Subproject 06: Plant nutrient responses (1 PhD position)

Principle Investigators: PD Dr. Christiane Roscher, UFZ/iDiv

Summary: Plant tissue nutrient concentrations and ratios are important predictors of ecosystem processes and ecological interactions. The major objective of the subproject “Plant nutrient responses” is to study the effects of plant diversity on the temporal dynamics of plant nutrient responses, including their stability as temporal long-term invariability, resistance during and recovery after environmental perturbations. Specifically, we will (1) analyze time-series data of community-level elemental concentrations, ratios and stocks of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in plant aboveground biomass to identify the drivers underlying diversity effects on plant community nutrient responses and their temporal variability. (2) We will study species-specific leaf concentrations of C, N, P and K to decompose the importance of plant community composition versus the importance of intraspecific variation in leaf nutrient concentrations for the community means and diversity of plant tissue elemental concentrations in the long-term biodiversity experiment, which cannot be disentangled alone with community-level data. (3) We will study the species-specific uptake of isotopic tracers (¹⁵N, ¹³C) and carbon and nitrogen concentrations in plant aboveground biomass during the drought and re-wetting phase of the ResCUE Experiment (an Ecotron experiment) to assess how plant and functional trait diversity buffer against the decline in community-level C and N uptake during drought and promote increased community-level C and N uptake when plant communities recover during re-wetting.

Available positions: 1 PhD student

Job advertisement: https://recruitingapp-5128.de.umantis.com/Vacancies/2835/Description/2

Contact: PD Dr. Christiane Roscher (christiane.roscher@ufz.de)