BEF China Main Experiment - China

Basic Information
Platform Icon

Site Name
BEF China Main Experiment
Short name
BEF China
Country
China
Site Description
The joint Chinese-German-Swiss research project “BEF-China” (FOR 891) integrates more than 15 German, Swiss, and Chinese universities and institutes into 14 collaborative subprojects. In 2009 and 2010, BEF-China established a large forest biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) experiment at the subtropical forest site Xingangshan in Jiangxi Province, China. It is the first BEF forest experiment in the highly species-rich subtropics. <!--break--> The BEF-China Main Experiment was established at two sites (A and B), covering 50 ha. In total, there are 566 plots of 400 trees each, ranging in diversity from monocultures to 24-species mixtures. The experiment used 42 native tree species and 10 shrub species, combined into different species pools. More than 400 000 tree and shrub saplings were planted. <!--break--> The present research concentrates on measuring ecosystem functions in the experimental plots, namely primary productivity, carbon and nitrogen storage, nutrient cycling, and prevention of soil erosion. The latter process is an ecosystem service which has until now never been studied in an experimental biodiversity manipulation, but has prominent importance in this region. An additional research focus will be interactions with other trophic levels and strata (herb layer, soil macrofauna, herbivores, decomposers, mycorrhiza, soil microorganisms). To meet these objectives, a wide range of scientists contribute to the BEF-China project, involving groups focusing on tree growth allometries, plant functional traits, plant-insect interactions, wood decomposition, phosphorus cycling and erosion potential.
Last modified
2020-06-29 10:06:02

CC-BY-NC Logo

General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2009
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Projects
Photos
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
Geographic
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 29.102744 Longitude: 117.921022

Size
ca. 50.00ha
Elevation (average)
190.00msl
Elevation (min)
110.00msl
Elevation (max)
265.00msl
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]