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:

Outputs:

  •  Simone Cesarz, Dylan Craven, Harald Auge, Helge Bruelheide, Bastien Castagneyrol, Andy Hector, Herv茅 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 
  • Ahmed, I., Smith, A. & Godbold, D., Sep 2019, In : Annals of Forest Science.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Gunina, A., Smith, A., Jones, D. & Kuzyakov, Y., Mar 2017, In : Biogeochemistry. 133, 1, p. 89-100
  • Gunina, A., Smith, A., Godbold, D., Jones, D. & Kuzyakov, Y., 1 Mar 2017, In : Plant and Soil. 412, 1-2, p. 357-368
  • 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
  • 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
  • Addo-Danso, S. D., Prescott, C. E. & Smith, A. R., 9 Sep 2015, In : Forest Ecology and Management. 359, p. 332-351
  • Ahmed, I. U., Smith, A. R., Jones, D. L. & Godbold, D. L., 26 Jul 2015, In : Forest Ecology and Management. 359, p. 352-360
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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