Contact:

Christof Engels, Project P.I.
Bernhard Schmid, Project P.I.

Rationale

Project study the effects of plant diversity on ecosystem functions in grassland. The focus is on measuring belowground plant traits that are needed to understand the effect of diversity on nutrient and carbon budget, and project provides data on the plasticity of rooting patterns of plant functional groups in communities. Root growth and morphological root traits relevant for belowground productivity, acquisition of soil resources, and input of organic carbon into the soil are measured in the experiment to assess the development of the biodiversity–productivity relationships. Further subproject compares rooting patterns at the level of plant functional groups (legumes, grasses, small and tall herbs). Subproject investigates the plant functional groups with regard to their physiological ability for inorganic nitrogen uptake, and morphological and physiological responses of roots to variation in nitrogen supply. It is expected that our results will contribute to our understanding of mechanisms regulating productivity and mineral fluxes in grassland communities in dependence of plant diversity.

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