25.03.2025: Emma SAYER (Univ. Ulm) “Tropical Tree Growth, Nutrient Cycling and Greenhouse Gasses
– what we’ve learned from long-term experiment", HS 32.01, Institut für Biologie, Bereich Pflanzenwissenschaften, Holteigasse 6, 17:00 Uhr
It’s surprising how much we can learn by studying dead leaves: leaf litter is a vital source of nutrients for plant growth, and the high productivity of tropical forests on infertile soils has long been attributed to efficient cycling of nutrients via litterfall. Leaf litter also makes a major contribution to soil carbon storage and influences numerous other important ecosystem processes. In 2003, we began the Gigante Litter Manipulation Project – a large-scale experiment to test whether nutrient cycling via litterfall maintains tropical tree growth. We have now applied litter removal and litter addition treatments to large-scale forest plots for over 20 years and gained important insights into the functional role of leaf litter in tropical forests. We have also learned some surprising things about the forest greenhouse gas balance along the way. I will present some of the advances afforded by this unique long-term experiment and highlight emerging knowledge gaps about tropical forest carbon and nutrient dynamics. I will finish my talk by highlighting the importance of effective science communication and giving some examples of how to do this in a creative way.