TY  - JOUR
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Baumbach, Henryk
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Fischer, Markus
T1  - Interacting effects of fertilization, mowing and grazing on plant species diversity of 1500 grasslands in Germany differ between regions
JF  - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie
N2  - The relationship of different types of grassland use with plant species richness and composition ( functional groups of herbs, legumes, and grasses) has so far been studied at small regional scales or comprising only few components of land use. We comprehensively studied the relationship between abandonment, fertilization, mowing intensity, and grazing by different livestock types on plant diversity and composition of 1514 grassland sites in three regions in North-East, Central and South-West Germany. We further considered environmental site conditions including soil type and topographical situation. Fertilized grasslands showed clearly reduced plant species diversity (-15% plant species richness, -0.1 Shannon diversity on fertilized grasslands plots of 16m(2)) and changed composition (-3% proportion of herb species), grazing had the second largest effects and mowing the smallest ones. Among the grazed sites, the ones grazed by sheep had higher than average species richness (+27%), and the cattle grazed ones lower (-42%). Further, these general results were strongly modulated by interactions between the different components of land use and by regional context: land-use effects differed largely in size and sometimes even in direction between regions. This highlights the importance of comparing different regions and to involve a large number of plots
KW  - Biodiversity exploratories
KW  - Functional groups
KW  - Land use type
KW  - Livestock type
KW  - Shannon diversity
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2012.12.003
SN  - 1439-1791
VL  - 14
IS  - 2
SP  - 126
EP  - 136
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Jena
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hancock, Christine
A1  - Wäschke, Nicole
A1  - Schumacher, Uta
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Meiners, Torsten
A1  - Obermaier, Elisabeth
T1  - Fertilizer application decreases insect abundance on Plantago lanceolata - a large-scale experiment in three geographic regions
JF  - Arthropod-plant interactions : an international journal devoted to studies on interactions of insects, mites, and other arthropods with plants
N2  - Humans have substantially altered the nitrogen cycle of ecosystems through the application of agricultural fertilizer. Fertilization may not only affect plant species diversity, but also insect dynamics by altering plant nitrogen supplies. We investigated the effect of experimental fertilization on the vegetation, with the ribwort plantain as the focal plant, and on higher trophic levels on differently managed grasslands throughout Germany. Over a period of 2 years, we examined two specialist herbivores and their parasitoid on Plantago lanceolata L., and the composition and structure of the surrounding vegetation. Over 70 sites in three geographic regions, within the large-scale project "German Biodiversity Exploratories", were included in the study. The model system consisted of the host plant P. lanceolata L., the monophagous weevils Mecinus labilis Herbst and M. pascuorum Gyllenhal, and their parasitoid Mesopolobus incultus Walker. Fertilization decreased plant species richness and host plant abundance, whereas it enhanced the total vegetation growth. The increased size and heigher leaf nitrogen content did not improve herbivore performance. On the contrary, the abundance of the two herbivores was decreased by fertilization. The parasitoid depended on the abundance of one of its hosts, M. pascuorum (positively density-dependent). Reduced herbivore abundance due to fertilization might be explained by a lower abundance of the host plant, a lower stalk number, and by changed patterns of host localization within higher vegetation. Fertilization negatively affected the third trophic level by cascading up via host abundance. The relationships between fertilization, surrounding vegetation and the tritrophic system were measured throughout the three regions and over the 2-year period. Our findings present consequences of intensification for a plant-herbivore-parasitoid system, and may have significant implications for the conservation of multitrophic systems in managed grasslands.
KW  - Fertilization
KW  - Nitrogen
KW  - Tritrophic interaction
KW  - Plant species richness
KW  - Grassland management
KW  - Vegetation structure
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-012-9237-9
SN  - 1872-8855
SN  - 1872-8847
VL  - 7
IS  - 2
SP  - 147
EP  - 158
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Bossdorf, Oliver
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Haensel, Falk
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Hessenmoeller, Dominik
A1  - Korte, Gunnar
A1  - Nieschulze, Jens
A1  - Pfeiffer, Simone
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Renner, Swen
A1  - Schoening, Ingo
A1  - Schumacher, Uta
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
T1  - Implementing large-scale and long-term functional biodiversity research : the biodiversity exploratories
N2  - Functional biodiversity research explores drivers and functional consequences of biodiversity changes Land use change is a major driver of changes of biodiversity and of biogeochemical and biological ecosystem processes and services However, land use effects on genetic and species diversity are well documented only for a few taxa and trophic networks We hardly know how different components of biodiversity and their responses to land use change are interrelated and very little about the simultaneous, and interacting, effects of land use on multiple ecosystem processes and services Moreover, we do not know to what extent land use effects on ecosystem processes and services are mediated by biodiversity change Thus, overall goals are on the one hand to understand the effects of land use on biodiversity and on the other to understand the modifying role of biodiversity change for land-use effects on ecosystem processes, including biogeochemical cycles To comprehensively address these Important questions, we recently established a new large-scale and long-term project for functional biodiversity, the Biodiversity Exploratories (www biodiversity-exploratories de) They comprise a hierarchical set of standardized field plots in three different regions of Germany covering manifold management types and intensities in grasslands and forests They serve as a joint research platform for currently 40 projects involving over 300 people studying various aspects of the relationships between land use biodiversity and ecosystem processes through monitoring, comparative observation and experiments We introduce guiding questions, concept and design of the Biodiversity Exploratories - including main aspects of selection and implementation of field plots and project structure - and we discuss the significance of this approach for further functional biodiversity research This includes the crucial relevance of a common study design encompassing variation in both drivers and outcomes of biodiversity change and ecosystem processes, the interdisciplinary integration of biodiversity and ecosystem researchers, the training of a new generation of integrative biodiversity researchers, and the stimulation of functional biodiversity research in real landscape contexts, in Germany and elsewhere.
Y1  - 2010
UR  - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14391791
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2010.07.009
SN  - 1439-1791
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Allan, Eric
A1  - Bossdorf, Oliver
A1  - Dormann, Carsten F.
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Tscharntke, Teja
A1  - Blüthgen, Nico
A1  - Bellach, Michaela
A1  - Birkhofer, Klaus
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Böhm, Stefan
A1  - Börschig, Carmen
A1  - Chatzinotas, Antonis
A1  - Christ, Sabina
A1  - Daniel, Rolf
A1  - Diekötter, Tim
A1  - Fischer, Christiane
A1  - Friedl, Thomas
A1  - Glaser, Karin
A1  - Hallmann, Christine
A1  - Hodac, Ladislav
A1  - Hölzel, Norbert
A1  - Jung, Kirsten
A1  - Klein, Alexandra Maria
A1  - Klaus, Valentin H.
A1  - Kleinebecker, Till
A1  - Krauss, Jochen
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Morris, E. Kathryn
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Nacke, Heiko
A1  - Pasalic, Esther
A1  - Rillig, Matthias C.
A1  - Rothenwoehrer, Christoph
A1  - Schally, Peter
A1  - Scherber, Christoph
A1  - Schulze, Waltraud X.
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Steckel, Juliane
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Türke, Manfred
A1  - Weiner, Christiane N.
A1  - Werner, Michael
A1  - Westphal, Catrin
A1  - Wolters, Volkmar
A1  - Wubet, Tesfaye
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Gorke, Martin
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Renner, Swen C.
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Pfeiffer, Simone
A1  - König-Ries, Birgitta
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Fischer, Markus
T1  - Interannual variation in land-use intensity enhances grassland multidiversity
JF  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
N2  - Although temporal heterogeneity is a well-accepted driver of biodiversity, effects of interannual variation in land-use intensity (LUI) have not been addressed yet. Additionally, responses to land use can differ greatly among different organisms; therefore, overall effects of land-use on total local biodiversity are hardly known. To test for effects of LUI (quantified as the combined intensity of fertilization, grazing, and mowing) and interannual variation in LUI (SD in LUI across time), we introduce a unique measure of whole-ecosystem biodiversity, multidiversity. This synthesizes individual diversity measures across up to 49 taxonomic groups of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria from 150 grasslands. Multidiversity declined with increasing LUI among grasslands, particularly for rarer species and aboveground organisms, whereas common species and belowground groups were less sensitive. However, a high level of interannual variation in LUI increased overall multidiversity at low LUI and was even more beneficial for rarer species because it slowed the rate at which the multidiversity of rare species declined with increasing LUI. In more intensively managed grasslands, the diversity of rarer species was, on average, 18% of the maximum diversity across all grasslands when LUI was static over time but increased to 31% of the maximum when LUI changed maximally over time. In addition to decreasing overall LUI, we suggest varying LUI across years as a complementary strategy to promote biodiversity conservation.
KW  - biodiversity loss
KW  - agricultural grasslands
KW  - Biodiversity Exploratories
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1312213111
SN  - 0027-8424
VL  - 111
IS  - 1
SP  - 308
EP  - 313
PB  - National Acad. of Sciences
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Manning, Pete
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Bossdorf, Oliver
A1  - Allan, Eric
A1  - Zhang, Yuan-Ye
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Blüthgen, Nico
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Böhm, Stefan
A1  - Börschig, Carmen
A1  - Hölzel, Norbert
A1  - Jung, Kirsten
A1  - Klaus, Valentin H.
A1  - Klein, Alexandra Maria
A1  - Kleinebecker, Till
A1  - Krauss, Jochen
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Pasalic, Esther
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Tschapka, Marco
A1  - Türke, Manfred
A1  - Weiner, Christiane
A1  - Werner, Michael
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Renner, Swen C.
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Fischer, Markus
T1  - Grassland management intensification weakens the associations among the diversities of multiple plant and animal taxa
JF  - Ecology : a publication of the Ecological Society of America
N2  - Land-use intensification is a key driver of biodiversity change. However, little is known about how it alters relationships between the diversities of different taxonomic groups, which are often correlated due to shared environmental drivers and trophic interactions. Using data from 150 grassland sites, we examined how land-use intensification (increased fertilization, higher livestock densities, and increased mowing frequency) altered correlations between the species richness of 15 plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate taxa. We found that 54% of pairwise correlations between taxonomic groups were significant and positive among all grasslands, while only one was negative. Higher land-use intensity substantially weakened these correlations(35% decrease in rand 43% fewer significant pairwise correlations at high intensity), a pattern which may emerge as a result of biodiversity declines and the breakdown of specialized relationships in these conditions. Nevertheless, some groups (Coleoptera, Heteroptera, Hymenoptera and Orthoptera) were consistently correlated with multidiversity, an aggregate measure of total biodiversity comprised of the standardized diversities of multiple taxa, at both high and lowland-use intensity. The form of intensification was also important; increased fertilization and mowing frequency typically weakened plant-plant and plant-primary consumer correlations, whereas grazing intensification did not. This may reflect decreased habitat heterogeneity under mowing and fertilization and increased habitat heterogeneity under grazing. While these results urge caution in using certain taxonomic groups to monitor impacts of agricultural management on biodiversity, they also suggest that the diversities of some groups are reasonably robust indicators of total biodiversity across a range of conditions.
KW  - Biodiversity indicators
KW  - correlation
KW  - fertilization
KW  - grassland management
KW  - grazing
KW  - land-use change
KW  - land-use intensity
KW  - mowing
KW  - multidiversity
KW  - multitrophic interactions
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1890/14-1307.1
SN  - 0012-9658
SN  - 1939-9170
VL  - 96
IS  - 6
SP  - 1492
EP  - 1501
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Blüthgen, Nico
A1  - Dormann, Carsten F.
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Klaus, Valentin H.
A1  - Kleinebecker, Till
A1  - Hoelzel, Norbert
A1  - Alt, Fabian
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Nieschulze, Jens
A1  - Renner, Swen C.
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Schumacher, Uta
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Birkhofer, Klaus
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Oelmann, Yvonne
A1  - Rothenwöhrer, Christoph
A1  - Scherber, Christoph
A1  - Tscharntke, Teja
A1  - Weiner, Christiane N.
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
T1  - A quantitative index of land-use intensity in grasslands integrating mowing, grazing and fertilization
JF  - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie
N2  - Land use is increasingly recognized as a major driver of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in many current research projects. In grasslands, land use is often classified by categorical descriptors such as pastures versus meadows or fertilized versus unfertilized sites. However, to account for the quantitative variation of multiple land-use types in heterogeneous landscapes, a quantitative, continuous index of land-use intensity (LUI) is desirable. Here we define such a compound, additive LUI index for managed grasslands including meadows and pastures. The LUI index summarizes the standardized intensity of three components of land use, namely fertilization, mowing, and livestock grazing at each site. We examined the performance of the LUI index to predict selected response variables on up to 150 grassland sites in the Biodiversity Exploratories in three regions in Germany(Alb, Hainich, Schorlheide). We tested the average Ellenberg nitrogen indicator values of the plant community, nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in the aboveground plant biomass, plant-available phosphorus concentration in the top soil, and soil C/N ratio, and the first principle component of these five response variables.
 The LUI index significantly predicted the principal component of all five response variables, as well as some of the individual responses. Moreover, vascular plant diversity decreased significantly with LUI in two regions (Alb and Hainich).
 Inter-annual changes in management practice were pronounced from 2006 to 2008, particularly due to variation in grazing intensity. This rendered the selection of the appropriate reference year(s) an important decision for analyses of land-use effects, whereas details in the standardization of the index were of minor importance. We also tested several alternative calculations of a LUI index, but all are strongly linearly correlated to the proposed index.
 The proposed LUI index reduces the complexity of agricultural practices to a single dimension and may serve as a baseline to test how different groups of organisms and processes respond to land use. In combination with more detailed analyses, this index may help to unravel whether and how land-use intensities, associated disturbance levels or other local or regional influences drive ecological processes.
KW  - Agro-ecosystems
KW  - Biodiversity exploratories
KW  - Grassland management
KW  - Land-use impacts
KW  - Livestock density
KW  - Meadows
KW  - Nitrogen
KW  - Pastures
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2012.04.001
SN  - 1439-1791
VL  - 13
IS  - 3
SP  - 207
EP  - 220
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Jena
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Näther, Astrid
A1  - Fösel, Bärbel U.
A1  - Nägele, Verena
A1  - Wüst, Pia K.
A1  - Weinert, Jan
A1  - Bonkowski, Michael
A1  - Alt, Fabian
A1  - Oelmann, Yvonne
A1  - Polle, Andrea
A1  - Lohaus, Gertrud
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Pfeiffer, Simone
A1  - Renner, Swen
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Overmann, Jörg
A1  - Friedrich, Michael W.
T1  - Environmental factors affect acidobacterial communities below the subgroup level in Grassland and Forest Soils
JF  - Applied and environmental microbiology
N2  - In soil, Acidobacteria constitute on average 20% of all bacteria, are highly diverse, and are physiologically active in situ. However, their individual functions and interactions with higher taxa in soil are still unknown. Here, potential effects of land use, soil properties, plant diversity, and soil nanofauna on acidobacterial community composition were studied by cultivation-independent methods in grassland and forest soils from three different regions in Germany. The analysis of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries representing all studied soils revealed that grassland soils were dominated by subgroup Gp6 and forest soils by subgroup Gp1 Acidobacteria. The analysis of a large number of sites (n = 57) by 16S rRNA gene fingerprinting methods (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism [T-RFLP] and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis [DGGE]) showed that Acidobacteria diversities differed between grassland and forest soils but also among the three different regions. Edaphic properties, such as pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, C/N ratio, phosphorus, nitrate, ammonium, soil moisture, soil temperature, and soil respiration, had an impact on community composition as assessed by fingerprinting. However, interrelations with environmental parameters among subgroup terminal restriction fragments (T-RFs) differed significantly, e.g., different Gp1 T-RFs correlated positively or negatively with nitrogen content. Novel significant correlations of Acidobacteria subpopulations (i.e., individual populations within subgroups) with soil nanofauna and vascular plant diversity were revealed only by analysis of clone sequences. Thus, for detecting novel interrelations of environmental parameters with Acidobacteria, individual populations within subgroups have to be considered.
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01325-12
SN  - 0099-2240
VL  - 78
IS  - 20
SP  - 7398
EP  - 7406
PB  - American Society for Microbiology
CY  - Washington
ER  -