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Recent and predicted increases in extremely dry and hot summers emphasise the need for silvicultural approaches to increase the drought tolerance of existing forests in the short-term, before adaptation through species changes may be possible. We aim to investigate whether resistance during droughts, as well as the recovery following drought events (resilience), can be increased by allocating more growing space to individual trees through thinning. Thinning increases access of promoted trees to soil stored water, as long as this is available. However, these trees may also be disadvantaged through a higher transpirational surface, or the increased neighbourhood competition by ground vegetation. To assess whether trees with different growing space differ in drought tolerance, tree discs and cores from thinning experiments of Pinus sylvestris and Pseudotsuga menziesii stands will be used to examine transpirational stress and growth reduction during previous droughts as well as their subsequent recovery. Dendroecology and stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen in tree-rings will be used to quantify how assimilation rate and stomatal conductance were altered through thinning. The results will provide crucial information for the development of short-term silvicultural adaptation strategies to adapt forest ecosystems to climate change. In addition, this study will improve our understanding of the relationship between resistance and resilience of trees in relation to extreme stress events.
Soil organic matter (SOM) controls large part of the processes occurring at biogeochemical interfaces in soil and may contribute to sequestration of organic chemicals. Our central hypothesis is that sequestration of organic chemicals is driven by physicochemical SOM matrix aging. The underlying processes are the formation and disruption of intermolecular bridges of water molecules (WAMB) and of multivalent cations (CAB) between individual SOM segments or between SOM and minerals in close interaction with hydration and dehydration mechanisms. Understanding the role of these mediated interactions will shed new light on the processes controlling functioning and dynamics of biogeochemical interfaces (BGI). We will assess mobility of SOM structural elements and sorbed organic chemicals via advanced solid state NMR techniques and desorption kinetics and combine these with 1H-NMR-Relaxometry and advanced methods of thermal analysis including DSC, TGADSC- MS and AFM-nanothermal analysis. Via controlled heating/cooling cycles, moistening/drying cycles and targeted modification of SOM, reconstruction of our model hypotheses by computational chemistry (collaboration Gerzabek) and participation at two larger joint experiments within the SPP, we will establish the relation between SOM sequestration potential, SOM structural characteristics, hydration-dehydration mechanisms, biological activity and biogechemical functioning. This will link processes operative on the molecular scale to phenomena on higher scales.
The relevance of biogeochemical gradients for turnover of organic matter and contaminants is yet poorly understood. This study aims at the identification and quantification of the interaction of different redox processes along gradients. The interaction of iron-, and sulfate reduction and methanogenesis will be studied in controlled batch and column experiments. Factors constraining the accessibility and the energy yield from the use of these electron acceptors will be evaluated, such as passivation of iron oxides, re-oxidation of hydrogen sulfide on iron oxides. The impact of these constraints on the competitiveness of the particular process will then be described. Special focus will be put on the evolution of methanogenic conditions in systems formerly characterized by iron and sulfate reducing condition. As methanogenic conditions mostly evolve from micro-niches, methods to study the existence, evolution and stability of such micro-niches will be established. To this end, a combination of Gibbs free energy calculations, isotope fractionation and tracer measurements, and mass balances of metabolic intermediates (small pool sizes) and end products (large pool sizes) will be used. Measurements of these parameters on different scales using microelectrodes (mm scale), micro sampling devices for solutes and gases (cm scale) and mass flow balancing (column/reactor scale) will be compared to characterize unit volumes for organic matter degradation pathways and electron flow. Of particular interest will be the impact of redox active humic substances on the competitiveness of involved terminal electron accepting processes, either acting as electron shuttles or directly providing electron accepting capacity. This will be studied using fluorescence spectroscopy and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) of the gained spectra. We expect that the results will provide a basis for improving reactive transport models of anaerobic processes in aquifers and sediments.
The data contains information about marine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) used in a multi-generation laboratory breeding experiment investigating the effects of heatwaves on marine species. Adult stickleback were caught by trawling in the Sylt-Romo Bight (Lat: 55.0252; Long: 8.436) between 3 Feb and 10 March 2022. Fish were brought to the laboratory at the AWI Wadden Sea Station Sylt and used as breeding adults for a multi-generation laboratory experiment investigating the effects of marine heatwaves on stickleback fitness-related traits. These F0 generation wild-caught adults (males and females) were acclimated to three heatwave scenarios (no heatwave control, single heatwave or double heatwave) for three months before breeding (starting 12 June 2022) via artificial fertilization. We measured several fecundity traits for each clutch of fertilized eggs including clutch size (total number of eggs), average egg size (diameter (mm)), fertilization success and hatching success. The diameter (mm) of all eggs in a clutch was measured to estimate average egg size. Each clutch of fertilized eggs was then split among the same three heatwave scenarios, and growth of the F1 offspring in the 9 heatwave treatment combinations was assessed at hatching, 30 days, 60 days and 90 days post-hatch. F1 offspring were also used to estimate two behavior traits (activity rate and exploration), and both short-term (up to 90 days post-hatch) and long-term (until F1 adult breeding) survival. When F1 offspring were ca. two years old, they were used as breeding adults (between 19 April- 28 May 2024) for the F2 generation, and the same fecundity traits as in the F0 were measured (clutch size, average egg size, fertilization success, hatching success), as well as F2 hatchling size.
In the context of global change, marine organisms are subjected not only to gradual changes in abiotic parameters, but also to an increasing number of extreme events, such as heatwaves. However, we still know little about the influence of heatwaves on the structure of marine communities, and experimental studies are needed to test the impact of heatwaves alone, and in combination with other environmental drivers. Here, we conducted a mesocosm experiment and applied an integrated multiple driver design to assess the potential impact of heatwaves under ambient and future environmental conditions on natural coastal plankton communities. To represent future environmental conditions, temperature and pH were manipulated based on the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 proposed by the IPCC for 2100, and dissolved N:P ratios were increased to simulate the conditions expected in European coastal zones. Throughout the experiment, we measured abiotic conditions as well as the abundance of bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, and microzooplankton.
We experimentally manipulated the presence of light and light intensity (F = 36.7 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹; D = 0 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹; L = 4.8 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹; M = 21.4 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹) and tested their effects on the vertical positioning of the freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii) medusae. For the experiments, approximately 100 C. sowerbii medusae were collected in August 2017 in two lakes (Haager Weiher and Leitner Weiher) in Bavaria, Germany. Testing was carried out at Seeon Limnological Station in close vicinity to the collection site. The experimental columns were 7.4 cm in diameter and 170 cm high and were marked with horizontal lines every 5 cm for visual position estimation. Four replicates run in parallel. One C. sowerbii medusa was used in each experimental column. Data cover three light treatments, each run twice: 1) 16:8 h full light (F)–dark (D) light intensity cycles (nF = 716, nD = 428), 2) 16:8 h full light (F)–full dark (D) light intensity cycles complemented with low (L) and medium (M) light intensities (nF = 96, nM = 96, nL = 48, nD = 288), and 3) altered light intensities in approximately 2-hour periods randomly among dark, low, medium, and full light intensities (nF = 96, nM = 76, nL = 72, nD = 336). Results show that light alone was sufficient to trigger a vertical position change of jellyfish towards the water surface, especially high light.
Cherry leaf roll virus (CLRV) is a plant pathogen of economic and ecologic importance. It is globally distributed in a wide range of forest, fruit, and ornamental trees and shrubs. In several areas of cherry and walnut production CLRV causes severe losses in yield and quality. With current reference to the rapid dissemination and strong symptom expression in Finnish birches and the Germany-wide distribution of CLRV in birches and elderberry, we continuously investigate and gradually reveal CLRV transmission pathways as by pollen, seeds or water. However, modes and interactions responsible for the wide intergeneric host transmission as well as for the exceptional CLRV epidemic in Fennoscandia still remain unknown. In this project systematic studies shall investigate biological vectors as a causal agent to finally derive control mechanisms and strategies to avoid new epidemics in different hosts and geographic regions. Detailed monitoring of the invertebrate fauna of birch stands/forests and elderberry plantations in Germany and Finland shall reveal potential vectors to subsequently study them in detail by approved virus detection methods and transmission experiments. Molecular analyses of the CLRV coat protein shall prove its role as a viral determinant for a virus/vector interaction. Consequently, this project essentially will contribute important answers on the CLRV epidemiology, and this will be a key element within the first network of research on plant viral pathogens in forest trees.
Dies ist die SenseBox vor dem Forum der experimenta. Kommt gerne vorbei und schaut euch auch die anderen Citizen Science Projekte in unserem Welterforscher im Forum an.
The rational calculus of farmers assumed in many agricultural economic models is unrealistic and non-predictive of their actual decision making. Understanding structural change in agriculture can thus be improved via a realistic modeling of the decision making by agricultural entrepreneurs. Specifically, slow disinvestment (i.e., postponing farm exit), persistence of market structures (i.e., failure to reallocate land plots towards higher efficiency), and more generally characterizing the decision making of farmers are crucial for a better understanding of structural change and policy advice. We apply economic experiments to better understand such disinvestment choices, land markets with economies of scale and private opportunity costs, different auction and bargaining forms to improve allocation efficiency of land markets, and to generally characterize the decision making of farmers.
We conducted a mesocosm experiment with an integrated multiple driver design to assess the impact of future global change scenarios on plankton, a key component of marine food webs. The experimental treatments were based on the RCP 6.0 and 8.5 scenarios developed by the IPCC, which were Extended (ERCP) to integrate the future predicted changing nutrient inputs into coastal waters. The mesocosm experiment was conducted over three weeks in late-summer (August-September) 2018. Seawater containing a natural plankton community was collected from the coastal North Sea. At the onset of the experiment, CO2 saturated seawater was added to the ERCP scenario mesocosms to adjust pCO2 and pH levels for each scenario. To create a realistic environment, we also manipulated the atmospheric pCO2 in the enclosed mesocosm tanks throughout the experiment. Seawater temperature was adjusted daily according to the current North Sea temperature measured at the Helgoland Roads for the Ambient, and 1.5°C and 3.0°C warmer for the ERCP 6.0 and ERCP 8.5 scenarios, respectively. Dissolved nutrient concentrations were determined at the onset of the experiment and adjusted to reach the desired N:P ratios. Samples were taken in an interval of 1-3 days depending on the phytoplankton bloom development, and community composition, except for the large mesozooplankton, was monitored throughout the experiment period.
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