@article{SoliveresvanderPlasManningetal.2016, author = {Soliveres, Santiago and van der Plas, Fons and Manning, Peter and Prati, Daniel and Gossner, Martin M. and Renner, Swen C. and Alt, Fabian and Arndt, Hartmut and Baumgartner, Vanessa and Binkenstein, Julia and Birkhofer, Klaus and Blaser, Stefan and Bl{\"u}thgen, Nico and Boch, Steffen and B{\"o}hm, Stefan and B{\"o}rschig, Carmen and Buscot, Francois and Diek{\"o}tter, Tim and Heinze, Johannes and H{\"o}lzel, Norbert and Jung, Kirsten and Klaus, Valentin H. and Kleinebecker, Till and Klemmer, Sandra and Krauss, Jochen and Lange, Markus and Morris, E. Kathryn and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Oelmann, Yvonne and Overmann, J{\"o}rg and Pasalic, Esther and Rillig, Matthias C. and Schaefer, H. Martin and Schloter, Michael and Schmitt, Barbara and Sch{\"o}ning, Ingo and Schrumpf, Marion and Sikorski, Johannes and Socher, Stephanie A. and Solly, Emily F. and Sonnemann, Ilja and Sorkau, Elisabeth and Steckel, Juliane and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf and Stempfhuber, Barbara and Tschapka, Marco and T{\"u}rke, Manfred and Venter, Paul C. and Weiner, Christiane N. and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Werner, Michael and Westphal, Catrin and Wilcke, Wolfgang and Wolters, Volkmar and Wubet, Tesfaye and Wurst, Susanne and Fischer, Markus and Allan, Eric}, title = {Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality}, series = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, volume = {536}, journal = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {0028-0836}, doi = {10.1038/nature19092}, pages = {456 -- +}, year = {2016}, language = {en} } @article{SimonsLewinsohnBluethgenetal.2017, author = {Simons, Nadja K. and Lewinsohn, Thomas and Bluethgen, Nico and Buscot, Francois and Boch, Steffen and Daniel, Rolf and Gossner, Martin M. and Jung, Kirsten and Kaiser, Kristin and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Prati, Daniel and Renner, Swen C. and Socher, Stephanie A. and Sonnemann, Ilja and Weiner, Christiane N. and Werner, Michael and Wubet, Tesfaye and Wurst, Susanne and Weisser, Wolfgang W.}, title = {Contrasting effects of grassland management modes on species-abundance distributions of multiple groups}, series = {Agriculture, ecosystems \& environment : an international journal for scientific research on the relationship of agriculture and food production to the biosphere}, volume = {237}, journal = {Agriculture, ecosystems \& environment : an international journal for scientific research on the relationship of agriculture and food production to the biosphere}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0167-8809}, doi = {10.1016/j.agee.2016.12.022}, pages = {143 -- 153}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Intensive land use is a major cause of biodiversity loss, but most studies comparing the response of multiple taxa rely on simple diversity measures while analyses of other community attributes are only recently gaining attention. Species-abundance distributions (SADs) are a community attribute that can be used to study changes in the overall abundance structure of species groups, and whether these changes are driven by abundant or rare species. We evaluated the effect of grassland management intensity for three land-use modes (fertilization, mowing, grazing) and their combination on species richness and SADs for three belowground (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, prokaryotes and insect larvae) and seven aboveground groups (vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens; arthropod herbivores; arthropod pollinators; bats and birds). Three descriptors of SADs were evaluated: general shape (abundance decay rate), proportion of rare species (rarity) and proportional abundance of the commonest species (dominance). Across groups, taxonomic richness was largely unaffected by land-use intensity and only decreased with increasing mowing intensity. Of the three SAD descriptors, abundance decay rate became steeper with increasing combined land-use intensity across groups. This reflected a decrease in rarity among plants, herbivores and vertebrates. Effects of fertilization on the three descriptors were similar to the combined land-use intensity effects. Mowing intensity only affected the SAD descriptors of insect larvae and vertebrates, while grazing intensity produced a range of effects on different descriptors in distinct groups. Overall, belowground groups had more even abundance distribtitions than aboveground groups. Strong differences among aboveground groups and between above- and belowground groups indicate that no single taxonomic group can serve as an indicator for effects in other groups. In the past, the use of SADs has been hampered by concerns over theoretical models underlying specific forms of SADs. Our study shows that SAD descriptors that are not connected to a particular model are suitable to assess the effect of land use on community structure.}, language = {en} } @article{ManningGossnerBossdorfetal.2015, author = {Manning, Pete and Gossner, Martin M. and Bossdorf, Oliver and Allan, Eric and Zhang, Yuan-Ye and Prati, Daniel and Bl{\"u}thgen, Nico and Boch, Steffen and B{\"o}hm, Stefan and B{\"o}rschig, Carmen and H{\"o}lzel, Norbert and Jung, Kirsten and Klaus, Valentin H. and Klein, Alexandra Maria and Kleinebecker, Till and Krauss, Jochen and Lange, Markus and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Pasalic, Esther and Socher, Stephanie A. and Tschapka, Marco and T{\"u}rke, Manfred and Weiner, Christiane and Werner, Michael and Gockel, Sonja and Hemp, Andreas and Renner, Swen C. and Wells, Konstans and Buscot, Francois and Kalko, Elisabeth K. V. and Linsenmair, Karl Eduard and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Fischer, Markus}, title = {Grassland management intensification weakens the associations among the diversities of multiple plant and animal taxa}, series = {Ecology : a publication of the Ecological Society of America}, volume = {96}, journal = {Ecology : a publication of the Ecological Society of America}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0012-9658}, doi = {10.1890/14-1307.1}, pages = {1492 -- 1501}, year = {2015}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{AllanBossdorfDormannetal.2014, author = {Allan, Eric and Bossdorf, Oliver and Dormann, Carsten F. and Prati, Daniel and Gossner, Martin M. and Tscharntke, Teja and Bl{\"u}thgen, Nico and Bellach, Michaela and Birkhofer, Klaus and Boch, Steffen and B{\"o}hm, Stefan and B{\"o}rschig, Carmen and Chatzinotas, Antonis and Christ, Sabina and Daniel, Rolf and Diek{\"o}tter, Tim and Fischer, Christiane and Friedl, Thomas and Glaser, Karin and Hallmann, Christine and Hodac, Ladislav and H{\"o}lzel, Norbert and Jung, Kirsten and Klein, Alexandra Maria and Klaus, Valentin H. and Kleinebecker, Till and Krauss, Jochen and Lange, Markus and Morris, E. Kathryn and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Nacke, Heiko and Pasalic, Esther and Rillig, Matthias C. and Rothenwoehrer, Christoph and Schally, Peter and Scherber, Christoph and Schulze, Waltraud X. and Socher, Stephanie A. and Steckel, Juliane and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf and T{\"u}rke, Manfred and Weiner, Christiane N. and Werner, Michael and Westphal, Catrin and Wolters, Volkmar and Wubet, Tesfaye and Gockel, Sonja and Gorke, Martin and Hemp, Andreas and Renner, Swen C. and Sch{\"o}ning, Ingo and Pfeiffer, Simone and K{\"o}nig-Ries, Birgitta and Buscot, Francois and Linsenmair, Karl Eduard and Schulze, Ernst-Detlef and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Fischer, Markus}, title = {Interannual variation in land-use intensity enhances grassland multidiversity}, series = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, volume = {111}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, number = {1}, publisher = {National Acad. of Sciences}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0027-8424}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1312213111}, pages = {308 -- 313}, year = {2014}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{GossnerLewinsohnKahletal.2016, author = {Gossner, Martin M. and Lewinsohn, Thomas M. and Kahl, Tiemo and Grassein, Fabrice and Boch, Steffen and Prati, Daniel and Birkhofer, Klaus and Renner, Swen C. and Sikorski, Johannes and Wubet, Tesfaye and Arndt, Hartmut and Baumgartner, Vanessa and Blaser, Stefan and Bl{\"u}thgen, Nico and B{\"o}rschig, Carmen and Buscot, Francois and Diek{\"o}tter, Tim and Jorge, Leonardo Re and Jung, Kirsten and Keyel, Alexander C. and Klein, Alexandra-Maria and Klemmer, Sandra and Krauss, Jochen and Lange, Markus and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Overmann, J{\"o}rg and Pasalic, Esther and Penone, Caterina and Perovic, David J. and Purschke, Oliver and Schall, Peter and Socher, Stephanie A. and Sonnemann, Ilja and Tschapka, Marco and Tscharntke, Teja and T{\"u}rke, Manfred and Venter, Paul Christiaan and Weiner, Christiane N. and Werner, Michael and Wolters, Volkmar and Wurst, Susanne and Westphal, Catrin and Fischer, Markus and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Allan, Eric}, title = {Land-use intensification causes multitrophic homogenization of grassland communities}, series = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, volume = {540}, journal = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {0028-0836}, doi = {10.1038/nature20575}, pages = {266 -- +}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Land-use intensification is a major driver of biodiversity loss(1,2). Alongside reductions in local species diversity, biotic homogenization at larger spatial scales is of great concern for conservation. Biotic homogenization means a decrease in beta-diversity (the compositional dissimilarity between sites). Most studies have investigated losses in local (alpha)-diversity(1,3) and neglected biodiversity loss at larger spatial scales. Studies addressing beta-diversity have focused on single or a few organism groups (for example, ref. 4), and it is thus unknown whether land-use intensification homogenizes communities at different trophic levels, above-and belowground. Here we show that even moderate increases in local land-use intensity (LUI) cause biotic homogenization across microbial, plant and animal groups, both above- and belowground, and that this is largely independent of changes in alpha-diversity. We analysed a unique grassland biodiversity dataset, with abundances of more than 4,000 species belonging to 12 trophic groups. LUI, and, in particular, high mowing intensity, had consistent effects on beta-diversity across groups, causing a homogenization of soil microbial, fungal pathogen, plant and arthropod communities. These effects were nonlinear and the strongest declines in beta-diversity occurred in the transition from extensively managed to intermediate intensity grassland. LUI tended to reduce local alpha-diversity in aboveground groups, whereas the alpha-diversity increased in belowground groups. Correlations between the alpha-diversity of different groups, particularly between plants and their consumers, became weaker at high LUI. This suggests a loss of specialist species and is further evidence for biotic homogenization. The consistently negative effects of LUI on landscape-scale biodiversity underscore the high value of extensively managed grasslands for conserving multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Indeed, biotic homogenization rather than local diversity loss could prove to be the most substantial consequence of land-use intensification.}, language = {en} } @misc{HeimLorenzKramerSchadtetal.2017, author = {Heim, Olga and Lorenz, Lukas and Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie and Jung, Kirsten and Voigt, Christian C. and Eccard, Jana}, title = {Landscape and scale-dependent spatial niches of bats foraging above intensively used arable fields}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {826}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42816}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428166}, pages = {17}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Introduction Bats are threatened by agricultural intensification, and although bat ecology in agricultural landscapes is in the focus of current research, the effects of interacting spatiotemporal factors on species-specific bat activity above farmland remain understudied. Our aim was to identify spatiotemporal factors and their interactions relevant for the activity of bat species above conventionally managed arable fields. Methods We repeatedly monitored relative bat activity above open arable fields in Germany using acoustic monitoring. We used site-related biotic and abiotic factors and landscape characteristics across five spatial scales, their combinations, and interactions to identify those factors which best explain variation in bat activity. Results Numerous interactions between landscape characteristics and the insect abundance affected bat activity above fields. For instance, Pipistrellus pipistrellus became more active with increasing insect abundance, but only above fields with a low proportion of woody vegetation cover in the surroundings. Additionally, the level of bat activity in summer depended on landscape characteristics. For example, the activity of Pipistrellus nathusii was relatively low in summer above fields that were surrounded by vegetation patches with a high degree of edge complexity (e.g., hedgerow). However, the activity remained at a relatively high level and did not differ between seasons above fields that were surrounded by vegetation patches with a low degree of edge complexity (e.g., roundly shaped forest patch). Conclusions Our results revealed that landscape characteristics and their interactions with insect abundance affected bat activity above conventionally managed fields and highlighted the opportunistic foraging behavior of bats. To improve the conditions for bats in agricultural landscapes, we recommend re-establishing landscape heterogeneity to protect aquatic habitats and to increase arthropod availability.}, language = {en} } @article{SoliveresManningPratietal.2016, author = {Soliveres, Santiago and Manning, Peter and Prati, Daniel and Gossner, Martin M. and Alt, Fabian and Arndt, Hartmut and Baumgartner, Vanessa and Binkenstein, Julia and Birkhofer, Klaus and Blaser, Stefan and Bluethgen, Nico and Boch, Steffen and Boehm, Stefan and Boerschig, Carmen and Buscot, Francois and Diekoetter, Tim and Heinze, Johannes and Hoelzel, Norbert and Jung, Kirsten and Klaus, Valentin H. and Klein, Alexandra-Maria and Kleinebecker, Till and Klemmer, Sandra and Krauss, Jochen and Lange, Markus and Morris, E. Kathryn and Mueller, Joerg and Oelmann, Yvonne and Overmann, J{\"o}rg and Pasalic, Esther and Renner, Swen C. and Rillig, Matthias C. and Schaefer, H. Martin and Schloter, Michael and Schmitt, Barbara and Schoening, Ingo and Schrumpf, Marion and Sikorski, Johannes and Socher, Stephanie A. and Solly, Emily F. and Sonnemann, Ilja and Sorkau, Elisabeth and Steckel, Juliane and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf and Stempfhuber, Barbara and Tschapka, Marco and Tuerke, Manfred and Venter, Paul and Weiner, Christiane N. and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Werner, Michael and Westphal, Catrin and Wilcke, Wolfgang and Wolters, Volkmar and Wubet, Tesfaye and Wurst, Susanne and Fischer, Markus and Allan, Eric}, title = {Locally rare species influence grassland ecosystem multifunctionality}, series = {Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences}, volume = {371}, journal = {Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences}, publisher = {Royal Society}, address = {London}, issn = {0962-8436}, doi = {10.1098/rstb.2015.0269}, pages = {3175 -- 3185}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Species diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, the relative functional importance of rare and common species in driving the biodiversity multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied the relationship between the diversity of rare and common species (according to their local abundances and across nine different trophic groups), and multifunctionality indices derived from 14 ecosystem functions on 150 grasslands across a land use intensity (LUI) gradient. The diversity of above- and below-ground rare species had opposite effects, with rare above-ground species being associated with high levels of multifunctionality, probably because their effects on different functions did not trade off against each other. Conversely, common species were only related to average, not high, levels of multifunctionality, and their functional effects declined with LUI. Apart from the community level effects of diversity, we found significant positive associations between the abundance of individual species and multifunctionality in 6\% of the species tested. Species specific functional effects were best predicted by their response to LUI: species that declined in abundance with land use intensification were those associated with higher levels of multifunctionality. Our results highlight the importance of rare species for ecosystem multifunctionality and help guiding future conservation priorities.}, language = {en} } @article{HeimSchroederEccardetal.2016, author = {Heim, Olga and Schr{\"o}der, Assja and Eccard, Jana and Jung, Kirsten and Voigt, Christian C.}, title = {Seasonal activity patterns of European bats above intensively used farmland}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {233}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0167-8809}, doi = {10.1016/j.agee.2016.09.002}, pages = {130 -- 139}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Bats are top insect predators on farmland, yet they suffer from intensive farmland management. Here, we evaluated the seasonal activity patterns of European bats above large, arable fields and compared these patterns between ecologically distinct bat species. Using repeated passive acoustic monitoring on a total of 93 arable fields in 2 years in Brandenburg, Germany, we surveyed the activity of different bat species between early spring and autumn. We then used generalized additive mixed models to describe and compare the seasonal bat activity patterns between bat categories, which were build based on the affiliation to a functional group and migratory class, while controlling for local weather conditions. In general, the affiliation to a bat category in interaction with the season in addition to cloud cover and ambient air temperature explained a major part of bat activity. The season was also an important factor for the foraging activity of open-space specialists such as Nyctalus noctula but showed only a weak effect on species such as Pipistreilus nathusii which are adapted to edge-space habitats. Across the seasons, habitat use intensity was high during the period of swarming and migration and low during the energy demanding period of lactation. Seasonal patterns in foraging activity showed that open-space specialists foraged more intensively above agricultural fields during the migration period, while edge-space specialists foraged also during the energy demanding period of lactation. We conclude that the significant seasonal fluctuations in bat activity and significant differences between bat categories in open agricultural landscapes should be taken into consideration when designing monitoring schemes and management plans for bat species in regions dominated by agriculture. Also, management plans should be directed to improve the conditions on arable land especially for bat species which would be classified as narrow-space foragers such as Myotis species. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{PenoneAllanSoliveresetal.2019, author = {Penone, Caterina and Allan, Eric and Soliveres, Santiago and Felipe-Lucia, Maria R. and Gossner, Martin M. and Seibold, Sebastian and Simons, Nadja K. and Schall, Peter and van der Plas, Fons and Manning, Peter and Manzanedo, Ruben D. and Boch, Steffen and Prati, Daniel and Ammer, Christian and Bauhus, Juergen and Buscot, Francois and Ehbrecht, Martin and Goldmann, Kezia and Jung, Kirsten and Mueller, Joerg and Mueller, Joerg C. and Pena, Rodica and Polle, Andrea and Renner, Swen C. and Ruess, Liliane and Schoenig, Ingo and Schrumpf, Marion and Solly, Emily F. and Tschapka, Marco and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Wubet, Tesfaye and Fischer, Markus}, title = {Specialisation and diversity of multiple trophic groups are promoted by different forest features}, series = {Ecology letters}, volume = {22}, journal = {Ecology letters}, number = {1}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1461-023X}, doi = {10.1111/ele.13182}, pages = {170 -- 180}, year = {2019}, abstract = {While forest management strongly influences biodiversity, it remains unclear how the structural and compositional changes caused by management affect different community dimensions (e.g. richness, specialisation, abundance or completeness) and how this differs between taxa. We assessed the effects of nine forest features (representing stand structure, heterogeneity and tree composition) on thirteen above- and belowground trophic groups of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria in 150 temperate forest plots differing in their management type. Canopy cover decreased light resources, which increased community specialisation but reduced overall diversity and abundance. Features increasing resource types and diversifying microhabitats (admixing of oaks and conifers) were important and mostly affected richness. Belowground groups responded differently to those aboveground and had weaker responses to most forest features. Our results show that we need to consider forest features rather than broad management types and highlight the importance of considering several groups and community dimensions to better inform conservation.}, language = {en} } @article{SchallGossnerHeinrichsetal.2017, author = {Schall, Peter and Gossner, Martin M. and Heinrichs, Steffi and Fischer, Markus and Boch, Steffen and Prati, Daniel and Jung, Kirsten and Baumgartner, Vanessa and Blaser, Stefan and B{\"o}hm, Stefan and Buscot, Francois and Daniel, Rolf and Goldmann, Kezia and Kaiser, Kristin and Kahl, Tiemo and Lange, Markus and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg Hans and Overmann, J{\"o}rg and Renner, Swen C. and Schulze, Ernst-Detlef and Sikorski, Johannes and Tschapka, Marco and T{\"u}rke, Manfred and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Wemheuer, Bernd and Wubet, Tesfaye and Ammer, Christian}, title = {The impact of even-aged and uneven-aged forest management on regional biodiversity of multiple taxa in European beech forests}, series = {Journal of applied ecology : an official journal of the British Ecological Society}, volume = {55}, journal = {Journal of applied ecology : an official journal of the British Ecological Society}, number = {1}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0021-8901}, doi = {10.1111/1365-2664.12950}, pages = {267 -- 278}, year = {2017}, abstract = {1. For managed temperate forests, conservationists and policymakers favour fine-grained uneven-aged (UEA) management over more traditional coarse-grained even-aged (EA) management, based on the assumption that within-stand habitat heterogeneity enhances biodiversity. There is, however, little empirical evidence to support this assumption. We investigated for the first time how differently grained forest management systems affect the biodiversity of multiple above- and below-ground taxa across spatial scales. 2. We sampled 15 taxa of animals, plants, fungi and bacteria within the largest contiguous beech forest landscape of Germany and classified them into functional groups. Selected forest stands have been managed for more than a century at different spatial grains. The EA (coarse-grained management) and UEA (fine-grained) forests are comparable in spatial arrangement, climate and soil conditions. These were compared to forests of a nearby national park that have been unmanaged for at least 20years. We used diversity accumulation curves to compare -diversity for Hill numbers D-0 (species richness), D-1 (Shannon diversity) and D-2 (Simpson diversity) between the management systems. Beta diversity was quantified as multiple-site dissimilarity. 3. Gamma diversity was higher in EA than in UEA forests for at least one of the three Hill numbers for six taxa (up to 77\%), while eight showed no difference. Only bacteria showed the opposite pattern. Higher -diversity in EA forests was also found for forest specialists and saproxylic beetles. 4. Between-stand -diversity was higher in EA than in UEA forests for one-third (all species) and half (forest specialists) of all taxa, driven by environmental heterogeneity between age-classes, while -diversity showed no directional response across taxa or for forest specialists. 5. Synthesis and applications. Comparing EA and uneven-aged forest management in Central European beech forests, our results show that a mosaic of different age-classes is more important for regional biodiversity than high within-stand heterogeneity. We suggest reconsidering the current trend of replacing even-aged management in temperate forests. Instead, the variability of stages and stand structures should be increased to promote landscape-scale biodiversity.}, language = {en} } @article{HeimLenskiSchulzeetal.2017, author = {Heim, Olga and Lenski, Johannes and Schulze, Jelena and Jung, Kirsten and Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie and Eccard, Jana and Voigt, Christian C.}, title = {The relevance of vegetation structures and small water bodies for bats foraging above farmland}, series = {Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft f{\"u}r {\"O}kologie}, volume = {27}, journal = {Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft f{\"u}r {\"O}kologie}, publisher = {Elsevier GMBH}, address = {M{\"u}nchen}, issn = {1439-1791}, doi = {10.1016/j.baae.2017.12.001}, pages = {9 -- 19}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Bats are known to forage and commute close to vegetation structures when moving across the agricultural matrix, but the role of isolated landscape elements in arable fields for bat activity is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the influence of small isolated ponds which lie within arable fields close to vegetation structures on the flight and foraging activity of bats. Additionally, we compared species-specific activity measures between forest edges and linear structures such as hedgerows. We repeatedly recorded bat activity using passive acoustic monitoring along 20 transects extending from the vegetation edge up to 200 m into the arable field (hereafter: edge-field interface) with a small pond present at five transects per edge type (linear vs. forest). Using generalized linear mixed effect models, we analyzed the effects of edge type, pond presence and the season on species-specific flight and foraging activity within the edge-field interface. We found a higher flight activity of Nyctalus noctula and Pipistrellus pygmaeus above the arable field when a pond was present. Furthermore, Pipistrellus nathusii and Pipistrellus pipistrellus foraged more frequently at forest edges than at linear structures (e.g. hedgerows). Additionally, we found three major patterns of seasonal variation in the activity of bats along the edge-field interface. This study highlights the species-specific and dynamic use of forest and hedgerow or tree line edges by bats and their importance for different bat species in the agricultural landscape. Further, additional landscape elements such as small isolated ponds within arable fields might support the activity of bats above the open agricultural landscape, thereby facilitating agroecosystem functioning. Therefore, additional landscape elements within managed areas should be restored and protected against the conversion into arable land and better linked to surrounding landscape elements in order to efficiently support bats within the agroecosystem.}, language = {en} }