Stability, drought stress resilience and enhancement of growth/C gain through soil biodiversity in pure and mixed stands of beech, spruce and pine (StaBio)
PI: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Grams, Prof. Dr. Karin Pritsch
PostDoc: Dr. Fabian Weikl
PhD: Claudia Barrera
The preservation of forests under actual climate change is a critical problem. The increasing frequency, intensity, and duration of drought affect the stability and survival of the trees. Therefore, understanding the factors that contribute to the growth and adaptability of trees to drought conditions is essential to reduce the impact of such stress. In the last years, it has been recognized that microbial diversity and the intricate relationship between soil microbial communities and trees play an important role in the stability of forests. In that sense, this project intends to uncover the interrelationships between stand growth, biodiversity conservation, and climate suitability of the trees and make them usable for forestry measures under changing climate.
For this purpose, three experimental levels will be considered. The first level evaluates the microbial diversity and growth of the pure stands across a gradient of drought in the Bavarian region. The second level aims to clarify the impact of the mixture of different species of trees on the microbial diversity and the stability of the forest. Finally, the third level evaluates the effect of long-term drought (performed in KROOF experiment) on the stand adaptation, particularly soil diversity.
To achieve these objectives, classical analysis of monitoring data (such as increment and climate) in combination with molecular diversity data of the soil microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, protists) will be used. Moreover, to identify some microbial key taxa, third generation sequencing using Oxford Nanopore technology will be implemented to generate long-reads and reach a higher taxonomic resolution.
![Map of the state of Bavaria depicting the sampling sites for each experimental level (left) and schematic representation of the experiments (right)](/fileadmin/_processed_/8/3/csm_StaBio_1c9fa09492.webp)
PI LSAI: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Grams, Prof. Dr. Karin Pritsch
Staff LSAI: Dr. Fabian Weikl, Claudia Barrera
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