The iDiv Ecotron—A flexible research platform for multitrophic biodiversity research

Schmidt, Anja; Hines, Jes; Türke, Manfred; Buscot, François; Schädler, Martin; Weigelt, Alexandra; Gebler, Alban; Klotz, Stefan; Liu, Tao; Reth, Sascha; Trogisch, Stefan; Roy, Jacques; Wirth, Christian; Eisenhauer, Nico

doi:10.1002/ece3.8198

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 97 publications

(110 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…individual experimental chambers, with controlled abiotic conditions. Each EcoUnit includes both a below-ground compartment with a soil volume of 1.24 × 1.24 × 0.80 m and an above-ground compartment of 1.46 × 1.46 × 1.50 m [21]. The Ecotrons have the advantage of allowing the manipulation of one environmental variable, namely ALAN, while keeping all the other factors constant between EcoUnits.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To test the effect of night light exposure on plant community biomass production, diversity and performance, we experimentally manipulated ALAN for a model grassland community sown in the iDiv Ecotron facility [20,21]. Therefore, for three focal species, we assessed individual plant performance by measuring 10 leaf plant functional traits that indicate whether plants benefit from the additional light or are stressed [22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“….46 × 1.46 × 1.50 m[21]. The Ecotrons have the advantage of allowing the manipulation of one environmental variable, namely ALAN, while keeping all the other factors constant between EcoUnits.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Artificial light at night decreases plant diversity and performance in experimental grassland communities

Bucher,

Uhde,

Weigelt

et al. 2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artificial light at night (ALAN) affects many areas of the world and is increasing globally. To date, there has been limited and inconsistent evidence regarding the consequences of ALAN for plant communities, as well as for the fitness of their constituent species. ALAN could be beneficial for plants as they need light as energy source, but they also need darkness for regeneration and growth. We created model communities composed of 16 plant species sown, exposed to a gradient of ALAN ranging from ‘moonlight only’ to conditions like situations typically found directly underneath a streetlamp. We measured plant community composition and its production (biomass), as well as functional traits of three plant species from different functional groups (grasses, herbs, legumes) in two separate harvests. We found that biomass was reduced by 33% in the highest ALAN treatment compared to the control, Shannon diversity decreased by 43% and evenness by 34% in the first harvest. Some species failed to establish in the second harvest. Specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content and leaf hairiness responded to ALAN. These responses suggest that plant communities will be sensitive to increasing ALAN, and they flag a need for plant conservation activities that consider impending ALAN scenarios. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Light pollution in complex ecological systems’.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Artificial light at night decreases plant diversity and performance in experimental grassland communities

Bucher,

Uhde,

Weigelt

et al. 2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The iDiv Ecotron platform is an indoor mesocosm facility (Figure 2a) consisting of 24 independent, experimental chambers, the so‐called “EcoUnits” (Schmidt et al, 2021). The Ecotron platform is located in Bad Lauchstädt, Saxony‐Anhalt, Germany, at the Experimental Research Station of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ, 51.3917° N, 11.8762° E).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we conducted a closed mesocosm experiment to take advantage of the fully controlled but close to natural environmental conditions of the iDiv Ecotron (Schmidt et al, 2021), which allowed us to analyze the implications of heat stress on insect moving activity without any major confounding factors. Moreover, the setting allowed us to apply an RFID tracking system and track the movement of invertebrates for the first time in a near-natural environment.…”

Section: Future Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microhabitat conditions remedy heat stress effects on insect activity

Terlau

Brose

Eisenhauer

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anthropogenic global warming has major implications for mobile terrestrial insects, including long‐term effects from constant warming, for example, on species distribution patterns, and short‐term effects from heat extremes that induce immediate physiological responses. To cope with heat extremes, they either have to reduce their activity or move to preferable microhabitats. The availability of favorable microhabitat conditions is strongly promoted by the spatial heterogeneity of habitats, which is often reduced by anthropogenic land transformation. Thus, it is decisive to understand the combined effects of these global change drivers on insect activity. Here, we assessed the movement activity of six insect species (from three orders) in response to heat stress using a unique tracking approach via radio frequency identification. We tracked 465 individuals at the iDiv Ecotron across a temperature gradient up to 38.7°C. In addition, we varied microhabitat conditions by adding leaf litter from four different tree species to the experimental units, either spatially separated or well mixed. Our results show opposing effects of heat extremes on insect activity depending on the microhabitat conditions. The insect community significantly decreased its activity in the mixed litter scenario, while we found a strong positive effect on activity in the separated litter scenario. We hypothesize that the simultaneous availability of thermal refugia as well as resources provided by the mixed litter scenario allows animals to reduce their activity and save energy in response to heat stress. Contrary, the spatial separation of beneficial microclimatic conditions and resources forces animals to increase their activity to fulfill their energetic needs. Thus, our study highlights the importance of habitat heterogeneity on smaller scales, because it may buffer the consequences of extreme temperatures of insect performance and survival under global change.

show abstract

Ecosystem consequences of invertebrate decline

Eisenhauer,

Ochoa-Hueso,

Huang

et al. 2023

Current Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The iDiv Ecotron—A flexible research platform for multitrophic biodiversity research

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 8 publications

References 97 publications

Artificial light at night decreases plant diversity and performance in experimental grassland communities

Artificial light at night decreases plant diversity and performance in experimental grassland communities

Microhabitat conditions remedy heat stress effects on insect activity

Ecosystem consequences of invertebrate decline

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About