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The Jena Experiment is a DFG-funded Research Unit (FOR 5000) that builds on a long history of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research (FOR 456; FOR 1451). Despite broad consensus of the positive BEF relationship, the underlying ecological and evolutionary mechanisms have not been well understood. The Jena Experiment aims at filling this gap of knowledge by applying novel experimental and analytical approaches in one of the longest-running biodiversity experiments in the world (running since 2002). The central aim of the Research Unit is to uncover the mechanisms that determine BEF relationships in the short- and in the long-term.
News
New publication from Wildermuth et al. in Nature Ecology and Evolution: Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines December 17, 2025 8:37am - A new study shows that over 90% of insect biomass declines are driven by shrinking… 
New publication from Roscher et al. in Journal of Ecology: Plant species with ‘fast’ traits are winners in young and high-diversity plant communities December 16, 2025 9:03am - Long-term biodiversity experiments have shown increasing strengths of positive biodiversity–productivity relationships over time, while the… 
New publication from Solbach et al. in New Phytologist: Legacies of consecutive summer droughts on soil-borne plant parasitic protists (Oomycota: Stramenopila and Phytomyxea: Rhizaria) and protistan consumers (Cercozoa: Rhizaria) along an experimental plant diversity gradient December 8, 2025 12:46pm - Increasing frequencies of severe summer droughts and plant diversity loss disrupt ecosystem functioning and stability… 
New publication from Bröcher in Functional Ecology: Plant–herbivore interactions depend on plant richness, plant and soil history October 15, 2025 2:53pm - Insect herbivores play a central role in grassland ecosystems. They depend on plants for their… 
New publication from Roscher in NeoBiota: Competitive superiority of non-native invaders becomes weaker when plant diversity increases – a case study with Solidago species September 11, 2025 1:28pm - Two popular hypotheses in invasion biology are the “inherent superiority hypothesis”, stating that non-native species… 
New publication from Bachmann et al. in Ecology and Evolution: Traits of the leaf economics spectrum do not always relate to species biomass proportions in grassland communities of varying diversity September 11, 2025 1:08pm - Traits of the “leaf economics spectrum” (LES) relate to a functional trade-off between slow and…
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