TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weiß, Lina
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - The response of simulated grassland communities to the cessation of grazing
JF  - Ecological modelling : international journal on ecological modelling and engineering and systems ecolog
N2  - Changes in land-use are supposed to be among the severest prospective threats to plant diversity worldwide. In semi-natural temperate grasslands, the cessation of traditional land use like livestock grazing is considered to be one of the most important drivers of the diversity loss witnessed within the last decades. Despite of the enormous number of studies on successional pathways following grazing abandonment there is no general pattern of how grassland communities are affected in terms of diversity, trait composition and pace of succession. To gain a comprehensive picture is difficult given the heterogeneity of environments and the time and effort needed for long-term investigations. We here use a proven individual- and trait-based grassland community model to analyze short- and long-term consequences of grazing abandonment under different assumptions of resource availability, pre-abandonment grazing intensity and regional isolation of communities.
 Grazing abandonment led to a decrease of plant functional type (PFT) diversity in all but two scenarios in the long-term. In short-term we also found an increase or no change in Shannon diversity for several scenarios. With grazing abandonment we overall found an increase in maximum plant mass, clonal integration and longer lateral spread, a decrease in rosette plant types and in stress tolerant plants, as well as an increase in grazing tolerant and a decrease in grazing avoiding plant types. Observed changes were highly dependent on the regional configuration of communities, prevalent resource conditions and land use intensity before abandonment. While long-term changes took around 10-20 years in resource rich conditions, new equilibria established in resource poor conditions only after 30-40 years.
 Our results confirm the potential threats caused by recent land-use changes and the assumption that oligotrophic communities are more resistant than mesotrophic communities also for long-term abandonment. Moreover, results revealed that species-rich systems are not per se more resistant than species-poor grasslands. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW  - Diversity
KW  - Individual-based model
KW  - Land use intensity
KW  - Seed immigration
KW  - Abandonment
KW  - Resistance
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.02.002
SN  - 0304-3800
SN  - 1872-7026
VL  - 303
SP  - 1
EP  - 11
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Solly, Emily F.
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Kandeler, Ellen
A1  - Marhan, Sven
A1  - Michalzik, Beate
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Zscheischler, Jakob
A1  - Trumbore, Susan E.
A1  - Schrumpf, Marion
T1  - Factors controlling decomposition rates of fine root litter in temperate forests and grasslands
JF  - Plant and soil
N2  - Fine root decomposition contributes significantly to element cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, studies on root decomposition rates and on the factors that potentially influence them are fewer than those on leaf litter decomposition. To study the effects of region and land use intensity on fine root decomposition, we established a large scale study in three German regions with different climate regimes and soil properties. Methods In 150 forest and 150 grassland sites we deployed litterbags (100 mu m mesh size) with standardized litter consisting of fine roots from European beech in forests and from a lowland mesophilous hay meadow in grasslands. In the central study region, we compared decomposition rates of this standardized litter with root litter collected on-site to separate the effect of litter quality from environmental factors.
 Standardized herbaceous roots in grassland soils decomposed on average significantly faster (24 +/- 6 % mass loss after 12 months, mean +/- SD) than beech roots in forest soils (12 +/- 4 %; p < 0.001). Fine root decomposition varied among the three study regions. Land use intensity, in particular N addition, decreased fine root decomposition in grasslands. The initial lignin:N ratio explained 15 % of the variance in grasslands and 11 % in forests. Soil moisture, soil temperature, and C:N ratios of soils together explained 34 % of the variance of the fine root mass loss in grasslands, and 24 % in forests.
 Grasslands, which have higher fine root biomass and root turnover compared to forests, also have higher rates of root decomposition. Our results further show that at the regional scale fine root decomposition is influenced by environmental variables such as soil moisture, soil temperature and soil nutrient content. Additional variation is explained by root litter quality.
KW  - Fine roots
KW  - Decomposition
KW  - Land use intensity
KW  - Lignin: N ratio
KW  - Temperate ecosystems
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2151-4
SN  - 0032-079X
SN  - 1573-5036
VL  - 382
IS  - 1-2
SP  - 203
EP  - 218
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  -