First Cohort First cohort PhDs The first cohort joined the RTG in October 2017. Scott Appleby SP 7-1: Effects of small mammal communities on seed predation and seed dispersal Ieva Bebre SP 8-1: Growth, morphology, and biomass allocation of seedlings grown under different light availability levels and competition types Estela Foltran SP 3-1: Matter cycling and nutrient efficiency in mixed and pure stands Likulunga Emmanuel Likulunga SP 4-1: Molecular physiology of tree nutrition in mixed and pure beech-conifer forests: interaction with mycorrhizae Jing-Zhong Lu SP 5-1: Community structure and guild patterns of soil decomposers Amani Lwila SP 1-1: Rooting patterns, root growth, and water uptake in response to interspecific competition Isa Marques SP 11-1: Semiparametric regression with nonstationary spatial dependence structures Dragan Matevski SP 6-1: Arthropod diversity and functioning in mixed versus pure stands Hannes Riebl SP 10-1: Structured Additive Distributional Regression Models in Ecology and Forestry: Applications, Software, and Inference Carmen Alicia Rivera Pérez SP 4-1: Molecular physiology of tree nutrition in mixed and pure beech-conifer forests: interaction with mycorrhizae Johannes Sauer SP 9-1: Structure and dynamics of pure and mixed stands of European beech, Norway spruce, and Douglas-fir Katja Schumann SP 2-1: Drought tolerance mechanisms of Douglas-fir, Norway spruce, and European beech in mixed and pure stands Scott Appleby Ieva Bebre Estela Foltran Likulunga Emmanuel Likulunga Jing-Zhong Lu Amani Lwila Isa Marques Dragan Matevski Hannes Riebl Carmen Alicia Rivera Pérez Johannes Sauer Katja Schumann (geb. Steinhoff)