Some plants do not shed their leaves in autumn, for good reason

The Jena Experiment (www.the-jena-experiment.de) has been running since 2002 and aims to uncover the mechanisms that determine BEF relationships in the short- and in the long-term. During the last years we provided novel empirical evidence that ecological and evolutionary processes are intertwined in determining biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, and long-term experiments are key not only to gain a basic understanding of the relative importance as well as interactions of these processes but also to apply these concepts to better provisioning of ecosystem functions and stability. In the next few years, we will focus on the biodiversity drivers of ecosystem stability, including temporal stability using unique time series and stability in response to extreme climate events, such as drought, flooding, hot spells, and exceptional frost periods.

The Jena Experiment (www.the-jena-experiment.de) has been running since 2002 and aims to uncover the mechanisms that determine BEF relationships in the short- and in the long-term. During the last years we provided novel empirical evidence that ecological and evolutionary processes are intertwined in determining biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, and long-term experiments are key not only to gain a basic understanding of the relative importance as well as interactions of these processes but also to apply these concepts to better provisioning of ecosystem functions and stability. In the next few years, we will focus on the biodiversity drivers of ecosystem stability, including temporal stability using unique time series and stability in response to extreme climate events, such as drought, flooding, hot spells, and exceptional frost periods.