REASSEMBLY

Resistance, resilience and functional recovery of a rainforest ecosystem

​DFG-funded Research Unit REASSEMBLY (FOR 5207) Posts @bsky
1^st funding phase 2021-2025, 2^nd phase 2026-2029

REASSEMBLY aims at understanding network dynamics to uncover rules of network dis- and reassembly in a highly diverse tropical lowland rainforest ecosystem. We study the dynamics of natural forest recovery from agriculture along a chronosequence and the contribution of re-assembled networks to the resilience of ecosystem processes against perturbation. We compare the trajectories of predator–prey, plant–pollinator, and plant–seed disperser networks, as well as decomposition networks between mammals, dung beetles and seeds, and between dead wood, ants, termites, and beetles. Subprojects thus examine networks of all major ecosystem processes mediated by interspecific interactions: predation, pollination, primary and secondary seed dispersal, herbivory, decomposition, and tree seedling recruitment. Networks and ecosystem processes are studied along a large-scale chronosequence of forest recovery (62 plots representing different stages of succession) and in a small-scale perturbation–recruitment experiment. Our Research Unit is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

Our MISSION: Although REASSEMBLY is a basic scientific research unit, our aim is to ensure that the knowledge gained can be applied and contribute to optimizing the restoration of tropical forests. This research project, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), will not only be conducted within a forest in Ecuador, but on an equal footing with the Ecuadorian scientific community in different institutions and with an Ecuadorian conservation organization (Fundación Jocotoco). Our goal is to strengthen ecological science and the next generation of scientists in both countries, as well as nature conservation efforts that meet the interests of local communities. To achieve these goals, transparent and accessible data and results are essential.

Latest Posts:

• Rainforest recovery – optimistic results in a rather pessimistic global context
  by Nico
  April 10, 2026
  Our recent article in Nature (see our Post here) may spark an optimistic viewpoint – animal communities in a tropical rainforest recover in a few decades, many of them even completely. Note that we only speak of a complete natural regeneration when, based on the species composition, a secondary forest can no longer be distinguished …
• Rainforest recovery can be very fast for most (but not all) of its components
  by Nico
  April 10, 2026
  How long does it take for a tropical rainforest ecosystem to recover on its own from deforestation? The answer to this apparently simple question required a huge effort achieved by our entire Research Unit and a complex analysis across over 10’000 plant and animal species and over 23’000 bacteria sequences – and was now published …
• Phylogenetic diversity recovers differently across taxa
  by Edith Villa-Galaviz
  March 10, 2026
  Our first synthesis on phylogenetics was published! In the words of the first author “in this study on the recovery of phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic community structure, we found that early regenerating habitats do not necessarily harbour closely related species that are later replaced by distantly related ones during late regeneration, as is often expected. …
• Fruitful experiment in a restored forest
  by Nico
  February 17, 2026
  Artificial “dummy” fruits are a very useful method to assess the recovery of potential interactions in restored forests. Most attacks on these dummy fruits are by birds (and some by arthropods or mammals), represented by fruit feeding bird species that are important seed dispersers. Pedro Luna and his team applied large and small dummy fruits …
• Recovery of structural complexity
  by Nico
  January 30, 2026
  Trees in tropical rainforest generate a structurally very complex habitat, supporting many niches for a huge diversity of species. But how can this structural complexity be quantified? With a terrestrial laser scanner, Martin Ehbrecht and Tim Lehmann studied the three-dimensional vegetation structure along the chronosequence of ‘Reassembly’. In their recent paper published in the Journal …