Tree diversity as a control of the element cycles of individual trees in experimentally assembled mixtures in Panama

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The effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning has been studied since the 1990s by observations along natural gradients and in manipulative experiments. Although effects of diversity have been found in grassland, it is not yet clear, if the observed relation between diversity and ecosystem processes also exist in structurally more complex, long-lived ecosystems, e.g. forests. It has been shown that species identity and composition are important drivers of element fluxes. Model approaches introducing species identity into ecosystem models, which traditionally treat biota as a black box, are rare. To include diversity effects into ecosystem models, the influence of individual species on element cycles must be known. Therefore, we propose to study the effect of tree diversity on element cycling in the interdisciplinary and international Sardinilla Project in Panama. Our objectives are: (1) to set up element budgets for five tree species in monoculture, and (2) to assess the effect of tree diversity (1-, 3-, and 6-species mixtures) on the element budget of each tree species, and (3) to introduce diversity effects into an existing model of biogeochemical cycles in forests based on the interaction between neighboring trees. We will determine element storage in all relevant ecosystem compartments and the main element fluxes.