Categories

2024

Lan Zhang, Bernhard Schmid, Franca J. Bongers, Shan Li, Goddert von Oheimb, Keping Ma, Xiaojuan Liu*. 2024. Strong nestedness and turnover effects on stand productivity in a long‐...

2023

Andreas Schuldt*, Xiaojuan Liu, Francois Buscot, Helge Bruelheide, Alexandra Erfmeier, Jinsheng He, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Keping Ma, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Bernhard Schmid, Th...

2023

Siqi Tao, G. F. Veen, Naili Zhang*, Tianhe Yu, Laiye Qu*. 2023. Tree and shrub richness modifies subtropical tree productivity by regulating the diversity and community compos...

2022

Ting Tang#, Naili Zhang#, Franca J. Bongers, Michael Staab, Andreas Schuldt, Felix Fornoff, Hong Lin, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Andrew Hipp, Shan Li, Yu Liang, Baocai Han, Alexandra-Ma...

2022

Yufu Jia, Zongguang Liu, Lei Zhou, Xiaojuan Liu, Keping Ma and Xiaojuan Feng*. 2022. Soil organic carbon sourcing variance in the rhizosphere vs. non-rhizosphere of two mycorrhiza...

2021

Florian Schnabel*†, Xiaojuan Liu*†, Matthias Kunz*, Kathryn E. Barry, Franca J. Bongers, Helge Bruelheide, Andreas Fichtner, Werner Härdtle, Shan Li, Claas-Thido Pfaff, Be...

2021

Pascale Zumstein*, Helge Bruelheide, Andreas Fichtner, Andreas Schuldt, Michael Staab, Werner Hardtle, Hongzhang Zhou, and Thorsten Assmann. 2021. What shapes ground beetle assemb...

2020

Franca J. Bongers. 2020. Functional-structural plant models to boost understanding of complementarity in light capture and use in mixed-species forests. Basic and Applied Ecology. 48:...

2019

Philipp Goebes, Karsten Schmidt, Steffen Seitz*, Sabine Both, Helge Bruelheide, Alexandra Erfmeier, Thomas Scholten and Peter Kühn. 2019. The strength of soil-plant interactions u...

2019

Helge Bruelheide*, Yuxin Chen, Yuanyuan Huang, Keping Ma*, Pascal A. Niklaus* and Bernhard Schmid*. 2019. Response to Comment on “Impacts of species richness on produc...

2018

Julia Binkenstein*†, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Thorsten Assmann, François Buscot, Alexandra Erfmeier, Keping Ma, Katherina A. Pietsch, Karsten Schmidt, Thomas Scholten, Tesfaye Wubet...

2018

Huanxi Cao, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Chaodong Zhu, Michael Staab, Walter Durka, Markus Fischer and Felix Fornoff*. 2018. Intra- and interspecific tree diversity promotes multitrophi...

2017

Matteo Brezzi*, Bernhard Schmid, Pascal A. Niklaus and Andreas Schuldt. 2017. Tree diversity increases levels of herbivore damage in a subtropical forest canopy: evidence for diet...

2017

Wensheng Bu, Bernhard Schmid, Xiaojuan Liu, Ying Li, Werner Haerdtle, Goddert von Oheimb, Yu Liang, Zhenkai Sun, Yuanyuan Huang, Helge Bruelheide and Keping Ma*. 2017. Interspecif...

2016

Nadia Castro-Izaguirre*, Xiulian Chi, Martin Baruffol, Zhiyao Tang, Keping Ma, Bernhard Schmid and Pascal A Niklaus*. 2016. Tree Diversity Enhances Stand Carbon Storage but No...

2016

Uwe Braun*, Lydia Hönig and Rowena Schwaß. 2016. New records of foliicolous micromycetes from the Chinese Jiangxi Province. Schlechtendalia. 30:1-7. Download

2015

David Eichenberg*, Oliver Purschke, Christian Ristok, Ludger Wessjohann and Helge Bruelheide. 2015. Trade-offs between physical and chemical carbon-based leaf defence: of intraspe...

2015

Uwe Braun*, Steffen Bien, Lydia Hönig and Bettina Heuchert. 2015. Periconiella liquidambaricola sp nov - a new Chinese hyphomycete. Mycotaxon. 130:253-258. https://doi.org/10.5248...

2014

Martin Böhnke, Wenzel Kröber, Erik Welk, Christian Wirth and Helge Bruelheide*. 2014. Maintenance of constant functional diversity during secondary succession of a subtropical for...

2014

Uwe Braun*, Steffen Bien, Lydia Hantsch and Bettina Heuchert. 2014. Tubakia chinensis sp. nov. and a key to the species of the genus Tubakia. Schlechtendalia. 28:23-28. Download

2013

Martin Barrufol, Bernhard Schmid, Helge Bruelheide, Xiulian Chi, Andrew Hector, Keping Ma, Stefan Michalski, Zhiyao Tang and Pascal A. Niklaus*. 2013. Biodiversity Promotes Tree G...

2013

Yinlei Ma, Yan Geng, Yuanyuan Huang, Yue Shi, Pascal A. Niklaus, Bernhard Schmid and Jinsheng He*. 2013. Effect of clear-cutting silviculture on soil respiration in a subtropical ...

2012

Dörte Bachmann*, Sabine Both, Helge Bruelheide, Bingyang Ding, Mo Gao, Werner Härdtle, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen and Alexandra Erfmeier. 2012. Functional trait similarity of native...

2012

Sabine Both*, Teng Fang, Martin Baruffol, Bernhard Schmid, Helge Bruelheide and Alexandra Erfmeier. 2012. Effects of tree sapling diversity and nutrient addition on herb-layer inv...

2011

Sabine Both*, Teng Fang, Martin Böhnke, Helge Bruelheide, Christian Geißler, Peter Kühn, Thomas Scholten, Stefan Trogisch and Alexandra Erfmeier. 2011. Lack of tree layer control ...

2011

Helge Bruelheide*, Martin Böhnke, Sabine Both, Teng Fang, Thorsten Assmann, Martin Baruffol, Jürgen Bauhus, François Buscot, Xiaoyong Chen, Bingyang Ding, Walter Durka, Alexandra ...

2010

Christian Geißler*, Peter Kühn, Xuezheng Shi and Thomas Scholten. 2010. Estimation of throughfall erosivity in a highly diverse forest ecosystem using sand-filled splash cups. Jou...

2024

Lan Zhang, Bernhard Schmid, Franca J. Bongers, Shan Li, Goddert von Oheimb, Keping Ma, Xiaojuan Liu*. 2024. Strong nestedness and turnover effects on stand productivity in a long‐...

2023

Andreas Schuldt*, Xiaojuan Liu, Francois Buscot, Helge Bruelheide, Alexandra Erfmeier, Jinsheng He, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Keping Ma, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Bernhard Schmid, Th...

2023

Siqi Tao, G. F. Veen, Naili Zhang*, Tianhe Yu, Laiye Qu*. 2023. Tree and shrub richness modifies subtropical tree productivity by regulating the diversity and community compos...

2022

Ting Tang#, Naili Zhang#, Franca J. Bongers, Michael Staab, Andreas Schuldt, Felix Fornoff, Hong Lin, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Andrew Hipp, Shan Li, Yu Liang, Baocai Han, Alexandra-Ma...

2022

Yufu Jia, Zongguang Liu, Lei Zhou, Xiaojuan Liu, Keping Ma and Xiaojuan Feng*. 2022. Soil organic carbon sourcing variance in the rhizosphere vs. non-rhizosphere of two mycorrhiza...

2021

Florian Schnabel*†, Xiaojuan Liu*†, Matthias Kunz*, Kathryn E. Barry, Franca J. Bongers, Helge Bruelheide, Andreas Fichtner, Werner Härdtle, Shan Li, Claas-Thido Pfaff, Be...

2021

Pascale Zumstein*, Helge Bruelheide, Andreas Fichtner, Andreas Schuldt, Michael Staab, Werner Hardtle, Hongzhang Zhou, and Thorsten Assmann. 2021. What shapes ground beetle assemb...

2020

Franca J. Bongers. 2020. Functional-structural plant models to boost understanding of complementarity in light capture and use in mixed-species forests. Basic and Applied Ecology. 48:...

2019

Philipp Goebes, Karsten Schmidt, Steffen Seitz*, Sabine Both, Helge Bruelheide, Alexandra Erfmeier, Thomas Scholten and Peter Kühn. 2019. The strength of soil-plant interactions u...

2019

Helge Bruelheide*, Yuxin Chen, Yuanyuan Huang, Keping Ma*, Pascal A. Niklaus* and Bernhard Schmid*. 2019. Response to Comment on “Impacts of species richness on produc...

Ongoing projects

If you wish to apply for a new project in BEF-China, please download the application form.

2018

Julia Binkenstein*†, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Thorsten Assmann, François Buscot, Alexandra Erfmeier, Keping Ma, Katherina A. Pietsch, Karsten Schmidt, Thomas Scholten, Tesfaye Wubet...

2018

Huanxi Cao, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Chaodong Zhu, Michael Staab, Walter Durka, Markus Fischer and Felix Fornoff*. 2018. Intra- and interspecific tree diversity promotes multitrophi...

Previous projects

2017

Matteo Brezzi*, Bernhard Schmid, Pascal A. Niklaus and Andreas Schuldt. 2017. Tree diversity increases levels of herbivore damage in a subtropical forest canopy: evidence for diet...

2017

Wensheng Bu, Bernhard Schmid, Xiaojuan Liu, Ying Li, Werner Haerdtle, Goddert von Oheimb, Yu Liang, Zhenkai Sun, Yuanyuan Huang, Helge Bruelheide and Keping Ma*. 2017. Interspecif...

2016

Nadia Castro-Izaguirre*, Xiulian Chi, Martin Baruffol, Zhiyao Tang, Keping Ma, Bernhard Schmid and Pascal A Niklaus*. 2016. Tree Diversity Enhances Stand Carbon Storage but No...

2016

Uwe Braun*, Lydia Hönig and Rowena Schwaß. 2016. New records of foliicolous micromycetes from the Chinese Jiangxi Province. Schlechtendalia. 30:1-7. Download

2015

David Eichenberg*, Oliver Purschke, Christian Ristok, Ludger Wessjohann and Helge Bruelheide. 2015. Trade-offs between physical and chemical carbon-based leaf defence: of intraspe...

2015

Uwe Braun*, Steffen Bien, Lydia Hönig and Bettina Heuchert. 2015. Periconiella liquidambaricola sp nov - a new Chinese hyphomycete. Mycotaxon. 130:253-258. https://doi.org/10.5248...

2014

Martin Böhnke, Wenzel Kröber, Erik Welk, Christian Wirth and Helge Bruelheide*. 2014. Maintenance of constant functional diversity during secondary succession of a subtropical for...

2014

Uwe Braun*, Steffen Bien, Lydia Hantsch and Bettina Heuchert. 2014. Tubakia chinensis sp. nov. and a key to the species of the genus Tubakia. Schlechtendalia. 28:23-28. Download

2013

Martin Barrufol, Bernhard Schmid, Helge Bruelheide, Xiulian Chi, Andrew Hector, Keping Ma, Stefan Michalski, Zhiyao Tang and Pascal A. Niklaus*. 2013. Biodiversity Promotes Tree G...

2013

Yinlei Ma, Yan Geng, Yuanyuan Huang, Yue Shi, Pascal A. Niklaus, Bernhard Schmid and Jinsheng He*. 2013. Effect of clear-cutting silviculture on soil respiration in a subtropical ...

2012

Dörte Bachmann*, Sabine Both, Helge Bruelheide, Bingyang Ding, Mo Gao, Werner Härdtle, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen and Alexandra Erfmeier. 2012. Functional trait similarity of native...

2012

Sabine Both*, Teng Fang, Martin Baruffol, Bernhard Schmid, Helge Bruelheide and Alexandra Erfmeier. 2012. Effects of tree sapling diversity and nutrient addition on herb-layer inv...

2011

Sabine Both*, Teng Fang, Martin Böhnke, Helge Bruelheide, Christian Geißler, Peter Kühn, Thomas Scholten, Stefan Trogisch and Alexandra Erfmeier. 2011. Lack of tree layer control ...

2011

Helge Bruelheide*, Martin Böhnke, Sabine Both, Teng Fang, Thorsten Assmann, Martin Baruffol, Jürgen Bauhus, François Buscot, Xiaoyong Chen, Bingyang Ding, Walter Durka, Alexandra ...

2010

Christian Geißler*, Peter Kühn, Xuezheng Shi and Thomas Scholten. 2010. Estimation of throughfall erosivity in a highly diverse forest ecosystem using sand-filled splash cups. Jou...

Ongoing projects

If you wish to apply for a new project in BEF-China, please download the application form.

Previous projects

Strong nestedness and turnover effects on stand productivity in a long‐term forest biodiversity experiment

Multispecies planting is an important approach to deliver ecosystem functions in afforestation projects. However, the importance of species richness vs specific species composition in...

Plant diversity increases diversity and network complexity rather than alters community assembly processes of leaf-associated fungi in a subtropical forest

Plant diversity significantly impacts ecosystem processes and functions, yet its influence on the community assembly of leaf fungi remains poorly understood. In this study, we investi...

Soil conditions modify species diversity effects on tree functional trait expression

Examples of positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functions have kept accumulating in the last two decades, and functional traits are considered suitable tools to explain thei...

Plant diversity enhances ecosystem multifunctionality via multitrophic diversity

An international research team led by Prof. Xiaojuan Liu from the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has shown that, in both forest and grassland ecosystem...

Functional diversity of neighbours mediates sap flow density and radial growth of focal trees, but in different ways between evergreen and deciduous broadleaved species

The functioning of a tree is shaped by the neighbouring species through the interspecific interaction and local environments. The functional trait composition of the neighbourhood cou...

Mixed-species stands improve the coordination between leaf and fine root traits in a common garden experiment

The coordination between leaf and root traits is conducive to an integrated understanding of whole-plant ecological strategies and reveals how community composition and diversity cont...

The spatial distribution of tree-tree interaction effects on soil microbial biomass and respiration

The capacity of forests to sequester carbon in both above- and belowground compartments is a crucial tool to mitigate rising atmospheric carbon concentrations. Belowground carbon stor...

Influence of tree mycorrhizal type, tree species identity, and diversity on forest root-associated mycobiomes

Understanding the complex interactions between trees and fungi is crucial for forest ecosystem management, yet the influence of tree mycorrhizal types, species identity, and diversity...

Tree species diversity modulates the effects of fungal pathogens on litter decomposition: evidences from an incubation experiment

Litter decomposition is a major determinant of carbon (C) and nutrient cycling in ecosystems, and contributes to soil organic carbon (SOC) formation. Ongoing global changes are exacer...

Functional dissimilarity in mixed forests promotes stem radial growth by mitigating tree water deficit

Tree growth is a key component of forest ecosystem functioning and is well-known to be limited by water availability. It is acknowledged that composition and diversity of co-occurring...

Tree and shrub richness modifies subtropical tree productivity by regulating the diversity and community composition of soil bacteria and archaea

Forest soils contain rich prokaryotic communities, with groups such as bacteria and archaea playing important roles in carbon flux, nutrient cycling, and decomposition. However, their...

Systematic distributions of interaction strengths across tree interaction networks yield positive diversity–productivity relationships

Understanding the mechanisms underlying diversity–productivity relationships (DPRs) is crucial to mitigating the effects of forest biodiversity loss. Tree–tree interactions in diverse...

Plant–soil feedback is dependent on tree mycorrhizal types and tree species richness in a subtropical forest

Plant-soil feedback (PSF) is an important driver of plant species coexistence and diversity maintenance. However, it remains unclear how changes in PSF due to decline in tree species ...

Tree communities and functional traits determine herbivore compositional turnover

Studying the mechanisms of species turnover is key to understand community assembly in ecology. However, it is rarely investigated through calculating similarity of composition across...

Within-individual leaf trait variation increases with phenotypic integration in a subtropical tree diversity experiment

Covariation of plant functional traits, that is, phenotypic integration, might constrain their variability. This was observed for inter- and intraspecific variation, but there is no e...

Subtropical forest tree genetic richness causes contrasting effects on soil fungal guilds in monocultures and mixed-species stands

Plant diversity plays a critical role in shaping soil fungal communities. However, most previous studies have primarily focused on the consequences of tree species richness, while few...

Carbon–biodiversity relationships in a highly diverse subtropical forest

Carbon-focused climate mitigation strategies are becoming increasingly important in forests. However, with ongoing biodiversity declines we require better knowledge of how much such s...

Functional potential of soil microbial communities and their subcommunities varies with tree mycorrhizal type and tree diversity

Soil microbial communities play crucial roles in the earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Yet, their genomic potential for nutrient cycling in association with tree mycorrhizal type and tre...

Different assembly mechanisms of leaf epiphytic and endophytic bacterial communities underlie their higher diversity in more diverse forests

Plant leaves represent an important but previously underappreciated habitat for diverse micro-organisms. Plant microbiomes are known to influence host fitness and ecosystem functionin...

Mycorrhizal Types Control Biodiversity Effects on Productivity

Mycorrhizal symbiosis helps plants expand their root surface area, giving plants greater access to nutrients and water. Although the first and foremost role of mycorrhizal symbiosis i...

Functional and phylogenetic relationships link predators to plant diversity via trophic and non-trophic pathways

Human-induced biodiversity loss is threatening ecosystem function. Previous studies has provided evidences that the biodiversity and ecosystem functions of consumers were affected by ...

Tree species and genetic diversity increase productivity via functional diversity and trophic feedbacks

Reforestation projects should include a variety of tree species and ensure genetic diversity within each species to maximise new forests’ health and productivity, suggests a study pub...

Tree dissimilarity determines multi-dimensional beta-diversity of herbivores and carnivores via bottom-up effects

Global biodiversity decline and its cascading effects through trophic interactions pose a severe threat to human society. Establishing the impacts of biodiversity decline requires a m...

Differential impacts on herbivore diversity and scale-dependence of tree diversity in subtropical forests

Plant diversity has been found to increase herbivore diversity, including abundance, species richness, and phylogenetic diversity. However, it is yet to be established at which spatia...

Leaf nutritional content, tree richness, and season shape the caterpillar functional trait composition hosted by trees

The nutritional content of food plants can, to a large extent, determine the physical attributes of herbivorous insects, from growth rates to the need for defenses against predators. ...

Species richness, functional traits and climate interactively affect tree survival in a large forest biodiversity experiment

Tree survival affects forest biodiversity, structure and functioning. However, little is known about feedback effects of biodiversity on survival and its dependence on functional trai...

Effects of enemy exclusion on biodiversity–productivity relationships in a subtropical forest experiment

Interspecific niche complementarity is a key mechanism posited to explain positive species richness–productivity relationships in plant communities. However, the exact nature of the n...

Plants play stronger effects on soil fungal than bacterial communities and co-occurrence network structures in a subtropical tree diversity experiment

Increasing biodiversity loss profoundly affects community structure and ecosystem functioning. Therefore, revealing the mechanisms associated with community assembly and co-occurrence...

Neighbourhood Species Richness Reduces Crown Asymmetry of Subtropical Trees in Sloping Terrain

Reforestation in sloping terrain is an important measure for soil erosion control and sustainable watershed management. The mechanical stability of such reforested stands, however, ca...

Niche partitioning in nitrogen uptake among subtropical tree species enhances biomass production

The relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning has become one of the key topics in ecological studies. Niche partitioning, brought about by a complementary resourc...

Species richness stabilizes productivity via asynchrony and drought-tolerance diversity in a large-scale tree biodiversity experiment

Well insured: Forests with many tree species grow more consistently

Planting new forests with high functional diversity helps improve productivity

As forests age, differences in species functional traits become more important and reliable in predicting forest productivity, according to an international study led by Prof. MA Kepi...

Phylogenetic relatedness, functional traits, and spatial scale determine herbivore co‐occurrence in a subtropical forest

Species co-occurrence can examine whether and why two or more species co-exist. However, the understanding of the relevant mechanism remains a challenging. Previous studies have sugge...

Tree species richness differentially affects the chemical composition of leaves, roots and root exudates in four subtropical tree species.

Plants produce thousands of compounds, collectively called the metabolome, which mediate interactions with other organisms. The metabolome of an individual plant may change according ...

Tree diversity and functional leaf traits drive herbivore-associated microbiomes in subtropical China.

Herbivorous insects acquire microorganisms from host plants or soil, but it remains unclear how the diversity and functional composition of host plants contribute to structuring herbi...

What shapes ground beetle assemblages in a tree species-rich subtropical forest?

As woody plants provide much of the trophic basis for food webs in forests their species richness, but also stand age and numerous further variables such as vegetation structure, soil...

Soil fungi promote biodiversity–productivity relationships in experimental communities of young trees

Soil fungi are a major factor maintaining plant diversity and productivity, but the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Based on a biodiversity–ecosystem functioning ex...

Plant and microbial pathways driving plant diversity effects on soil carbon accumulation in subtropical forest

Plant species richness (PSR) is known to affect soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. However, due to the complex origin and composition of SOC, mechanisms driving the PSR-SOC relationsh...

The significance of tree-tree interactions for forest ecosystem functioning

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 pathog...

Tree diversity and soil chemical properties drive the linkages between soil microbial community and ecosystem functioning

Microbial respiration is critical for soil carbon balance and ecosystem functioning. Previous studies suggest that plant diversity influences soil microbial communities and their resp...

Tree mycorrhizal type and tree diversity shape the forest soil microbiota

There is limited knowledge on how the association of trees with different mycorrhizal types shapes soil microbial communities in the context of changing tree diversity levels. We used...

Tree species richness promotes an early increase of stand structural complexity in young subtropical plantations

Forest structural complexity has been identified as an important driver for promoting simultaneously biodiversity across trophic levels and multiple ecosystem services. However, we st...

More diverse tree communities promote foliar fungal pathogen diversity, but decrease infestation rates per tree species, in a subtropical biodiversity experiment

Fungal pathogens have the potential to affect plant biogeography and ecosystem processes through their influence on the fitness and functioning of their plant hosts. Simultaneously, c...

Local Tree Diversity Suppresses Foliar Fungal Infestation and Decreases Morphological but Not Molecular Richness in a Young Subtropical Forest

Leaf fungal pathogens alter their host species’ performance and, thus, changes in fungal species composition can translate into effects at the tree community scale. Conversely, the fu...

Species identity and composition effects on community productivity in a subtropical forest

Biodiversity experiments have shown that high species richness increases productivity in forests. However, forests are diverse regarding community composition. It is unclear how speci...

Drivers of understorey biomass: tree species identity is more important than richness in a young forest

Aims Positive biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships have been widely reported, predominately from grassland ecosystems. However, this does not necessarily have to apply acc...

Canopy Closure Retards Fine Wood Decomposition in Subtropical Regenerating Forests

Wood decomposition is faster in open habitats than closed-canopy forests, with the mechanisms unclear. When allowing access, termites outcompete fungi during wood decomposition. If in...

Plant identity strongly structures the root-associated fungal community in a diverse subtropical forest

Revealing the relationship between plants and root-associated fungi is very important in understanding diversity maintenance and community assembly in ecosystems. However, the communi...

Radial growth response of trees to seasonal soil humidity in a subtropical forest

Tree growth is the most important factor in determining the carbon sequestration processes of forest ecosystems. However,the growth phenology (seasonal growth pattern) and responses o...

Tree diversity promotes predatory wasps and parasitoids but not pollinator bees in a subtropical experimental forest

From regional to global scales, anthropogenic environmental change is causing biodiversity loss and reducing ecosystem functionality. Previous studies have investigated the relationsh...

Tree-tree interactions and crown complementarity: The role of functional diversity and branch traits for canopy packing

Previous studies have shown that tree species richness increases forest productivity by allowing for greater spatial complementarity of tree crowns (crown complementarity), which in t...

Tree species richness modulates water supply in the local tree neighbourhood: evidence from wood δ13C signatures in a large-scale forest experiment

Biodiversity is considered to mitigate the adverse effects of changing precipitation patterns. However, our understanding of how tree diversity at the local neighbourhood scale modula...

Host functional and phylogenetic composition rather than host diversity structure plant-herbivore networks

Plant-herbivore interactions is a key ecological process in ecosystem functioning and is usually altered by global environmental change, especially plant diversity. Previous study mos...

Genetic richness affects trait variation but not community productivity in a tree diversity experiment

We argue that identifying functional diversity within and among species in forest communities is necessary to separate effects of species and genetic diversity on tree growth and comm...

Directed species loss from species-rich forests strongly decreases productivity

At high species richness, directed loss, but not random loss, of tree species strongly decreases forest productivity. An international research team with the involvement of the Univer...

Neighbourhood diversity mitigates drought impacts on tree growth

Abstract: Biodiversity is considered to mitigate detrimental impacts of climate change on the functioning of forest ecosystems, such as drought‐induced decline in forest productivity...

Growth-trait relationships depend on species richness in subtropical forest

The Editor’s Choice article for Volume 108 Issue 1 is “Growth–trait relationships in subtropical forest are stronger at higher diversity“ by Bongers et al. This study assessed how gro...

Neighbour species richness and local structural variability modulate aboveground allocation patterns and crown morphology of individual trees

Abstract:Local neighbourhood interactions are considered a main driver for biodiversity–productivity relationships in forests. Yet, the structural responses of individual trees in spe...

Herbivore phylogenetic diversity can be affected by plant diversity loss

Global change leads to increasing biodiversity loss, usually with consequences for the structure and functioning of ecosystems, such as primary productivity and nutrient cycling.

Multiple plant diversity components drive consumer communities across ecosystems

Abstract:Humans modify ecosystems and biodiversity worldwide, with negative consequences for ecosystem functioning. Promoting plant diversity is increasingly suggested as a mitigation...

Tree diversity increases robustness of multi-trophic interactions

Abstract:Multi-trophic interactions maintain critical ecosystem functions. Biodiversity is declining globally, while responses of trophic interactions to biodiversity change are large...

Species-rich forests store twice as much carbon as monocultures

Species-rich subtropical forests can take up on average twice as much carbon as monocultures. An international research team with the involvement of the University of Zurich has evalu...

Species-rich forests better compensate environmental impacts

To offset CO2 emissions, China is reforesting. If a mixture of tree species instead of monocultures were planted, much more carbon could be stored. An international team including UZH...

Neighbourhood interactions drive overyielding in mixed-species tree communities

Abstract:Theory suggests that plant interactions at the neighbourhood scale play a fundamental role in regulating biodiversity–productivity relationships (BPRs) in tree communities. H...

9 PhD positions in forest biodiversity research within the International Research Training Group TreeDì (GRK 2324)

The International Research Training Group “TreeDì – Tree Diversity Interactions: The role of tree-tree interactions in local neighborhoods in Chinese subtropical forests” (GRK 2324), ...

9 PhD positions in the field of forest biodiversity ecosystem functioning research (TreeDì / BEF-China)

The International Research Training Group “TreeDì - Tree Diversity Interactions: The role of tree-tree interactions in local neighborhoods in Chinese subtropical forests” (GRK 2324), ...

Special issue: Tree Diversity Effects on Ecosystem Functioning

Although the exceptional role of forests for human well-being is undisputed and widely acknowledged (Watson et al. 2018), a global downward trend in the global forest area persists (F...

Understanding biodiversity in forests

The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Botany has led pioneering work on forests biodiversity and the associated nature-based services that support societies.

Multitrophic arthropod diversity mediates tree diversity effects on primary productivity

An international team of researchers led by Prof. MA Keping from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has shown that forests with higher tree species ric...