The role of biodiversity in controlling biogeochemical processes under experimental climate change in grassland and forest systems
Scientific investigators
Prof. Dr. Michael Scherer-Lorenzen
(University Freiburg)(Helmholtz-Center for Environmental Research Leipzig)
1. Climate change will reduce litter decomposition and mineralisation rates, both directly through changes in environmental factors, and indirectly through changes in species composition with increasing dominance of drought-tolerant species sharing traits that negatively affect decomposition processes.
2. Reduced litter decomposition and mineralization rates negatively affect nitrogen availability in soil, but increase carbon-sequestration.3. Resistance against these climate change effects will be higher in diverse plant communities than in species-poor communities.