FOR 5664:  Agroforestry for sustainable multifunctional agriculture (FORMULA)

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517723694

The FORMULA research unit is embarking on a study of agroforestry systems and their Nature's Contributions to People (NCP). The aim is to identify management options that optimise synergies and mitigate potential trade-offs arising from the incorporation of forestry elements into arable land. The FORMULA project, which will be carried out in two phases, will investigate the supply and demand of NCPs in two successional agroforestry sites in Hesse and Brandenburg (Germany) with different production systems (organic vs. conventional) and environmental conditions. The tree rows create in-field spatial gradients of environmental factors and form the basis for addressing two primary research objectives, i.e., to evaluate the performance of silvo-arable agroforestry systems and compare them with reference treeless farming systems; and to advance the mechanistic understanding of the processes underlying spatial patterns of regulating and material NCPs. Two central hypotheses are that (H1) spatial complexity within fields can be expressed as a series of spatial gradients of NCP indicators from the tree line to the open field, and that (H2) gradients of NCP indicators overlap, resulting in synergies and trade-offs, with net environmental and agronomic benefits at the field scale in agroforestry systems. FORMULA is structured in five subprojects (SP1-5) and a coordinating project (SPZ), investigating NCP indicators related to climate, freshwater supply, soil quality, biodiversity, habitat, and food and feed production. The collaboration between the lead institutions, Justus Liebig University Giessen and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), adds strength to this interdisciplinary project. In addition to the individual research in the sub-projects, FORMULA includes three central experiments in which the sub-projects work closely together. The first focuses on the assessment of gradients along transects perpendicular to the tree line. The second uses nitrogen (15N) labelling to study competition between trees and plants for this important nutrient. The third experiment will collect high resolution spatial data needed for upscaling NCP indicators. Further, an innovative reference system for agroforestry research will be developed and tested. Overall, the research will follow a three-tier experimental approach, with core experiments to be carried out at both sites using identical methods (tier 1), experiments at both sites using comparable methods (tier 2), and individual satellite experiments where specific scientific infrastructure is required (tier 3). The second phase of FORMULA will include the development of an integrated mechanistic agroforestry system model required for upscaling and scenario testing. The first phase will therefore be supported by a modelling advisory board to systematically synthesise the understanding of the complexities of agroforestry systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Coordination Funds (Applicant Breuer, Lutz )
• SP1: Greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon sequestration (Applicants Gattinger, Andreas ;  Hoffmann, Mathias )
• SP2: Water and nutrient fluxes (Applicants Breuer, Lutz ;  Dubbert, Maren ;  Siemens, Jan )
• SP3: Biodiversity (Applicants Bergmann, Joana ;  Bálint, Miklós ;  Glaeser, Stefanie P. ;  Jauker, Frank )
• SP4: Mapping Plant Functional Variation (MapFun) (Applicants Bergmann, Joana ;  Kleinebecker, Till )
• SP5: Agroforestry for Sustainable Multifunctional Agriculture - Management, Productivity and Yields (Applicants Bellingrath-Kimura, Sonoko ;  Frei, Michael ;  Webber, Ph.D., Heidi )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Lutz Breuer