Dissertation of Katja Felsmann
Global change effects on forest understorey: How do interactions between drought and land-use intensity affect water, carbon and nitrogen cycling?
Start: 01.05.2011
End: 30.04.2014
Climate change is predicted to severely affect precipitation patterns across central Europe. The forest understorey has not been subject to an extensive investigation with respect to climate change, yet, even though it is playing an important role in natural regeneration and forest succession. As a part of the project of the Institute für Landschaftsbiogeochemie, Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung e.V. (ZALF), I propose here to establish roof systems in forest plots in three Exploratories (Schorfheide, Hainich, Schwäbische Alb) and to study biogeochemical and hydropedological processes in response to reduced precipitation, and their interaction with forest land use type and the diversity of the forest understorey and of soil biota. My research is focused on the direct and indirect effects of drought on different parts of the forest understorey system and the consequences for plant growth. I will address the effects of soil hydrological structures and functions and precipitation regime on the water and carbon balance of plant species and the resulting community effects in the manipulation experiments across land-use and biodiversity gradients. I will also take into account direct drought plus plant diversity effects on the microbial community structure and function and address the biotic feedback on soil structure and thus hydrological functions.
The aim of the study is to asses the effect of plant functioning and consequences for plant growth (Carbon and water cycling, photosynthesis, transpiration) and microbial community structure (indirect/direct) under moderate drought conditions (40% precipitation reduction per year).
Fig. 1: Concept of research
Source: Own figure
Fig. 2: Research methods
Source: Own figure
Project researcher: Katja Felsmann
Project leader: Prof. Dr. Arthur Geßler (ZALF)
Superviser of individual dissertation work: Prof. Dr. Marcel Robischon and Prof. Arthur Gessler
Project management: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Project partner: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle
Institut für Hydrologie an der Universität Freiburg
Details of project: See
Publications and presentations: See