koricheva J, Schmid B, Hector A, Bornik Z, Reynolds G, Schulze E-D (2005) The design of experimental tree plantations for functional biodiversity research. In: Scherer-Lorenzen M, Körner C, Schulze E-D (eds) Forest diversity and function. Temperate and boreal systems. Ecological Studies, vol 176. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp 347-376