Morphological and physiological land use responses of plant (and bacterial) communities in a common garden, a field experiment, and in the greenhouse
In the last phase of the Biodiversity Exploratories, both the large-scale field experiments and the common garden EXClAvE I have been established to quantify the relative effects of individual land use components (mowing and fertilizer additions) on the diversity and functionality of ecosystems. Using a 3D multispectral plant scanner (PlantEye F500, Phenospex, Heerlen, The Netherlands) we found that morphological and physiological features of plant communities rapidly respond to land use components, while the species composition remained largely unchanged.
In EXClAvE II, we will
- a) track the temporal trajectory of community responses to experimental land-use treatments;
- b) compare morphological and physiological responses of plant communities in the common garden and in the REX / LUX experiments generating general rules of community responses to land use changes; and
- c) perform a greenhouse experiment tracking responses in plant morphology, physiology, and microbiome to land use in four selected species.
We will measure morphological and physiological features of the grassland communities in the common garden as well as in the field using the 3D multispectral plant scanner. Additionally, we will perform a greenhouse experiment where we phenotype plant species exposed to different land-use treatments and will use 16S amplicon sequencing assessing responses of bacterial communities associated to the plants.
Expected Results
Our data will contribute to a mechanistic understanding of community responses to land use components.
Project in other funding periods
Scientific assistants
