In my master’s project, we are interested in the role of soil history and current diversity in plant productivity. In our experiment, we take unferzilized and nitrogen-fertilized soil from plots where monoculture and 8-species communities grew and conduct a greenhouse experiment. We plant monocultures and diverse communities on these soils and measure plant biomass.
Is there a difference in plant growth when species are grown on their own soil, on monoculture soil of another species, or on community soil? Do they grow better in a diverse community than alone? What soil organisms can be found, and may they affect plant growth? Do we see an effect of the nitrogen enrichment? These questions - and many more - we are trying to answer with this experiment. One day I might like to work in agriculture, where crop rotation is conducted to reduce negative soil legacy effects. I hope that the knowledge we gain with this project will help to highlight the importance of this practice.
Project: PaNDiv Experiment
