BEF-China
The joint Chinese-German-Swiss research project “BEF-China” (FOR 891) integrates more than 15 German, Swiss, and Chinese universities and institutes into 13 collaborative subprojects. The project was funded in the first phase from 2008-2011 and is now in the second phase, 2011-2014.
In 2009 and 2010, the BEF-China project established a large forest biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) experiment at the subtropical forest site Xingangshan in Jiangxi Province, China. The BEF-China project is the first BEF forest experiment in the highly species-rich subtropics.
The BEF-China Main Experiment was established at two sites, covering 50 ha in total. In total, there are 566 plots of 400 trees each, ranging in diversity from monocultures to 24-species mixtures. The experiment used 42 native tree species and 10 shrub species, combined into different species pools. More than 400 000 tree and shrub saplings were planted.
BEF-China Main Experiment Site A (S. Both)
In a parallel observational approach, a total of 27 Comparative Study Plots (CSPs) were set up in existing forests in an adjacent Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (Zhejiang Province) in 2008.
The selection of CSPs followed a comparative design, employing a stratification of successional age. The CSPs address the impact of successional age on ecosystem functioning, providing a basis for assessing the successional processes at work across tree species diversity in the Main Experiment. Since the Main Experiment was planted with saplings, the first years of the project will reflect the conditions of young successional stages with respect to microclimate, food web structure and nutrient fluxes and pools.
These observational investigations of existing highly diverse species assemblages in the CSP will serve as a later reference for a comparison with the experimental results. For this reason, all subprojects of the Research Unit focused on the CSPs in the first three years of the project (2008-2011), and several analyses are ongoing.
Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (S. Both)
The present research concentrates on measuring ecosystem functions in the experimental plots, namely primary productivity, carbon and nitrogen storage, nutrient cycling, and prevention of soil erosion. The latter process is an ecosystem service which has until now never been studied in an experimental biodiversity manipulation, but has prominent importance in this region. An additional research focus will be interactions with other trophic levels and strata (herb layer, soil macrofauna, herbivores, decomposers, mycorrhiza, soil microorganisms). To meet these objectives, a wide range of scientists contribute to the BEF-China project, involving groups focusing on tree growth allometries, plant functional traits, plant-insect interactions, wood decomposition, phosphorus cycling and erosion potential.
As in the first phase, the project continues to be carried out in close collaboration between Chinese and European researchers with complementary knowledge and skills. In addition, the measurements in the CSPs are continuing. The joint synthesis of the data gathered in both phases of BEF-China will help to resolve one of the most central issues in ecology and global change biology: how plant diversity may maintain vital services in forest ecosystems.
- Central project Z1: Coordination
- Central project Z2: Data management
- Subproject 1: Primary production
- Subproject 2: Plant growth and demography
- Subproject 3: Plant traits and functional diversity
- Subproject 4: Plant genetics
- Subproject 5: Decomposition and nutrient cycling
- Subproject 6: Mechanisms of Soil erosion and Soil Properties
- Subproject 7: Soil microbial and mycorrhizal fungal diversity
- Subproject 8: Functional effects of herbivores, predators and saproxylics
- Subproject 9: Plant insect interactions
- Subproject 10: Coarse woody detritus decomposition
- Subproject 11: Invasibility
- Subproject 12: Phosphorus availability and cycling
- Subproject 13: Microbial biomass and activity
