Bangor Diverse

Satus: Ongoing, since March 2004

Contact person: Dr Andy Smith

Funding sources:Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF), Forestry Commission, Centre for Integrated Research in the Rural Environment (CIRRE)

Background: Forests provide many ecosystem services to humankind that include, flood defences, carbon sequestration and the provision of fresh water.  Historically, much of the research investigating species diversity, ecosystem functioning and productivity has been conducted in the laboratory or grassland field trials.  BangorDIVERSE is a long-running field-scale experiment that looks at how tree species diversity can deliver an enhanced range of ecosystem services and be more resilient.

Aims:

• Determine how tree species diversity impacts forest productivity and ecosystem function.
• Examine and quantify the effects of altered species richness and functional diversity on key ecosystem processes including C sequestration.
• Elucidate the mechanisms underpinning diversity - function relationships.
• Describe how species diversity alters pest susceptibility, transmission and forest stand resilience.

Website: http://diverse.bangor.ac.uk/

Outputs:

•  Biotic and abiotic drivers of soil microbial functions across tree diversity experiments Simone Cesarz, Dylan Craven, Harald Auge, Helge Bruelheide, Bastien Castagneyrol, Andy Hector, Hervé Jactel, Julia Koricheva, Christian Messier, Bart Muys, Michael J. O’Brien, Alain Paquette, Quentin Ponette, Catherine Potvin, Peter B. Reich, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Andrew R Smith, Kris Verheyen, Nico Eisenhauer. Submitted to Global Ecology and Biology, available on bioRxiv preprint server https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.30.927277
• Polyculture affects biomass production of component species but not total standing biomass and soil carbon stocks in a temperate forest plantation Ahmed, I., Smith, A. & Godbold, D., Sep 2019, In : Annals of Forest Science.
• Early stage litter decomposition across biomes.Djukic, I., Kepfer-Rojas, S., Kappel Schmidt, I., Steenberg Larsen, K., Beier, C., Berg, B., Verheyen, K., et al., 2018. In: Science of the Total Environment 628-629; 1369-1394
• Role of substrate supply on microbial carbon use efficiency and its role in interpreting soil microbial community-level physiological profiles (CLPP) Jones, D. L., Hill, P., Smith, A., Farrell, M., Ge, T. & Murphy, D. V., Aug 2018, In : Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 123, p. 1-6 6 p.
• Microbial uptake and utlization of low molecular weight organic substrates in soil depend on carbon oxidation state Gunina, A., Smith, A., Jones, D. & Kuzyakov, Y., Mar 2017, In : Biogeochemistry. 133, 1, p. 89-100
• Response of soil microbial community to afforestation with pure and mixed specie Gunina, A., Smith, A., Godbold, D., Jones, D. & Kuzyakov, Y., 1 Mar 2017, In : Plant and Soil. 412, 1-2, p. 357-368
• Contributions of a global network of tree diversity experiments to sustainable forest plantations Verheyen, K., Vanhellemont, M., Auge, H., Baeten, L., Baraloto, C., Barsoum, N., Bilodeau-Gauthier, S., Bruelheide, H., Castagneyrol, B., Godbold, D., Haase, J., Hector, A., Jactel, H., Koricheva, J., Loreau, M., Mereu, S., Messier, C., Muys, B., Nolet, P., Paquette, A., Parker, J., Perring, M., Ponette, Q., Potvin, C., Reich, P., Smith, A. R., Weih, M. & Scherer-Lorenzen, M., 12 Aug 2015, In : AMBIO. 45, 1, p. 29-41
• Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Affects Ectomycorrhizal Species Abundance and Increases Sporocarp Production under Field Conditions Godbold, D. L., Vasutova, M., Wilkinson, A., Edwards-Jonasova, M., Bambrick, M., Smith, A., Pavelka, M. & Cudlin, P., 21 Apr 2015, In : Forests. 6, 4, p. 1256-127
• Methods for estimating root biomass and production in forest and woodland ecosystem carbon studies: A review Addo-Danso, S. D., Prescott, C. E. & Smith, A. R., 9 Sep 2015, In : Forest Ecology and Management. 359, p. 332-351
• Tree species identity influences the vertical distribution of labile and recalcitrant carbon in a temperate deciduous forest soil Ahmed, I. U., Smith, A. R., Jones, D. L. & Godbold, D. L., 26 Jul 2015, In : Forest Ecology and Management. 359, p. 352-360
• Deciduous woodland exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2 has species-specific impacts on anecic earthworms Scullion, J., Smith, A. R., Gwynn-Jones, D., Jones, D. L. & Godbold, D. L., 1 Aug 2014, In : Applied Soil Ecology. 80, p. 84-92
• Elevated atmospheric CO2 and humidity delay leaf fall in Betula pendula, but not in Alnus glutinosa or Populus tremula x tremuloides Godbold, D., Tullus, A., Kupper, P., Sober, J., Ostonen, I., Godbold, J. A., Lukac, M., Ahmed, I. U. & Smith, A. R., 21 May 2014, In : Annals of Forest Science. 71, 8, p. 831-842
• Elevated CO2 enrichment induces a differential biomass response in a mixed species temperate forest plantation Smith, A. R., Lukac, M., Hood, R., Healey, J. R. & Miglietta, F. G., Godbold, D.L., 1 Apr 2013, In : New Phytologist. 198, 1, p. 156-168
• Tree species diversity interacts with elevated CO2 to induce a greater root system response Smith, A. R., Lukac, M., Bambrick, M., Miglietta, F. & Godbold, D. L., 1 Jan 2013, In : Global Change Biology. 19, 1, p. 217-228

Photos

Forestry technician Mike Bambrick removing a single ash (Fraxinus excelsior) sapling during the thinning operation of 2012-2013

Three species mixture plot before thinning.

Sprouting of Acer pseudoplatanus from the stump of a felled tree.

View of the Aber valley from across the top of the BangorDIVERSE plantation.

Dryopterris affinis growing amongst Betula pendula and Quercus robur. two species plots