Plot design phase I

The investigated forest area on limestone has been extensively managed for the last 40 years. It is characterized by a, for Central Europe, extraordinarily high tree-species diversity (up to 14 tree species per hectare) that is highly variable under homogeneous site-conditions. This situation enabled us to find stands analogue to an experimentally established system, which differ mainly in tree species diversity but are comparable with regard to site conditions.

On 12 natural forest sites on 3 diversity levels, we study the influence of tree-species diversity in relation to the target species beech by comparative measurements of ecosystem functions. The influence of interannual variability on measurements is taken into account by monitoring of the most important parameters over the entire period of 9 years. An additional environmental-economic sub-project evaluates the economic value of ecosystem services of forests with high biodiversity.