The concept

The objective of the priority Program 1685 is to investigate the relevance of the ecological paradigm of the ‘whole being more than the sum of its parts’ for P - nutrition of forest ecosystems. Therefore new concepts of ecosystem nutrition and new methods will be developed. We will investigate if there are any adaption mechanism of forest ecosystems to sites with poor P supply, which are not a result of the adaptation of single organisms but of ecological interactions, which enable coordinated nutrient (re-) mobilisation, uptake, usage and storage. The hypothesis which will be addressed is that forest ecosystems faced to low soil P stocks are characterized by highly efficient recycling mechanisms.

Phosphorus mobilisation, uptake, usage and transfer will be studied on five permanent monitoring sites of the federal research institutes in Baden - Württemberg, Bayern, Niedersachsen and Thüringen. This collaboration opens up a unique possibility to discuss the results of the priority program against the background of long term data sets, which could not be achieved in common joint research projects. The collaboration of scientists from soil, plant and forest science as well as from geo- and environmental science is also essential to address the research question. Furthermore we will study the impact of anthropogenic influence (choice of tree species, liming, element input, climate change) on adaption strategies. Beyond that, the knowledge on successful nutrition strategies of close-to natural systems may give fresh impetus to reshaping the agricultural nutrient management.

See also:
Article on "A Lesson in Recycling from the Beech" (uni'wissen)