Projects - Overview

	Disturbance		alien plants
	Competition and Coexistence		Ecological modelling
	Projects in the Mediterranean area		Herbivory

• A major part of our research work is dedicated to the causal analysis of competition, certainly one of the most important interactions among plants.
• In this connection we particularly focus on the importance of disturbance for the stability of certain successional stages.
• A special case of competition is the introduction of alien plants  into indigenous  vegetation. Traits and strategies of various successful alien plants are presently investigated in our group. This research (including ecophysiology as well as population ecology) not only helps to understand the necessary ingredients for successful colonization of an already occupied area but provides also valuable knowledge for an effective control of alien plant species
• One of the more prominent interactions between higher plants and other organisms is herbivory. During previous years members of our group analyzed the consequences of the herbivory of leaf-cutting ants for the tropical rainforest ecosystem. Presently we start investigations on the importance of herbivory for the competitive strength of selected sand dune species.
• In order to integrate our results, but also as an experimental tool, we presently develop spatially explicit models, which simulate the formation of vegetation patterns and their dynamics based on our experimental data. This work is still in its beginnings and is done in cooperation with mathematicians, informatics people and colleagues from the Environmental Research Center (UFZ) Leipzig.
• Together with colleagues from Utah State University and the University of Bayreuth we developed and parameterized canopy photosynthesis models, which calculate photosynthesis and water relations of target plants as a function of the surrounding vegetation. The main issue here is the modelling of the light environment within the canopy and the assessment of how physiological functions of plants are dependent on the amount and the orientation of structural elements of the canopy. Recently a photoinhibition model was added. Besides other applications, these models are used in a number of studies dealing with light competition.
• The presence or absence of a plant species (i.e. its competitiveness) in a certain habitat is frequently a function of particular stress adaptations. This is the background of a recent research project on plants of the Mediterranean. Here we compared differential adaptations of sclerophyllous vs malacophyllous species. A subroutine for our canopy model was developed, which allows to quantitatively assess the effect of photoinhibition on short and long term carbon gain of these species.
• Composition and spatial distribution of vegetation are major factors, which affect the fluxes of carbon and water at the ecosystem scale.

» see also: Staff