Harvest of soil-plant mesocosms in Bayreuth

The soil-plant mesocosms in the southern area of the Ecologic-Botanical Garden (ÖBG) of the University of Bayreuth have been harvested today. With the help of a rented mini-caterpillar and an earth rammer (whose foot was changed to a special version to fit on the plastic tube segments) we were able to get out all 27 soil cores within a few hours and to bring them to the SusAlps experimental site (500 m). Thanks to many helping hands, who made it possible to finish half a minute before a heavy thunderstorm rain came. The area in the ÖBG, from where we got these soil cores, are grasslands (meadows/pastures) for about 150 years and they are unfertilized for 30 years. A high species diversity was obvious during the flowering period in June.