Coordinated Soil Sampling in the Biodiversity Exploratories – 2014

At the Exploratories sites we investigate the interaction between land use, biodiversity and soil biological processes. To be able to compare the results of different pedological projects, Dr. Ingo Schöning from MPI for Biogeochemistry organizes every three years a coordinated soil sampling campaign.

This year altogether 15 research groups from 13 scientific institutions take part (Helmholtz-Zentrum München, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ), HU Berlin, FU Berlin, TU Berlin, Senkenberg-Institut, Uni Hohenheim, Uni Göttingen, Uni Bochum, Uni Tübingen, KIT Karlsruhe, Leibniz-Institut DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Uni Rostock).

Within 12 days all 300 plots at the 3 sites Schwäbische Alb, Hainich-Dün, and Schorfheide-Chorin are simultaneously sampled by 3 teams of altogether 45 persons. Sample taking must be done as fast as possible to allow comparisons between samples of different plots.

Soil samples are taken along two transects of 36 meters length in the forest sites and 20 m in the grassland. Mixed samples are produced for different horizontal layers (Oi, Oe, Oa) and for mineral soils (0-10 cm) with a final sample size of 8,850.

The Biodiversity Exploratories is a joint research project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to promote biodiversity research in Germany. This spring the financial support for the 4th project phase until 2017 was granted.