GRK 266:  Analysis of the Functioning and Regeneration of Degraded Ecosystems

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: from 1996 to 2005
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 271437

Practically all ecosystems on earth have been or are influenced by human activities, but when this influence is sufficiently large that the functioning of the system is impaired when compared to the original, one speaks of a degraded ecosystem. The question is whether successional changes in the system after the removal of the disturbance develop towards the original relatively undisturbed ecosystem or divert onto an entirely new path. Especially in the latter case, human intervention is often needed, provided that a clear picture of the desired ecosystem is available. Our aim is to assess the regeneration potential of degraded ecosystems and the potential need for human intervention. The research training group, with members in the fields of Geography, Chemistry and Biology/Ecology, is working on two ecosystems: one is a grassland system which was subjected to almost forty years of dust emissions from a phosphate fertiliser factory, the second a river which was polluted by agricultural and sewage input and affected by multiple weir construction. The research training group will throw light on the fundamental differences between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, especially on the entirely different time scales for regeneration processes in both systems. The very new aspect of the work, however, is the quest for fundamental, underlying similarities in the regeneration of two very different ecosystems. Any such similarities found should therefore be universally applicable to ecosystems in general, and should thus shed new light on the ecology of communities. Our research is therefore not a series of case studies but an attempt at finding fundamental aspects of regenerating ecosystems. Tools used by participating scientists in both ecosystems include descriptive, experimental and manipulative fieldwork and derivation of conceptual and computer simulation models.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie (MPI-BGC)
• Spokesperson: Professor Stefan Halle, Ph.D.
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Ian Thomas Baldwin; Professor Dr. Hans Bergmann; Professor Dr. Francois Buscot; Professor Dr. Gerd Gleixner; Privatdozent Dr. Gottfried Jetschke; Professorin Dr. Erika Kothe; Professor Dr. Roland Mäusbacher; Professor Dr. Ernst-Detlef Schulze; Dr. Winfried Voigt; Privatdozentin Dr. Heike Zimmermann-Timm