TY - GEN A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, S. A1 - Biemelt, Detlef A1 - Fischer, Annette T1 - Colonization potential of the opportunistic herb Conyza canadensis at the landscape scale in an initial catchment Y1 - 2010 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Biemelt, Detlef A1 - Fischer, Anton T1 - Immediate shift towards source dynamics: The pioneer species Conyza canadensis in an initial ecosystem T2 - Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants N2 - The aim of this study was to detect a potential temporal shift from sink to source dynamics of pioneer plants during primary succession. The study was done in an initial ecosystem, namely an artificially constructed catchment on Pleistocene sands in eastern Germany. The import and export of seeds (including soil seed bank and seed rain), the development of vegetation cover and the population size of all pioneer species were recorded in 2005–2009. The interplay between the spatial distribution of seed rain and the prevailing wind direction provide evidence that seeds of Conyza canadensis (Asteraceae) first and to a considerable amount left the developing ecosystem. A change from a sink to source dynamics was detected already in the first year of both the existence of the site and occurrence of C. canadensis individuals within the site. Population patterns at the landscape unit scale demonstrated extensive auto-correlations in the coverage of this invasive plant at first. Our results underline the pioneer traits of C. canadensis as a prolific seeder and excellent wind disperser, which enables this species to become rapidly dominant over relatively large areas. KW - colonization potential Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2011.07.001 VL - 206 IS - 11 SP - 928 EP - 934 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Fischer, Anton A1 - Kollmann, Johannes A1 - Ulrich, Werner T1 - Species-driven phases and increasing structure in early-successional plant communities T2 - The American Naturalist N2 - Successional phases describe changes in ecological communities that proceed in steps rather than continuously. Despite their importance for the understanding of ecosystem development, there still exists no reliable definition of phases and no quantitative measure of phase transitions. In order to obtain these data, we investigated primary succession in an artificial catchment (6 ha) in eastern Germany over a period of 6 years. The data set consists of records of plant species and their cover values, and initial substrate properties, both from plots in a regular grid (20 m × 20 m) suitable for spatial data analysis. Community assembly was studied by analyses of species co-occurrence and nestedness. Additionally, we correlated lognormal and log series distributions of species abundance to each community. We here introduce a new general method for detection of successional phases based on the degree of transient spatial homogeneity in the study system. Spatially coherent vegetation patterns revealed non-overlapping partitions within this sequence of primary succession and were characterized as two distinct ecological phases. Patterns of species co-occurrence were increasingly less random, and hence the importance of demographic stochasticity and neutral community assembly decreased during the study period. Our findings highlight the spatial dimension of successional phases and quantify the degree of change between these steps. They are an element for advancing a more reliable terminology of ecological successions. KW - spatial analysis Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1086/668571 VL - Vol. 181 IS - 1 SP - E17 EP - E27 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Veste, Maik A1 - Pohle, Ina A1 - Schümberg, Sabine A1 - Abreu Schonert, Iballa A1 - Hinz, Christoph T1 - Experimental investigation of the early interaction between cyanobacterial soil crusts and vascular plants T2 - European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2016, Vienna, Austria N2 - While there are hints that biological soil crusts (BSCs) can constitute physical barriers for the emergence of vascular plants, a conceptual approach for the quantitative evaluation of these effects is still missing. Here we present an experimental design to test the emergence of seedlings in situ with (i) capping natural intact, (ii) destroyed and (iii) removed BSC. The selected field site is directly adjacent to the constructed Hühnerwasser catchment (Lusatia, Germany). This site exists since the end of 2008 and consists of loamy sand. Serving as proxy for seedling thrust, we inserted pre-germinated seeds of three confamiliar plant species with different seed masses (members of the Fabaceae family: Lotus corniculatus L., Ornithopus sativus Brot., and Glycine max (L.) Merr.). In each treatment as well as in the control group planting depths were 10 mm. We took care that experimental plots had identical crust thickness, slightly less than 4 mm, serving as proxy for mechanical resistance. A plot became established as follows: Firstly, the pristine crusted surface was vertically cut. To the windward side the BSC remained intact (i: “with BSC” stripe). To the downwind side soil material was temporarily excavated for laterally inserting the seeds beneath the surface of the first stripe. Then at the thereby disturbed second stripe pulverised BSC material became filled as a top layer (ii: “BSC mix” stripe). From the next stripe the BSC was removed (iii : “no BSC” stripe). Thus each plot had each experimental group in spatial contiguity (within 50 cm * 50 cm). The overall 50 plots were distributed across an area of 40 m * 12 m. When individuals of a species either emerged at all stripes, “XXX”, or at no stripe of a plot, “– – –“, there was no reason to suppose any effect of a crust. The “–XX” emergence pattern (depicting the appearance of seedlings in both stripes possessing manipulated surfaces) points towards hindrance more clearly than “–X–” or “– - X”. Altogether eight possible combinations exist. Combinatorial analysis turned out that seedling emergence had been notably impeded for light-weighted seeds but little for heavy seeds. Repeated recordings enable to account for adaptable emergence of seedlings according to varying crust conditions – in spatial as well as temporal terms. The proposed experimental procedure hence is highly recommended as a viable instrument to further investigate filter and facilitation processes between BSCs and vascular plants. Y1 - 2016 UR - http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2016/EGU2016-8595.pdf N1 - EGU2016-8595 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Caviedes-Voullieme, Daniel A1 - Andezhath Mohanan, Anju A1 - Brück, Yasemine A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Hinz, Christoph ED - Schütze, Niels ED - Müller, Uwe ED - Schwarze, Robert ED - Wöhling, Thomas ED - Grundmann, Jens T1 - Effect of surface water redistribution on vegetation encroachment in the constructed Hühnerwasser catchment T2 - M³ - Messen, Modellieren, Managen in Hydrologie und Wasserressourcenbewirtschaftung. Beiträge zum Tag der Hydrologie am 22./23. März 2018 an der Technischen Universität Dresden N2 - The artificial Hühnerwasser catchment has experienced a significant and monitored evolution since 2005, changing from a post-mining landscape to an almost fully vegetated ecosystem. The early stages showed a fast rate of ecohydrological evolution with changing dominating processes and feedbacks. The evolution of rill vegetation encroachment is one of such complex co-evolving processes. We hypothesise that rill vegetation encroachment is driven by the evolution of the hydrologic/hydraulic regime of the rill network, which in turn affects the regime, potentially creating a stabilising positive feedback. We further hypothesise that rill vegetation occurs later than hillslope vegetation, and follows a particular establishment and encroachment timeline in response to the changing hydrological/hydraulic regimes. That is, the early runoff-dominated regime results in higher flows, velocities, transport and erosion capacity, thus favouring seed flushing and seedling uprooting. On the other hand, as the system transitions from a runoffdominated into an infiltration- and ET-dominated system, flow, velocity, transport and erosion capacity in the rill network are reduced, making seed establishment in the rills more likely. We explore these hypothesis with two complementary approaches: an analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of vegetation and a process-based numerical modelling study. Firstly, we assess aerial photography of rill vegetation encroachment between 2007 and 2012 in terms of several vegetation types to derive temporal indicators of encroachment. The analysis reveals that in the initial stages, a rill network developed in the hillslope. Shortly after vegetation first established on hillslopes, the rill network became progressively vegetated. Different pioneering species established heterogeneously, at different times and encroached into the rills at different rates. However, despite the volume of data, it is difficult to assess which are the governing and limiting processes which respectively drive and constrain how and at which rate vegetation encroaches into the rills. In consequence, a pilot modelling study to identify the relative relevance of rill network geometry, bare soil infiltration, hillslope vegetation heterogeneity and intra-storm variability on the hydraulic response of the rill network and its possible impact on encroachment. The overall results suggest that vegetation encroachment may be controlled by the rill network hydraulic regime, but such regime is the result of a complex superposition of responses of all the aforementioned factors, of which rill geometry appears to be a dominant one. Furthermore, the simulations showed that vegetation spatial heterogeneity has an impact on the hydraulic regime coupled to the presence of temporal rainfall variability. Altogether, these results show that the governing coevolving ecohydrological processes are interacting and are strongly affected by spatial and temporal heterogeneities. Y1 - 2018 UR - https://tu-dresden.de/bu/umwelt/hydro/ihm/hydrologie/ressourcen/dateien/tdh2018/TdH_2018_Abstractband.pdf SP - S. 91 PB - Technische Universität CY - Dresden ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Brück, Yasemine A1 - Andezhath Mohanan, Anju A1 - Caviedes-Voullième, Daniel A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. T1 - Spatio-temporal development of rill vegetation in the Hühnerwasser Catchment T2 - European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2018, Vienna, Austria N2 - The artificial catchment “Hühnerwasser” was built in a post-mining landscape, as a field experiment to observe and monitor early-development ecosystems at hillslope scale. Early on, rain-induced rill and channels formation was observed, followed by vegetation growth in between rills, and later on inside the rills. In this work, we aim to describe the temporal evolution of the spatial distribution of rill vegetation. In general terms, we hypothesize four different encroachment patterns might occur: (1) The vegetation spreads from the top of the rills downstream. The underlying hypothesis would be a higher establishment probability due to a lower velocity of surface runoff and therefore less transport probability compared to downstream rill segments. (2) The vegetation starts growing downstream and moves upwards. In this case we can hypothesize that the spatial distribution of the vegetation is dominated by water availability, which is higher or more stable downstream. (3) The vegetation encroaches from the sides into the rills, meaning that inter-rill vegetation governs vegetation encroachment inside the rills. (4) If no patterns are detected it might mean that the encroachment process depends strongly on very local conditions, or perhaps that the underlying assumption of an initially homogeneous seed distribution is false. To investigate the rills formation and rill vegetation encroachment processes, rills and vegetation patches inside these rills were identified and digitized from aerial photographs of the catchment from 2007 to 2012. Different vegetation types were identified based on the colour and texture of the patches. The geometrical properties of the rill segments and vegetation patches were used to define how the different vegetation types have distributed in space and how this distribution has changed over time. Rill mapping reveals a large increase of rill area from 2007 to 2008 and only a small rise from 2008 to 2009. Starting in 2010 dense vegetation prevents a precise mapping of the rills in the aerial photographs, so we assume that there is no change in rill area from 2009 to 2012. In 2007 vegetation covered only 1.4% of the rill area. There is only a small increase of this area in 2008 compared to the later years. In 2012 more than 50% of the rill area is covered by plants. Ten different vegetation types have been identified in the aerial photographs, starting with two types in 2007. By 2012 nine types are spotted in the rills of the catchment. Some of these vegetation types show an encroachment from up- to downstream (e.g. Tussilago farfara), some from down- to upstream like Phragmites australis, whose creeping rhizomes can also promote such spreading. Others reveal no patterns. To better assess and identify the underlying processes leading to these encroachment processes shown by the different vegetation types further data analysis –e.g. comparison with ground based vegetation mapping– and process-based hydrological modelling is necessary to fully explain these observations and assessing additional competition effects, which may be at play. Y1 - 2018 UR - https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2018/EGU2018-13391.pdf N1 - EGU2018-13391 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - GEN A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Hecker, Lutz Philip T1 - Convergence in Tourism and Divergence in Agriculture as a Perspective to Foster Sustainability All Round T2 - Scientific Research Publishing Y1 - 2018 SN - 2165-4336 VL - 8 IS - 5 SP - 464 EP - 469 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Schümberg, Sabine A1 - Kidron, Giora J. A1 - Ramm, Jessica A1 - Veste, Maik T1 - Impacts of cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crusts on seedling emergence and fate: an in situ experiment T2 - Pant and Soil : an International Journal on Plant-Soil Relationships N2 - Background and aims Biological soil crusts (BSCs) co-occur with vascular plants in many ecosystems. Nevertheless, little is known regarding the interaction among BSCs and vascular plants, and no standard methods exist aiming to evaluate BSC–plant interactions. While some reports emphasized the inhibition effect of BSCs on germination, others reported the opposite or did not find any differences between germination under crusted and non-crusted conditions. Contradictory findings were also reported regarding the BSC effects on vascular plants after germination, with some reports claiming that BSCs promote growth, while others claim the opposite. Methods By a seed addition experiment (using light and heavy seeds of three species belonging to the Fabaceae family) in an early-successional system in Germany, we tested in situ the emergence of seedlings under variable surface conditions (cyanobacterial crust, disturbed and removed crust), and quantified crust-plant interactions (survival, flowering) during and following seedling emergence. Results In comparison to an average of 8% of the light Lotus corniculatus and 20% of the light Ornithopus sativus that emerged through the cyanobacterial BSC, 76% of the heavy Glycine max emerged. Once emerged, the crust did not significantly affect the survival, growth, biomass, or flowering of G. max, whereas many of the seedlings from lightweight seeds dried up soon after emergence. The thickness of the cyanobacterial biocrust had no influence on Fabaceae emergence. Conclusion The cyanobacterial BSC acted as a filter that hindered the emergence of the lightweight seeds. KW - Biocrusts KW - Biological soil crusts KW - soil ecology KW - post-mining site Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06869-3 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Biber, Peter A1 - Veste, Maik A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Seiffert, S. ED - Holzheu, Stefan ED - Thies, B. T1 - How do vegetation patterns develop in initial ecosystems? A modelling approach T2 - Dimensions of ecology - from global change to molecular ecology, (GfÖ) 39th annual conference, University of Bayreuth, 14th - 18th September 2009 Y1 - 2009 SP - S. 123 PB - Bayreuther Zentrum für Ökologie und Umweltforschung (BayCEER) Selbstverlag CY - Bayreuth ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Kollmann, Johannes A1 - Ulrich, Werner A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Elmer, Michael A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Fischer, Anton ED - Jeltsch, Florian ED - Joshi, Jasmin T1 - Cover balance or degree of autocorrelation? It is the same and integratively traces pattern formation during succession T2 - GfÖ 43rd Annual Meeting, Building bridges in ecology, linking systems, scales and disciplines, September 9 to 13, 2013, Potsdam, Germany N2 - It is widely acknowledged that increasing complexity is a key attribute of ecosystem genesis. This is particularly true for primary succession on homogeneous substrates. However, a mechanistic understanding of spatial colonisation and pattern formation during primary succession has not been achieved yet. Thus, we studied this topic for 7 years within an experimental catchment (6 ha) established in the post-mining landscape of eastern Germany. Equidistant permanent plots (120 plots à 25m²) allowed for autocorrelation analyses, and thus tracing the spatial development of species cover performance. For each species tested, the “cover balance” first increased due to colonization, while decreasing in the course of succession. Drawing a benefit from these temporal trends, we suggested cover balance levels revealed by autocorrelation analyses to best indicate well-defined phases in primary succession at spatial entities. Hence, with the help of this spatial approach, terrestrial succession can be understood now much better at the most general level of the hierarchy provided by Pickett et al. (1987). In accordance with these authors, at subordinated levels of the causal hierarchy differential species performance might get collectively explained by contributing processes or conditions, such as ecophysiological traits, life history strategies, competition and allelopathy of the occurring plant species. Further research is needed to understand their relative contributions to the pattern formation. Y1 - 2013 UR - http://www.gfoe-2013.de/download/130905_GFOe_2013_Abstracts.small.pdf SP - 228 EP - 229 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. ED - Liu, Jiu-Fu ED - Gu, Wei-Zu T1 - Ecosystem Development in the Constructed Catchment "Chicken Creek" T2 - Hydrology of Artificial and Controlled Experiments N2 - Landscapes and ecosystems are complex systems with many feedback mechanisms acting between the various abiotic and biotic components. The knowledge about these interacting processes is mainly derived from mature ecosystems. The initial development of ecosystem complexity may involve state transitions following catastrophic shifts, disturbances, or transgression of thresholds. We propose a conceptual framework of feedback processes in early states of ecosystem development affected by spatiotemporal environmental drivers. To test this concept, we used 10-year time series of hydrological, biological, geomorphological, and soil data from the constructed catchment Chicken Creek.” The 6ha site was left to unrestricted development since 2005 and was intensively monitored. The data showed a very rapid development of the site with an increasing complexity and heterogeneity. In the first years, stochastic signals like the initial substrate conditions and external drivers like extreme weather events were the most important factors resulting in abiotic/abiotic feedback mechanisms shaping the morphology of the site and creating site diversity. Initial abiotic feedback mechanisms between water and substrate were soon followed by abiotic/biotic feedbacks between biological soil crusts, invading vegetation, geomorphology, and hydrology resulting in state transitions of catchment functioning. Y1 - 2018 UR - https://www.intechopen.com/books/hydrology-of-artificial-and-controlled-experiments/ecosystem-development-in-the-constructed-catchment-chicken-creek- SN - 978-1-78923-559-3 SN - 978-1-78923-558-6 SP - 75 EP - 93 PB - Intech Open CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ulrich, Werner A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Fischer, Anton A1 - Soliveres, Santiago A1 - Gotelli, Nicholas J. T1 - Species interactions and random dispersal rather than habitat filtering drive community assembly during early plant succession T2 - Oikos N2 - Theory on plant succession predicts a temporal increase in the complexity of spatial community structure and of competitive interactions: initially random occurrences of early colonising species shift towards spatially and competitively structured plant associations in later successional stages. Here we use long-term data on early plant succession in a German post mining area to disentangle the importance of random colonisation, habitat filtering, and competition on the temporal and spatial development of plant community structure. We used species co-occurrence analysis and a recently developed method for assessing competitive strength and hierarchies (transitive versus intransitive competitive orders) in multispecies communities. We found that species turnover decreased through time within interaction neighbourhoods, but increased through time outside interaction neighbourhoods. Successional change did not lead to modular community structure. After accounting for species richness effects, the strength of competitive interactions and the proportion of transitive competitive hierarchies increased through time. Although effects of habitat filtering were weak, random colonization and subsequent competitive interactions had strong effects on community structure. Because competitive strength and transitivity were poorly correlated with soil characteristics, there was little evidence for context dependent competitive strength associated with intransitive competitive hierarchies. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.02658 VL - 125 IS - 5 SP - 698 EP - 707 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Hinz, Christoph T1 - A Critical Zone Observatory for detecting ecosystem transition: the constructed catchment Chicken Creek (Germany) T2 - Procedia Earth and Planetary Science N2 - The constructed catchment Chicken Creek was established in 2005 as an experimental landscape laboratory for ecosystem research. The 6 ha area with clearly defined horizontal as well as vertical boundary conditions was left for natural primary succession. All Critical Zone elements are represented at this site, which allows the study of most processes occurring at the interface of bio-, pedo-, geo- and hydrosphere. It provides outstanding opportunities for investigating interactions and feedbacks between different co-evolving compartments. The catchment has been extensively instrumented since 2005. Data are recorded with a high spatial and temporal resolution and include hydrological, geomorphological, pedological, limnological as well as biological parameters in order to detect transition states of the ecosystem. In contrast to other Critical Zone Observatories, this site offers the unique situation of an early stage ecosystem with highly dynamic properties. The first years of development were characterized by a fast formation of geomorphological structures due to massive erosion of the initially non-vegetated surface. Hydrological processes led to the establishment of a local groundwater body within 5 years. In the following years the influence of biological structures like vegetation patterns gained increasing importance. Feedbacks between developing vegetation and e.g. hydrological features became more and more apparent. As a result, different phases of ecosystem development have been distinguished. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeps.2014.08.009 VL - 10 SP - 46 EP - 51 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ulrich, Werner A1 - Piwczynski, Marcin A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Fischer, Anton T1 - Soil conditions and phylogenetic relatedness influence total community trait space during early plant succession T2 - Journal of Plant Ecology N2 - The total space of traits covered by the members of plant communities is an important parameter of ecosystem functioning and complexity. We trace the variability of trait space during early plant succession and ask how trait space co-varies with phylogenetic community structure and soil conditions. Particularly, we are interested in the small-scale variability in trait space and the influence of biotic and abiotic filters. We use data on species richness and soil conditions from the first 7 years of initial succession of an artificial catchment in north-eastern Germany. Total functional attribute diversity serves as a proxy to total trait space. Total trait space steadily increased during succession. We observed high small-scale variability in total trait space that was positively correlated with species richness and phylogenetic segregation and negatively correlated with total plant cover. Trait space increased with soil carbonate content, while pH and the fraction of sandy material behaved indifferently. Our results indicate that during early succession, habitat filtering processes gain importance leading to a lesser increase in trait space than expected from the increase in species richness alone. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtt048 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - 321 EP - 329 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Maurer, Thomas A1 - Boldt-Burisch, Katja A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Hinz, Christoph T1 - An interactive survey panel regarding the effects of mice (Microtus spec.) on a young ecosystem T2 - European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria, 13 April - 17 May 2015 KW - interactive survey panel Y1 - 2015 UR - http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-13818.pdf N1 - EGU2015-13818 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Hinz, Christoph A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. T1 - The role of feedback mechanisms in the initial development of the constructed catchment Chicken Creek T2 - European Geosciences Union, General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria, 13 April - 17 May 2015 KW - initial development Y1 - 2015 UR - http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-8664.pdf N1 - EGU2015-8664 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Elmer, Michael A1 - Fischer, Anton A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Nenov, Rossen A1 - Pretzsch, Hans A1 - Seifert, Stefan A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. T1 - Monitoring the formation of structures and patterns during initial development of an artificial catchment T2 - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment N2 - The objective of this paper is to present observations, results from monitoring measurements, and preliminary conclusions about the development of patterns and structures during the first 5 years of development of an artificial catchment starting from point zero. We discuss the high relevance of initial system traits and external events for the system development and draw conclusions for further research. These investigations as part of a Collaborative Research Center, aim to disentangle and understand the feedback mechanisms and interrelationships of processes and their co-development with spatial and temporal structures and patterns by studying an initial, probably less complex ecosystem. Therefore, intensive measurements were carried out in the catchment with regard to the development of surface structures, hydrological patterns, vegetation dynamics, water chemistry, and element budgets. During the first 5 years, considerable changes within the catchment were observed. Both internal and external factors could be identified as driving forces for the formation of structures and patterns in the artificial catchment. Initial structures formed by the construction process and initial substrate characteristics were decisive for the distribution and flow of water. External factors like episodic events triggered erosion and dissection during this initial phase, promoted by the low vegetation cover, and the unconsolidated sandy substrate. The transformation of the initial geosystem into areas with evolving terrestrial or aquatic characteristics and from a very episodic to a more permanent stream network and discharge, together with the observed vegetation dynamics increased site diversity and heterogeneity with respect to water and nutrient availability and transformation processes compared with the more homogenous conditions at point zero. The processes and feedback mechanisms in the initial development of a new landscape may deviate in rates, intensity, and dominance from those known from mature ecosystems. It is therefore crucial to understand these early phases of ecosystem development and to disentangle the increasingly complex interactions between the evolving terrestrial and aquatic, biotic, and abiotic compartments of the system. Long-term monitoring of initial ecosystems may provide important data and parameters on processes and the crucial role of spatial and temporal structures and patterns to solve these problems. Artificially created catchments could be a suitable tool to study these initial developments at the landscape scale under known, designed, and defined boundary conditions. KW - ecosystem development Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2998-x SN - 0167-6369 VL - Vol. 185 IS - 7 SP - 5965 EP - 5986 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Elmer, Michael A1 - Fischer, Anton A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Nenov, Rossen A1 - Pretzsch, Hans A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. T1 - Feedbacks between vegetation, surface structures and hydrology during initial development of the artificial catchment 'Chicken Creek' T2 - Procedia Environmental Sciences N2 - Our investigations at the artificial catchment ´Chicken Creek´ in Lusatia/Germany aim to disentangle and understand the feedback mechanisms and interrelationships of processes and their co-development with spatial and temporal structures and patterns by studying this initial, probably less complex ecosystem. Intensive measurements were carried out in the catchment with regard to the development of surface structures, hydrological patterns, and vegetation dynamics. During the first seven years, considerable changes within the catchment were observed. Both internal and external factors could be identified as driving forces for the formation of structures and patterns in the artificial catchment. Initial structures formed by the construction process and initial substrate characteristics were decisive for the distribution and flow of water. External factors like episodic events triggered erosion and dissection during this initial phase, promoted by the low vegetation cover and the unconsolidated sandy substrate. The transformation of the initial geo-system into areas with evolving terrestrial or aquatic characteristics and from a very episodic to a more permanent stream network and discharge, together with the observed vegetation dynamics increased site diversity and heterogeneity with respect to water and nutrient availability and transformation processes compared to the more homogenous conditions at point zero. The processes and feedback mechanisms in the initial development of a new landscape may deviate in rates, intensity and dominance from those known from mature ecosystems. It is therefore crucial to understand these early phases of ecosystem development and to disentangle the increasingly complex interactions between the evolving terrestrial and aquatic, biotic and abiotic compartments of the system. Artificially created catchments could be a suitable tool to study these initial developments at the landscape scale under known, designed and defined boundary conditions. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2013.06.010 SN - 1878-0296 VL - 19 SP - 86 EP - 95 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ulrich, Werner A1 - Piwczynski, Marcin A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Fischer, Anton T1 - Small-scale spatial variability in phylogenetic community structure during early plant succession depends on soil properties T2 - Oecologia N2 - During early plant succession, the phylogenetic structure of a community changes in response to important environmental filters and emerging species interactions. We traced the development of temperate-zone plant communities during the first 7 years of primary succession on catchment soils to explore patterns of initial species assembly. We found pronounced small-scale differences in the phylogenetic composition of neighbouring plant assemblages and a large-scale trend towards phylogenetic evenness. This small-scale variability appears to be mediated by soil properties, particularly carbonate content. Therefore, abiotic environmental conditions might counteract or even supersede the effects of interspecific competition among closely related species, which are usually predicted to exhibit patterns of phylogenetic evenness. We conclude that theories on phylogenetic community composition need to incorporate effects of small-scale variability of environmental factors. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2954-2 VL - 175 IS - 3 SP - 985 EP - 995 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Biber, Peter A1 - Seifert, Stefan A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Pretzsch, Hans A1 - Fischer, Anton T1 - Relationships between substrate, surface characteristics, and vegetation in an initial ecosystem T2 - Biogeosciences N2 - We investigated surface and vegetation dynamics in the artificial initial ecosystem “Chicken Creek” (Lusatia, Germany) in the years 2006–2011 across a wide spectrum of empirical data. We scrutinized three overarching hypotheses concerning (1) the relations between initial geomorphological and substrate characteristics with surface structure and terrain properties, (2) the effects of the latter on the occurrence of grouped plant species, and (3) vegetation density effects on terrain surface change. Our data comprise and conflate annual vegetation monitoring results, biennial terrestrial laser scans (starting in 2008), annual groundwater levels, and initially measured soil characteristics. The empirical evidence mostly confirms the hypotheses, revealing statistically significant relations for several goal variables: (1) the surface structure properties, local rill density, local relief energy and terrain surface height change; (2) the cover of different plant groups (annual, herbaceous, grass-like, woody, Fabaceae), and local vegetation height; and (3) terrain surface height change showed significant time-dependent relations with a variable that proxies local plant biomass. Additionally, period specific effects (like a calendar-year optimum effect for the occurrence of Fabaceae) were proven. Further and beyond the hypotheses, our findings on the spatiotemporal dynamics during the system’s early development grasp processes which generally mark the transition from a geo-hydro-system towards a bio-geo-hydro system (weakening geomorphology effects on substrate surface dynamics, while vegetation effects intensify with time), where pure geomorphology or substrate feedbacks are changing into vegetation–substrate feedback processes. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-8283-2013 VL - 10 SP - 8283 EP - 8303 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Rzanny, Michael A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Fischer, Anton A1 - Ulrich, Werner T1 - Increasing ecological multifunctionality during early plant succession T2 - Plant Ecology N2 - Ecological multifunctionality quantifies the functional performance of various important plant traits and increases with growing structural habitat heterogeneity, number of plant functional traits, and species richness. However, the successional changes in multifunctionality have not been traced so far. We use quantitative plant samples of 1 m2 plots from the first 6 years of initial vegetation dynamics in a German created catchment to infer the temporal changes in plant functional trait space and multifunctionality. Multifunctionality at the plot level was in all study years lower than expected from a random sample of the local pool of potential colonizers and was lowest at intermediate states of succession. In each year species containing a specific set of traits occurred with limited but focused functionality. The observed average low degree of multifunctionality contrasts with recent models predicting a tendency towards maximum multifunctionality during plant community development. However, variability in multifunctionality among plots increased during succession and the respective multifunctionality distribution among plots was increasingly right skewed indicating an excess of plots with relatively high multifunctionality. This relative excess of plots with high multifunctionality might act as an important trigger of community development paving the way for new species and functions to become established. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-019-00930-3 SN - 1573-5052 VL - 220 IS - 4-5 SP - 499 EP - 509 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Elmer, Michael A1 - Gerwin, Werner A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Hohberg, Karin A1 - Nenov, Rossen A1 - Bens, Oliver A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. T1 - Dynamics of initial ecosystem development at the artificial catchment Chicken Creek, Lusatia, Germany T2 - Environmental Earth Sciences KW - ecosystem development Y1 - 2013 SN - 1866-6299 VL - 69 IS - 2 SP - 491 EP - 505 ER -