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- ecosystem development (2)
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- Forschungszentrum Landschaftsentwicklung und Bergbaulandschaften (FZLB) (138) (remove)
BTU
Ecosystems are characterized by high complexity and are dynamically changing by abiotic and biotic drivers such as climate, vegetation and soil fauna. Due to feedback processes between compartments, ecosystems show an inherent degree of locally heterogeneous properties and structures at multiple spatial and temporal scales.
The constructed catchment “Chicken Creek” represents a unique and outstanding site to study an ecosystem at the initial stage of development. The catchment is located about 20 km south of the city of Cottbus (Germany). The 6-ha catchment area was built in 2005 of coarse-textured quaternary sediments from the adjacent lignite mine and forms a back- and foot-slope that flattens out to a pond. A clay liner of 2-3 m thickness seals the catchment at the bottom, allowing for the formation of a local water body fed by precipitation. After construction the site was left to an unrestricted and unmanaged succession to elucidate the role of structures und processes during the initial establishment of an ecosystem. To study processes of ecosystem development and newly emerging structures the Chicken Creek catchment is equipped with a comprehensive ecological monitoring network. A network of more than 40 wells and two weirs allow for recording groundwater levels, surface runoff and discharge. Meteorological parameters are recorded at three weather stations. Annual aerial photos and vegetation monitoring reveal the floral colonisation of the area. Here, we present the 12 years of diverse and extensive monitoring program which has been launched to measure hydrological, biological, meteorological, and pedological parameters during the ecological development of the catchment area.
Relationships between substrate, surface characteristics, and vegetation in an initial ecosystem
(2013)
We investigated surface and vegetation dynamics in the artificial initial ecosystem “Chicken Creek” (Lusatia, Germany) in the years 2006–2011 across a wide spectrum of empirical data. We scrutinized three overarching hypotheses concerning (1) the relations between initial geomorphological and substrate characteristics with surface structure and terrain properties, (2) the effects of the latter on the occurrence of grouped plant species, and (3) vegetation density effects on terrain surface change. Our data comprise and conflate annual vegetation monitoring results, biennial terrestrial laser scans (starting in 2008), annual groundwater levels, and initially measured soil characteristics. The empirical evidence mostly confirms the hypotheses,
revealing statistically significant relations for several goal variables: (1) the surface structure properties, local rill density, local relief energy and terrain surface height change; (2) the cover of different plant groups (annual, herbaceous, grass-like, woody, Fabaceae), and local vegetation
height; and (3) terrain surface height change showed significant time-dependent relations with a variable that proxies local plant biomass. Additionally, period specific effects (like a calendar-year optimum effect for the occurrence of Fabaceae) were proven. Further and beyond the hypotheses, our findings on the spatiotemporal dynamics during the system’s early development grasp processes which generally mark the transition from a geo-hydro-system towards a bio-geo-hydro system (weakening geomorphology effects on substrate surface dynamics, while vegetation effects intensify with time), where pure geomorphology or substrate feedbacks are changing into vegetation–substrate feedback processes.
Meteorology
(2010)
Water budget components
(2011)
Soil water
(2010)