BExIS is the online data repository and information system of the Biodiversity Exploratories Project (BE). The BE is a German network of biodiversity-related working groups from areas such as vegetation and soil science, zoology and forestry. Up to three years after data acquisition, the data use is restricted to members of the BE. Thereafter, the data is usually publicly available (https://www.bexis.uni-jena.de/ddm/publicsearch/index).
The aim of this project is to evaluate the role of biodiversity (i.e. autogenic processes) in determining the sensitivity of river margin ecosystems to changes in environmental conditions (i.e. temperature and hydrology). The programme combines three primary research tasks: 1. To understand the role of biodiversity in maintaining the structure, function and stability of ecosystems, 2. to analyse ecosystem processes with reference to the organic matter cycle (C and N), 3.to determine and compare interactions and links between ecosystem processes and physical processes in contrasting situations, defined at two scales: climatic region and patch. ERMAS II network includes a latitudinal gradient from 64 Grad N (Sweden) to 43 Grad N (South of France). The swiss teams add sites with an alpine climate. Locally, a gradient of sites is chosen to characterize a representive range of hydro-geomorphological settings (frequency of floods).