Environmental changes, many of them man-made, proceed at unprecedented rates at spatial scales ranging from local to global. What are the consequences of these changes for ecosystem processes? I will address this question by assessing impacts of three factors of global environmental change on primary production and organic matter decomposition as the two most fundamental processes in the biosphere. Specifically, I will present results from field experiments to explore how warming, sustained nutrient enrichment, and extreme physical disturbance may affect plankton production and organic matter decomposition in lakes, wetlands and streams. While the mechanisms underlying some of the observed impacts appear to be straightforward, others are unexpected, underscoring the need for manipulative field experiments that capture the complexity of natural ecosystems to forecast consequences of future environmental change on fresh waters.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ulrike-G. Berninger und Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Dötterl FB-Leiter
Gäste sind wie immer herzlich willkommen!