No official website so far, information under www.leipziger-auwald.de

After damages as a result of the flood in summer 2013 the canopy crane has been reconstructed in spring 2014. First field studies were undertaken on 8 May 2001, initiated by Leipzig University, the City of Leipzig, and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ. iDiv has taken back its canopy crane in the floodplain forest in Leipzig into operation at Wednesday, 9 July 2014.

Research focus

• Important life processes inside the ecosystem forest, to develop suggestions for forestal utilization and nature conservation
• Biocenoses of high treetops, their specific adaptions and achievements
• Functional biodiversity research, i.e. the influence of biological diversity on the forest’s cooling function, the dynamic of carbon storage, catabolic processes and decomposer communities in treetops

Key data

• Location: Leipzig, floodplain forest, conservation area: “Burgaue”
• Platform type: Experimental outdoor platform, field studies, revolving tower crane type Liebherr 71 EC, 40 meters high, area to be spanned: 16,500m²
• Research groups involved: Scientists from the Leipzig University, iDiv and its partners

Contact

Prof Christian Wirth
c.wirth@uni-leipzig.de

Ronny Richter
ronny.richter@idiv.de