A5050438898- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Plant and animal studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Plant Ecology and Soil Science
- Forest ecology and management
- Forest Insect Ecology and Management
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
- Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Nematode management and characterization studies
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2007-2024
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
2019-2020
Schiller International University
2012
Abstract Climate and litter quality are primary drivers of terrestrial decomposition and, based on evidence from multisite experiments at regional global scales, universally factored into models. In contrast, soil animals considered key regulators local scales but their role larger is unresolved. Soil consequently excluded models organic mineralization processes. Incomplete assessment the roles stems difficulties manipulating invertebrate experimentally across large geographic gradients....
Predicting the response of communities to climate change is a major challenge for ecology. Communities may well not respond as entities but be disrupted, particularly if trophic levels differently, yet there no evidence differential responses from natural systems. We therefore analyzed unusually detailed plant and animal data collected over 20 years two grassland determine whether functional group sensitivity differed between levels. found that increases significantly with increasing level....
Large herbivores can influence plant and soil properties in grassland ecosystems, but especially for belowground biota processes, the mechanisms that explain these effects are not fully understood. Here, we examine capability of three grazing mechanisms—plant defoliation, dung urine return, physical presence animals (causing trampling excreta return patches)—to Phleum pratense – Festuca pratensis dairy cow pasture Finland. Comparison control plots grazed by cows showed maintained original...
1.Insect herbivory can strongly affect ecosystem processes, and its relationship with plant diversity is a central topic in biodiversity-functioning research. However, very little known about this from complex ecosystems dominated by long-lived individuals, such as forests, especially over gradients of high diversity.2.We analysed insect on saplings 10 tree shrub species across 27 forest stands differing age richness an extraordinarily diverse subtropical China. We tested whether...
Abstract Human‐caused declines in biodiversity have stimulated intensive research on the consequences of loss for ecosystem services and policy initiatives to preserve functioning ecosystems. Short‐term experiments documented positive effects plant species richness many functions, longer‐term studies indicate, some that can become stronger over time. Theoretically, a effect strengthen time by an increasing performance high‐diversity communities, decreasing low‐diversity or combination both...
The diversity–stability hypothesis states that current losses of biodiversity can impair the ability an ecosystem to dampen effect environmental perturbations on its functioning. Using data from a long-term and comprehensive experiment, we quantified temporal stability 42 variables characterizing twelve ecological functions in managed grassland plots varying plant species richness. We demonstrate diversity increases i) across trophic levels (producer, consumer), ii) at both system...
Abstract Functional groups (FG) are an useful generalization to investigate environmental change effects on biotic communities. Assigning species FGs is a contextual task and carries arbitrary element, regardless of whether the grouping obtained priori or by sophisticated numerical methods. Using two grassland community case studies, we show that even simple FG allocation based growth form, architecture longevity (plants mosses), foraging characteristics (above‐ground invertebrates) can be...
Summary 1. We studied the theoretical prediction that a loss of plant species richness has strong impact on community interactions among all trophic levels and tested whether decreased diversity results in less complex structure reduced ecological networks. 2. Using species‐specific biomass arthropod abundance data from experimental grassland plots (Jena Experiment), we constructed multitrophic functional group interaction webs to compare communities based 4 16 species. 427 insect spider...
The adaptation of plant species to their biotic and abiotic environment is manifested in traits. Suites correlated functional traits may reflect fundamental tradeoffs general strategies hence represent trait spectra along which can vary according respective strategies. However, the interpretation these requires inspection relation performance. We employed principle coordinate analysis (PCoA) quantify whole‐plant based on 23 for 305 North American woody that span boreal subtropical climates....
Synthesis The interplay between bottom‐up and top‐down effects is certainly a general manifestation of any changes in both species abundances diversity. Summary variables, such as numbers, diversity indices or lumped provide too limited information about highly complex ecosystems. In contrast, by analyses ecological communities comprising hundreds are inevitably only snapshot‐like lack generality explaining processes within communities. Our synthesis, based on matrices functional groups all...
Abstract Changes in the diversity of plant communities may undermine economically and environmentally important consumer species they support. The structure trophic interactions determines sensitivity food webs to perturbations, but rigorous assessments effects on network topology are lacking. Here, we use highly resolved networks from a grassland biodiversity experiment test how affects prevalence different web motifs, smaller recurrent sub-networks that form building blocks complex...
Abstract. Long-term human interactions with the natural landscape have produced a plethora of trends and patterns environmental disturbances across time space. Nitrogen deposition, closely tracking energy land use, is known to be among main drivers pollution, affecting both freshwater terrestrial ecosystems. We present statistical approach for investigating historical geographical distribution nitrogen deposition impacts accumulation on recent soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratios in Europe. After...
Data collected from three different polluted sites in the vicinity of a phosphate fertilizer factory that was closed 1990 are used to test with Mantel tests and smoothing techniques whether rapid increase plant species richness following cessation pollution enhanced associated arthropod assemblage diversity. 132 (between 1999) 66 413 individuals 680 (using sweep net sampling between 1996) were recorded. Using top soil pH as representative parameter we detected an richness, effective...