Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems Sumatra (Indonesia) - EFForTS

Duration of the project: 2012 - 2019

Contact: Prof. Dr. Andrea Polle, Email: apolle(at)gwdg.de

Tropical rain forests have the highest biodiversity on earth and carry out a broad variety of ecosystem functions which provide several ecosystem services. Tropical ecosystems face massive land-use changes. Within the framework of the EFForTS project we aim to provide science-based knowledge on how to protect and enhance the ecological functions of tropical forests and agricultural transformation systems: low land rain forest, rubber agroforests ('jungle-rubber'), rubber plantations and oil palm plantations. Our research sites are located in Jambi Province on Sumatra. The EFForTS project (www.uni-goettingen.de/efforts) is a Collaborative Research Center jointly formed by the Göttingen University, Jambi University, Bogor Agricultural University, Tadulako University and the Indonesian Institute of Science.
In our subproject we investigate root traits, root-associated and soil fungi diversity and fungal community structures. Root and soil fungi play an important role for ecosystem functioning and are strongly affected by deforestation and resulting land-use changes and management practices. Root-associated mycorrhizal fungi supply nutrients and water to the roots of plants and act as main pathway of carbon to soil. In contrast, pathogenic fungi cause diseases and can reduce ecosystem productivity. The influence of land-use intensification in tropical ecosystems on fungal diversity and community structure is not well understood.

Our objectives are to understand


  • the effect of forest transformation on root functional traits

  • the environmental drivers of root and soil fungal diversity in rain forest and transformation systems

  • the root and soil fungal community structure in different land use systems and their relevance for ecosystem functioning

  • the relationship between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity and host plant species identity



To address our hypotheses we use high throughput sequencing methods to identify soil and root fungal species in different land-use systems. We measure root chemical and performance traits, soil parameters and environmental parameters. We are supported by our Indonesian partners Dr. SW Budi (IPB), Dr. H. Barus, Dr. E. Nur (UNTAD) and Dr. Bambang and Upik Yelanti (Jambi). Dr. E. Nur is an alumnus of CRC990 EFForTS.

proj_efforts_460_c
A) Rainforest B) Rubber plantation C) Oil palm plantation

Publications
Sahner J, Budi SW, Barus H, Edy N, Meyer M, Corre MD, Polle A (2015) Degradation of Root Community Traits as Indicator for Transformation of Tropical Lowland Rain Forests into Oil Palm and Rubber Plantations. PLoS ONE 10(9): e0138077, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138077

Thesis
Nur E (2015) Community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in temperate grassland and tropical land-use systems. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 156 pages
http://ediss.uni-goettingen.de/handle/11858/00-1735-0000-0022-608C-B

Posters
Polle A, Barus H, Bambang I, Budi SW (2015) B07 - Functional diversity of mycorrhizal fungi along a tropical land-use gradient. CRC 990 - Ecological and socioeconomic functions of tropical lowland rainforest transformation systems (Sumatra, Indonesia), DFG evaluation, Göttingen (23 Sep 2015)

Brinkmann N, Schneider D, Klein T, Sahner J, Nur E, Budi SW, Daniel R, Polle A (2015) Pyrosequencing analysis of soil fungal communities of different transformation systems in the Jambi Province (Sumatra, Indonesia). 6th Congress of European Microbiologists, Maastricht, The Netherlands (7-11 June 2015)

Sahner J, Budi SW, Barus H, Edy N, Meyer M, Corre M, Polle A (2015) Functional root community traits and forest transformation, International Symposium - Final Workshop CRC 990 1st phase, Göttingen, Germany (23-24 Mar 2015)

Yelianti U, Edy N, Sahner J, Irawan B, Barus H, Budi SW, Polle A (2015) Long term organic nitrogen uptake in relation to mycorrhiza and forest type. International Symposium - Final Workshop CRC 990 1st phase, Göttingen, germany (23-24 Mar 2015)

Sahner J, Edy N, Irawan B, Budi SW, Barus H, Toding E, Yelianti U, Polle A (2013) Functional diversity of mycorrhizal fungi along a tropical land-use gradient. CRC 990 - Ecological and socioeconomic functions of tropical lowland rainforest transformation systems (Sumatra, Indonesia), CRC status workshop, Göttingen, Germany (10-11 Oct 2013)

Presentations
Sahner J, Brinkmann N, Edy N, Budi SW, Barus H, Corre M, Schneider D, Daniel R, Polle A (2016) Fungal communities along a tropical land-use gradient (Sumatra, Indonesia). Annual Conference of the Society for Tropical Ecology (Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie, gtö), Göttingen, Germany (23-26 Feb 2016)

Sahner J, Edy N, Brinkmann N, Budi SW, Barus H, Meyer M, Corre M, Schneider D, Daniel R, Polle A (2015) Root community traits and fungal communities along a tropical land-use gradient (Sumatra, Indonesia). CRC colloquium series, Göttingen, Germany (17 June 2015)

Sahner J, Edy N, Brinkmann N, Budi SW, Barus H, Meyer M, Schneider D, Daniel R, Polle A (2015) Fungal communities along a tropical land-use gradient (Sumatra, Indonesia). 45th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Göttingen, Germany (31 Aug - 4 Sep August 2015)

Polle A. (2014) The role of mycorrhizas in tree nutrition probed by stable isotopes. Invited talk at the IPB Bogor, Indonesia (Oct 2014)

Polle A. (2014) Exploring functional diversity of mycorrhizas by stable isotope application. Invited talk at the Unversity of Jambi, Indonesia (Oct 2014)


The project B07 in CRC 990 "Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems Sumatra (Indonesia)" is funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).