Inconsistent short-term effects of enhanced structural complexity on soil microbial properties across German forests

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Rike Schwarz
  • Nico Eisenhauer
  • Christian Ammer
  • Pia M. Bradler
  • Orsi Decker
  • Benjamin M. Delory
  • Peter Dietrich
  • Andreas Fichtner
  • Yuanyuan Huang
  • Ludwig Lettenmaier
  • Michael Junginger
  • Oliver Mitesser
  • Jörg Müller
  • Goddert von Oheimb
  • Kerstin Pierick
  • Michael Scherer-Lorenzen
  • Simone Cesarz

Structural and biotic homogenization can result from forestry practices lacking promotion of canopy gaps and deadwood. This can lead to biodiversity loss and impaired ecosystem functions. Enhancing structural complexity (ESC) has been proposed to counteract these effects, but its impact on soil properties remains insufficiently understood. Overall, we hypothesize that ESC enhances soil abiotic properties, their spatial variability, and microbial functioning, with effects modulated by environmental context and increasing over time. Data were collected from 148 patches (50 × 50 m) in eight beech forests across Germany. In half of the patches, structural complexity was enhanced by felling 30 % of the basal area of living trees through two spatial patterns—aggregated (one large gap) and distributed (small gaps)—combined with leaving or removing deadwood (stumps, logs, snags). The other half served as controls, representing managed, homogeneous production forests. Soil carbon (C) %, nitrogen (N) %, and C:N ratio increased near deadwood. Soil microbial biomass and activity were significantly affected in three of eight forest sites, effects ranging from −30 % to +62 %. Higher soil water content was associated with increased microbial biomass, and greater understorey biomass correlated with a lower microbial respiratory quotient. However, no temporal trends were observed over five years. Although soil properties showed resistance to structural interventions, site-specific effects underline the importance of soil moisture and the understorey vegetation for microbial functioning. Further research building on our results is needed to develop practical forest management strategies to clarify how structural complexity may support soil functioning and ecosystem resilience.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106335
JournalApplied Soil Ecology
Volume214
Number of pages13
ISSN0929-1393
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s)

    Research areas

  • BETA-FOR, Forest soil, Mechanistic context dependency, Soil ecosystem functioning, Sustainable forestry
  • Biology
  • Ecosystems Research

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Mark Euler

Publications

  1. Using heuristic worked examples to promote solving of reality‑based tasks in mathematics in lower secondary school
  2. Logistical Potentials of Load Balancing via the Build-up and Reduction of Stock
  3. Duration of Organizational Decision Processes in Organizations in View of Simulation Calculations
  4. The link between in- and external rotation of the auditor and the quality of financial accounting and audit
  5. Kontext
  6. The Practical Significance of History: When and How History Can Be Used for Institutional Change
  7. Analyzing Emotional Styles in the Field of Christian Religion and The Relevance of New Types of Visualization
  8. Critical look at dynamic sketches when learning mathematics
  9. Risk tolerance and altruism
  10. Decisions And Characteristics During The Development Process Of A Software Demonstrator For Data Analysis In Production Logistics
  11. Assessment of occupational exertion and strain in laboratory- and real occupational environments
  12. Selbstreflexive Autorsysteme
  13. Online-Beratung für Eltern
  14. Flexible and Adaptable Restoration
  15. Mit "gesunder" Mischung zu Stabilität und Integration?
  16. Skills and knowledge management in higher education
  17. Productive Transformations and Bilateralism in the Semi-Periphery
  18. Generating dispatching rules for semiconductor manufacturing to minimize weighted tardiness
  19. CSR and tax avoidance: A review of empirical research
  20. On the Epistemology of Computer Simulation
  21. Tristan Garcia, Form and Object
  22. Portrait of a Thinker
  23. Manpower
  24. Manual for Analysis of Soils and Related Materials
  25. Newsfeed clutter as an inhibitor of sensemaking