ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2360-1357
Current Organisation
University of Zurich
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-02-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41477-018-0356-X
Abstract: Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration should stimulate biomass production directly via biochemical stimulation of carbon assimilation, and indirectly via water savings caused by increased plant water-use efficiency. Because of these water savings, the CO
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-05-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-09-2015
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.13011
Abstract: Soil microbial biomass is a key determinant of carbon dynamics in the soil. Several studies have shown that soil microbial biomass significantly increases with plant species ersity, but it remains unclear whether plant species ersity can also stabilize soil microbial biomass in a changing environment. This question is particularly relevant as many global environmental change (GEC) factors, such as drought and nutrient enrichment, have been shown to reduce soil microbial biomass. Experiments with orthogonal manipulations of plant ersity and GEC factors can provide insights whether plant ersity can attenuate such detrimental effects on soil microbial biomass. Here, we present the analysis of 12 different studies with 14 unique orthogonal plant ersity × GEC manipulations in grasslands, where plant ersity and at least one GEC factor (elevated CO2 , nutrient enrichment, drought, earthworm presence, or warming) were manipulated. Our results show that higher plant ersity significantly enhances soil microbial biomass with the strongest effects in long-term field experiments. In contrast, GEC factors had inconsistent effects with only drought having a significant negative effect. Importantly, we report consistent non-significant effects for all 14 interactions between plant ersity and GEC factors, which indicates a limited potential of plant ersity to attenuate the effects of GEC factors on soil microbial biomass. We highlight that plant ersity is a major determinant of soil microbial biomass in experimental grasslands that can influence soil carbon dynamics irrespective of GEC.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 05-10-2018
Abstract: Bio ersity experiments have shown that species loss reduces ecosystem functioning in grassland. To test whether this result can be extrapolated to forests, the main contributors to terrestrial primary productivity, requires large-scale experiments. We manipulated tree species richness by planting more than 150,000 trees in plots with 1 to 16 species. Simulating multiple extinction scenarios, we found that richness strongly increased stand-level productivity. After 8 years, 16-species mixtures had accumulated over twice the amount of carbon found in average monocultures and similar amounts as those of two commercial monocultures. Species richness effects were strongly associated with functional and phylogenetic ersity. A shrub addition treatment reduced tree productivity, but this reduction was smaller at high shrub species richness. Our results encourage multispecies afforestation strategies to restore bio ersity and mitigate climate change.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-08-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-019-04495-W
Abstract: Light-related interactions can increase productivity in tree-species mixtures compared with monocultures due to higher stand-level absorption of photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) or light-use efficiency (LUE). However, the effects of different light-related interactions, and their relative importance, have rarely been quantified. Here, measurements of vertical leaf-area distributions, tree sizes, and stand density were combined with a tree-level light model (Maestra) to examine how crown architecture and vertical or horizontal canopy structure influence the APAR of 16 monocultures and eight different two-species mixtures with 16 different species in a Chinese subtropical tree ersity experiment. A higher proportion of crown leaf area occurred in the upper crowns of species with higher specific leaf areas. Tree-level APAR depended largely on tree leaf area and also, but to a lesser extent, on relative height (i.e., tree dominance) and leaf-area index (LAI). Stand-level APAR depended on LAI and canopy volume, but not on the vertical stratification or canopy leaf-area density. The mixing effects, in terms of relative differences between mixtures and monocultures, on stand-level APAR were correlated with the mixing effects on basal area growth, indicating that light-related interactions may have been responsible for part of the mixing effects on basal area growth. While species identity influences the vertical distributions of leaf area within tree crowns, this can have a relatively small effect on tree and stand APAR compared with the size and vertical positioning of the crowns, or the LAI and canopy volume.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2013
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 11-05-2020
Abstract: Late-spring frosts (LSFs) affect the performance of plants and animals across the world’s temperate and boreal zones, but despite their ecological and economic impact on agriculture and forestry, the geographic distribution and evolutionary impact of these frost events are poorly understood. Here, we analyze LSFs between 1959 and 2017 and the resistance strategies of Northern Hemisphere woody species to infer trees’ adaptations for minimizing frost damage to their leaves and to forecast forest vulnerability under the ongoing changes in frost frequencies. Trait values on leaf-out and leaf-freezing resistance come from up to 1,500 temperate and boreal woody species cultivated in common gardens. We find that areas in which LSFs are common, such as eastern North America, harbor tree species with cautious (late-leafing) leaf-out strategies. Areas in which LSFs used to be unlikely, such as broad-leaved forests and shrublands in Europe and Asia, instead harbor opportunistic tree species (quickly reacting to warming air temperatures). LSFs in the latter regions are currently increasing, and given species’ innate resistance strategies, we estimate that ∼35% of the European and ∼26% of the Asian temperate forest area, but only ∼10% of the North American, will experience increasing late-frost damage in the future. Our findings reveal region-specific changes in the spring-frost risk that can inform decision-making in land management, forestry, agriculture, and insurance policy.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 14-10-2016
Abstract: The relationship between bio ersity and ecosystem productivity has been explored in detail in herbaceous vegetation, but patterns in forests are far less well understood. Liang et al. have amassed a global forest data set from ,000 s le plots in 44 countries. A positive and consistent relationship can be discerned between tree ersity and ecosystem productivity at landscape, country, and ecoregion scales. On average, a 10% loss in bio ersity leads to a 3% loss in productivity. This means that the economic value of maintaining bio ersity for the sake of global forest productivity is more than fivefold greater than global conservation costs. Science , this issue p. 196
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-019-1128-0
Abstract: The identity of the dominant root-associated microbial symbionts in a forest determines the ability of trees to access limiting nutrients from atmospheric or soil pools
Publisher: Oekom Publishers GmbH
Date: 20-10-2022
DOI: 10.14512/GAIA.31.3.3
Abstract: Games as a didactic tool (e. g., puzzles) are gaining recognition in environmental education to promote skill development, but also to develop a specific understanding of the natural world. However, a children’s puzzle containing representations of nature may unwillingly lead to “misconceptions” of bio ersity themes and processes, and an over-simplification of the relationship between people and nature. To solve this problem, positive connotations of bio ersity may prompt a conceptual change to a more nuanced, multifaceted conception of bio ersity.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-06-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-019-1342-9
Abstract: In this Letter, a middle initial and additional affiliation have been added for author G. J. Nabuurs two statements have been added to the Supplementary Acknowledgements and a citation to the French National Institute has been added to the Methods see accompanying Author Correction for further details.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-04-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-42629-5
Abstract: Storing large amounts of organic carbon, soils are a key but uncertain component of the global carbon cycle, and accordingly, of Earth System Models (ESMs). Soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics are regulated by a complex interplay of drivers. Climate, generally represented by temperature and moisture, is regarded as one of the fundamental controls. Here, we use 54 forest sites in Switzerland, systematically selected to span near-independent gradients in temperature and moisture, to disentangle the effects of climate, soil properties, and landform on SOC dynamics. We estimated two SOC turnover times, based on bulk soil 14 C measurements (τ 14C ) and on a 6-month laboratory soil incubation (τ i ). In addition, upon incubation, we measured the 14 C signature of the CO 2 evolved and quantified the cumulated production of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Our results demonstrate that τ i and τ 14C capture the dynamics of contrasting fractions of the SOC continuum. The 14 C-based τ 14C primarily reflects the dynamics of an older, stabilised pool, whereas the incubation-based τ i mainly captures fresh readily available SOC. Mean site temperature did not raise as a critical driver of SOC dynamics, and site moisture was only significant for τ i . However, soil pH emerged as a key control of both turnover times. The production of DOC was independent of τ i and not driven by climate, but primarily by the content of clay and, secondarily by the slope of the site. At the regional scale, soil physicochemical properties and landform appear to override the effect of climate on SOC dynamics.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 14-01-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-11-2017
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.3488
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Pascal Niklaus.