Biodiversity Exploratories
About The Project:
The Biodiversity Exploratories (DFG Priority Programme 1374) are a large research platform for studying the effects of land use on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. The capacity to reproduce successfully and the longevity of plant individuals are vital for the persistence and stability of plant populations and processes of community assembly. In the framework of the Biodiversity Exploratories we investigate how land use affects different life-cycle characteristics for a large number of grassland species. We studied the longevity of perennial dicotyledonous forb species using growth ring analyses. We measured traits of seeds and seedlings occurring in the grasslands of the Biodiversity Exploratories to relate these traits to land-use effects on grassland diversity. Currently, we focus on the question how changes in land use affect plant regeneration strategies in grasslands by investigating seed rain, the viable soil seed bank and the belowground bud bank.
