Bachelor Thesis

Unterschiede in der Pflanzenartenvielfalt von Mischwäldern auf kalkhaltigen und sandigen Böden in Mitteleuropa

Larissa Häberle (07/2022-01/2023)

Support: Carl Beierkuhnlein, Frank Weiser

Species are not evenly distributed across the planet and biodiversity patterns are formed as a result. (Plant)diversity is influenced by many factors. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate whether a simple differentiation of soils into sandy and calcareous soils allows to draw conclusions about vascular plant diversity. In order to examine this, three study areas in Upper Franconia (radius per study-area: 2.5 km) were defined. On these, 34 randomly distribu-ted plots (size 100 m²) - 17 per calcareous and 17 per sandy area - were determined. Forest patches on calcareous sandy soils were excluded. The species richness of mosses, ferns and phanerogams was recorded. Two areas showed higher diversity in forests on calcareous soils than on sandy soils. However, this difference was significant for only one area. Another area, which is mainly characterized by rendzinas in the calcareous study area, showed a significantly higher species diversity in the sandy area. Furthermore, high diversity differences between the plots on lime were found in two study areas, which is an indication of different degrees of calcium leaching. The work shows that the classification based on soil type alone is too rough and that the diversity of vascular plant species can sometimes be more influenced by other factors.