@article{WeithoffRochaGaedke2015, author = {Weithoff, Guntram and Rocha, Marcia R. and Gaedke, Ursula}, title = {Comparing seasonal dynamics of functional and taxonomic diversity reveals the driving forces underlying phytoplankton community structure}, series = {Freshwater biology}, volume = {60}, journal = {Freshwater biology}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0046-5070}, doi = {10.1111/fwb.12527}, pages = {758 -- 767}, year = {2015}, abstract = {In most biodiversity studies, taxonomic diversity is the measure for the multiplicity of species and is often considered to represent functional diversity. However, trends in taxonomic diversity and functional diversity may differ, for example, when many functionally similar but taxonomically different species co-occur in a community. The differences between these diversity measures are of particular interest in diversity research for understanding diversity patterns and their underlying mechanisms. We analysed a temporally highly resolved 20-year time series of lake phytoplankton to determine whether taxonomic diversity and functional diversity exhibit similar or contrasting seasonal patterns. We also calculated the functional mean of the community in n-dimensional trait space for each sampling day to gain further insights into the seasonal dynamics of the functional properties of the community. We found an overall weak positive relationship between taxonomic diversity and functional diversity with a distinct seasonal pattern. The two diversity measures showed synchronous behaviour from early spring to mid-summer and a more complex and diverging relationship from autumn to late winter. The functional mean of the community exhibited a recurrent annual pattern with the most prominent changes before and after the clear-water phase. From late autumn to winter, the functional mean of the community and functional diversity were relatively constant while taxonomic diversity declined, suggesting competitive exclusion during this period. A further decline in taxonomic diversity concomitant with increasing functional diversity in late winter to early spring is seen as a result of niche diversification together with competitive exclusion. Under these conditions, several different sets of traits are suitable to thrive, but within one set of functional traits only one, or very few, morphotypes can persist. Taxonomic diversity alone is a weak descriptor of trait diversity in phytoplankton. However, the combined analysis of taxonomic diversity and functional diversity, along with the functional mean of the community, allows for deeper insights into temporal patterns of community assembly and niche diversification.}, language = {en} } @article{BlickensdoerferSchwiederPflugmacheretal.2022, author = {Blickensd{\"o}rfer, Lukas and Schwieder, Marcel and Pflugmacher, Dirk and Nendel, Claas and Erasmi, Stefan and Hostert, Patrick}, title = {Mapping of crop types and crop sequences with combined time series of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data for Germany}, series = {Remote sensing of environment : an interdisciplinary journal}, volume = {269}, journal = {Remote sensing of environment : an interdisciplinary journal}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {New York}, issn = {0034-4257}, doi = {10.1016/j.rse.2021.112831}, pages = {19}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Monitoring agricultural systems becomes increasingly important in the context of global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, population growth, and the rising demand for agricultural products. High-resolution, national-scale maps of agricultural land are needed to develop strategies for future sustainable agriculture. However, the characterization of agricultural land cover over large areas and for multiple years remains challenging due to the locally diverse and temporally variable characteristics of cultivated land. We here propose a workflow for generating national agricultural land cover maps on a yearly basis that accounts for varying environmental conditions. We tested the approach by mapping 24 agricultural land cover classes in Germany for the three years 2017, 2018, and 2019, in which the meteorological conditions strongly differed. We used a random forest classifier and dense time series data from Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 in combination with monthly Sentinel-1 composites and environmental data and evaluated the relative importance of optical, radar, and environmental data. Our results show high overall accuracy and plausible class accuracies for the most dominant crop types across different years despite the strong inter-annual meteorological variability and the presence of drought and nondrought years. The maps show high spatial consistency and good delineation of field parcels. Combining optical, SAR, and environmental data increased overall accuracies by 6\% to 10\% compared to single sensor approaches, in which optical data outperformed SAR. Overall accuracy ranged between 78\% and 80\%, and the mapped areas aligned well with agricultural statistics at the regional and national level. Based on the multi-year dataset we mapped major crop sequences of cereals and leaf crops. Most crop sequences were dominated by winter cereals followed by summer cereals. Monocultures of summer cereals were mainly revealed in the Northwest of Germany. We showcased that high spatial and thematic detail in combination with annual mapping will stimulate research on crop cycles and studies to assess the impact of environmental policies on management decisions. Our results demonstrate the capabilities of integrated optical time series and SAR data in combination with variables describing local and seasonal environmental conditions for annual large-area crop type mapping.}, language = {en} }