Long term trial areas offer the only possibility of studying middle and long term changes in the element budget of sylvan ecosystems. A greater or lesser in and outflow balance serves as an indication of the ecosystem's condition. The areas offer a basis for judging the present stress situation and for forecasting future development of the ecosystem. This however entails the availability of time series of the relevant ecological parametres. Short term series fail to reveal gradual changes so that climatic change, for instance, cannot be recognized. Thus we possess a continuous series of data from the trial areas in the Solling dating back to 1969. This is unique and of immeasurable scientific value.
Thus it is evident that the long term acquisition of parametres relevant to the ecosystem is an absolute necessity for recognizing developments of sylvan ecosystems. The Research Centre is in the fortunate position of possessing a number of long term trial areas in representative sylvan ecosystems. The large number of areas permits comparative investigations on different sites - for example on soils with poor and rich bases as well as on different tree species.
The most important long term trial areas are situated in the
Solling
, the
Harz
(Hercynian Mountains)
, in
Zierenberg
near Cassel in Hesse, in the
Göttinger Forest
and on
Lüneburg Heath.