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Carbon and nitrogen cycling in forest ecosystems
CANIFFrom 02/1996 to 12/1998
Principal Investigator: Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Grant: ENV4-CT95-0053 Carbon and nitrogen Cycling in Forest Ecosystems
Objectives of CANIF
- to link process studies on carbon and nutrient fluxes with observations on the function of biodiversity at different trophic levels,
- to quantify the ability of coniferous and deciduous trees to assimilate C and N along a gradient of climate and deposition, and to investigate the function of the canopy and herb layer (including the affects of tree age) in order to extrapolate over the tree-life cycle,
- to examine the function of soil animals in litter decomposition and their interaction with soil microorganisms,
- to analyze the specific metabolic function of important species of mycorrhizae and saprophytic fungi with a view toward determening their ability to use different forms of N and C, derived from plants or decomposing organic matter,
- to quantify the function of different types of microorganisms by measuring relevent metabolic properties,
- to determine the long-term ecosystem C-balance (14C) and to measure C-, N- and S-losses to groundwater.
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