Geschmack ist vorhersagbar: Mit FlavorMiner. FlavorMiner heißt das Tool, das IPB-Chemiker und Partner aus Kolumbien jüngst entwickelt haben. Das Programm kann, basierend auf maschinellem Lernen (KI), anhand der…
Seit Februar 2021 bietet Wolfgang Brandt, ehemaliger Leiter der Arbeitsgruppe Computerchemie am IPB, sein Citizen Science-Projekt zur Pilzbestimmung an. Dafür hat er in regelmäßigen Abständen öffentliche Vorträge zur Vielfalt…
Global change exposes forest ecosystems to many risks including novel climatic conditions, increased frequency of climatic extremes and sudden emergence and spread of pests and pathogens. At the same time, forest landscape restoration has regained global attention as an integral strategy for climate change mitigation. Owing to unpredictable future risks and the need for new forests that provide multiple ecosystem services, mixed-species forests have been advocated for this purpose. However, the successful establishment of mixed forests requires intrinsic knowledge of biodiversity\'s role for forest ecosystem functioning. In this respect, a better understanding of tree-tree interactions and how they contribute to observed positive tree species richness effects on key ecosystem functions is critical. Here, we review the current knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of tree-tree interactions and argue that positive net biodiversity effects at the community scale may emerge from the dominance of positive over negative interactions at the local neighbourhood scale. In a second step, we demonstrate how tree-tree interactions and the immediate tree neighbourhood\'s role can be systematically assessed in a tree diversity experiment. The expected results will improve predictions about the effects of tree interactions on ecosystem functioning based on general principles. We argue that this knowledge is urgently required to guide the design of tree species mixtures for the successful establishment of newly planted forests.
Publikation
Eichenberg, D.; Purschke, O.; Ristok, C.; Wessjohann, L.; Bruelheide, H.;Trade-offs between physical and chemical carbon-based leaf defence: of intraspecific variation and trait evolutionJ. Ecol.1031667-1679(2015)DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12475
Despite recent advances in studies on trade‐offs between plant defence traits, little is known about whether trade‐offs reflect (i) evolutionary constraints at the species level or (ii) allocation constraints at the individual level. Here, we asked to which degree physical and chemical carbon‐based leaf defence traits covary within and across species.We assessed leaf toughness, leaf total phenolic and tannin concentrations for 51 subtropical tree species. Species trait means, sample‐specific values and phylogenetically independent contrasts were used in regression analyses. Phylogenetic signals and trait evolution were assessed along the phylogeny.Analyses of species‐level trait means revealed significant negative trait covariations between physical and chemical defence traits in analyses over all species. These covariations were inconsistent at the within‐species level. All three defence aspects showed strong phylogenetic signals, but differed in the degree of conservatism along the phylogeny. Inclusion of intraspecific trait variability significantly decreased the strength of these covariations. Strong negative covariations were detected between physical and chemical defence traits when phylogenetic non‐independence was accounted for.Synthesis. We addressed two sources of variation (allocation and evolution) independently from each other in the context of trait interrelationships. The observed negative covariations hint at the existence of a trade‐off between physical and chemical defence traits. The finding that intraspecific trait variation contributed less to this relationship suggests that the trade‐off is dominated by evolutionary constraints rather than by carbon allocation constraints.