• KiLi Sub Project 2:
Controls on ecosystem water use and carbon gain at Mt. Kilimanjaro - differentiation along climate gradients and with land use from the savanna to the alpine zone
From 03/2010 to 07/2016
Project leader: Bernd Huwe, Dietrich Hertel, Christina Bogner
PhD student: Anna Kühnel, Thomas Leipold, Natalia Sierra Cornejo, Jerome Kimaro
Other participating individuals: Christoph Leuschner, Baltasar Trancón y Widemann, Holger Lange
In the framework of ecosystem analysis and biodiversity the soil and plant compartment of
Kilimajaro ecosystems will be studied with special emphasis on soil water availability, soil
water fluxes, plant water relations, and carbon in above- and belowground plant growth.
Spatiotemporal pedohydrological data, data on spatial distribution and dynamics of fine roots,
on stabile isotopes in leaf and root tissue and data on carbon in above- and belowground net
primary production abundance will be measured and analyzed along elevation/climate and
land use/disturbance gradients in order to relate these important processes to stand level
biodiversity. Soil hydrological data will provide important information for understanding solute
chemistry and nutrient turnover processes. An existing nested experiment design from the first funding period will be extended and completed to obtain spatial and seasonal
information on water storage, plant availability of soil water, water use efficiency, soil
temperature and fine root abundance on all 60 common study plots. On a subset of the study
plots we perform intensive measurements on hydrological surface processes (soil
evaporation, runoff, sediment detachment), water balance, spatial variability of soil
properties, leaf and fine root longevity, fine root dynamics and morphology, leaf production,
and stem diameter increments. Using process and statistical models we will identify and
analyze functional relationships between ecosystem compartments regarding water, energy
and matter fluxes, and above/belowground pedo- and biodiversity in close cooperation with
other subprojects.