The aim of the proposed project is to study how the bottom-up and top-down trophic cascades in native riparian communities including bacteria, fungi, plants, herbivores and their predators are affected by fungicide contamination from flooding events and invasive plants. Aphids are not only an important prey for predators, but the large amounts of honeydew they excrete are likely to play a role as a resource for soil microorganisms as well. Beside the biological processes, knowledge about the influence of terrestrial ecosystems and their regulating function as a net sink or source for greenhouse-gas fluxes is limited. In this context, data on soil-plant interactions on carbon and nitrogen cycles would increase the understanding of the system. The measurement of soil respiration fluxes is another part of this project since it provides information on the vitality of the soil system (plant root/microorganism).

Elyssa Dubois

Verena Rösch

Kai Riess

Klaus Schützenmeister

2022-2025

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/German Research Foundation (DFG)

Stefanie Müller-Schüssele (Kaiserslautern)

Rainer Wirth (Kaiserslautern)

SystemLink

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global change, ecosystem functions; invasive plants, chemical pollution, water-land-interaction; fungi, plants, arthropods, aphids, ladybirds; Germany