Multitrophic and multispatial biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships under multiple stressors in natural freshwater microcosms

Freshwater biodiversity is declining at a fast rate in many regions of the world. This has consequences on ecosystem processes and the services they provide to humanity. Diversity loss and consequences on ecosystem processes might be shaped by different facets of biodiversity and its spatial organization (biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF)-relationships). Better knowledge is needed to slow biodiversity loss and maintain healthy ecosystems and their services. In this project, we use a unique study system, i.e. dendrotelmata (water-filled tree holes) as model to understand BEF-relationships at different levels of biological organisation (intra-specific, alpha-diversity, beta-diversity, meta-communities) and how they are affected by spatial scale and climate change. MULTIBEF is a SNSF funded project that started in January 2022 and is co-lead by Andreas Bruder (SUPSI) and Martin Gossner (WSL), with Francesca Cerroti as PhD-student and Thibaut Rota as Postdoc.