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  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Pasalic, Esther
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Lange, Patricia
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Hessenmöller, Dominik
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
T1  - Differential responses of herbivores and herbivory to management in temperate Eeuropean beech
JF  - PLoS one
N2  - Forest management not only affects biodiversity but also might alter ecosystem processes mediated by the organisms, i.e. herbivory the removal of plant biomass by plant-eating insects and other arthropod groups. Aiming at revealing general relationships between forest management and herbivory we investigated aboveground arthropod herbivory in 105 plots dominated by European beech in three different regions in Germany in the sun-exposed canopy of mature beech trees and on beech saplings in the understorey. We separately assessed damage by different guilds of herbivores, i.e. chewing, sucking and scraping herbivores, gall-forming insects and mites, and leaf-mining insects. We asked whether herbivory differs among different forest management regimes (unmanaged, uneven-aged managed, even-aged managed) and among age-classes within even-aged forests. We further tested for consistency of relationships between regions, strata and herbivore guilds. On average, almost 80% of beech leaves showed herbivory damage, and about 6% of leaf area was consumed. Chewing damage was most common, whereas leaf sucking and scraping damage were very rare. Damage was generally greater in the canopy than in the understorey, in particular for chewing and scraping damage, and the occurrence of mines. There was little difference in herbivory among differently managed forests and the effects of management on damage differed among regions, strata and damage types. Covariates such as wood volume, tree density and plant diversity weakly influenced herbivory, and effects differed between herbivory types. We conclude that despite of the relatively low number of species attacking beech; arthropod herbivory on beech is generally high. We further conclude that responses of herbivory to forest management are multifaceted and environmental factors such as forest structure variables affecting in particular microclimatic conditions are more likely to explain the variability in herbivory among beech forest plots.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104876
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 9
IS  - 8
PB  - PLoS
CY  - San Fransisco
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Herold, Nadine
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Gutknecht, Jessica
A1  - Alt, Fabian
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Oelmann, Yvonne
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Wilcke, Wolfgang
A1  - Wubet, Tesfaye
A1  - Schrumpf, Marion
T1  - Soil property and management effects on grassland microbial communities across a latitudinal gradient in Germany
JF  - Applied soil ecology : a section of agriculture, ecosystems & environment
N2  - There is much interest in the identification of the main drivers controlling changes in the microbial community that may be related to sustainable land use. We examined the influence of soil properties and land-use intensity (N fertilization, mowing, grazing) on total phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) biomass, microbial community composition (PLFA profiles) and activities of enzymes involved in the C, N, and P cycle. These relationships were examined in the topsoil of grasslands from three German regions (Schorfheide-Chorin (SCH), Hainich-Dun (HAI), Schwabische Alb (ALB)) with different parent material. Differences in soil properties explained 60% of variation in PLFA data and 81% of variation in enzyme activities across regions and land-use intensities. Degraded peat soils in the lowland areas of the SCH with high organic carbon (OC) concentrations and sand content contained lower PLFA biomass, lower concentrations of bacterial, fungal, and arbuscular mycorrhizal PLFAs, but greater enzyme activities, and specific enzyme activities (per unit microbial biomass) than mineral soils in the upland areas of the HAI and ALB, which are finer textured, drier, and have smaller OC concentrations. After extraction of variation that originated from large-scale differences among regions and differences in land-use intensities between plots, soil properties still explained a significant amount of variation in PLFA data (34%) and enzyme activities (60%). Total PLFA biomass and all enzyme activities were mainly related to OC concentration, while relative abundance of fungi and fungal to bacterial ratio were mainly related to soil moisture. Land-use intensity (LUI) significantly decreased the soil C:N ratio. There was no direct effect of LUI on total PLFA biomass, microbial community composition, N and P cycling enzyme activities independent of study region and soil properties. In contrast, the activities and specific activities of enzymes involved in the C cycle increased significantly with LUI independent of study region and soil properties, which can have impact on soil organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Our findings demonstrate that microbial biomass and community composition as well as enzyme activities are more controlled by soil properties than by grassland management at the regional scale.
KW  - Temperate grasslands
KW  - Degraded peat soils
KW  - Land-use intensity
KW  - Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA)
KW  - Specific enzyme activities
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2013.07.009
SN  - 0929-1393
SN  - 1873-0272
VL  - 73
SP  - 41
EP  - 50
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Türke, Manfred
A1  - Pasalic, Esther
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Hessenmöller, Dominik
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
T1  - Effects of forest management on ground-dwelling beetles (Coleoptera; Carabidae, Staphylinidae) in Central Europe are mainly mediated by changes in forest structure
JF  - Forest ecology and management
N2  - Forest management is known to influence species diversity of various taxa but inconsistent or even contrasting effects are reported for arthropods. Regional differences in management as well as differences in regional species pools might be responsible for these inconsistencies, but, inter-regional replicated studies that account for regional variability are rare. We investigated the effect of forest type on the abundance, diversity, community structure and composition of two important ground-dwelling beetle families, Carabidae and Staphylinidae, in 149 forest stands distributed over three regions in Germany. In particular we focused on recent forestry history, stand age and dominant tree species, in addition to a number of environmental descriptors. Overall management effects on beetle communities were small and mainly mediated by structural habitat parameters such as the cover of forest canopy or the plant diversity on forest stands. The general response of both beetle taxa to forest management was similar in all regions: abundance and species richness of beetles was higher in older than in younger stands and species richness was lower in unmanaged than in managed stands. The abundance ratio of forest species-to-open habitat species differed between regions, but generally increased from young to old stands, from coniferous to deciduous stands and from managed to unmanaged stands. The response of both beetle families to dominant tree species was variable among regions and staphylinid richness varied in the response to recent forestry history. Our results suggest that current forest management practices change the composition of ground-dwelling beetle communities mainly by favoring generalists and open habitat species. To protect important forest beetle communities and thus the ecosystem functions and services provided by them, we suggest to shelter remaining ancient forests and to develop near-to-nature management strategies by prolonging rotation periods and increasing structural diversity of managed forests. Possible geographic variations in the response of beetle communities need to be considered in conservation-orientated forest management strategies. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW  - Beech forest
KW  - Biodiversity Exploratories
KW  - Conifer plantations
KW  - Habitat preferences
KW  - Insects
KW  - Land use
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.06.012
SN  - 0378-1127
SN  - 1872-7042
VL  - 329
SP  - 166
EP  - 176
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Simons, Nadja K.
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Lewinsohn, Thomas M.
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Pasalic, Esther
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Türke, Manfred
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
T1  - Resource-mediated indirect effects of grassland management on arthropod diversity
JF  - PLoS one
N2  - Intensive land use is a driving force for biodiversity decline in many ecosystems. In semi-natural grasslands, land-use activities such as mowing, grazing and fertilization affect the diversity of plants and arthropods, but the combined effects of different drivers and the chain of effects are largely unknown. In this study we used structural equation modelling to analyse how the arthropod communities in managed grasslands respond to land use and whether these responses are mediated through changes in resource diversity or resource quantity (biomass). Plants were considered resources for herbivores which themselves were considered resources for predators. Plant and arthropod (herbivores and predators) communities were sampled on 141 meadows, pastures and mown pastures within three regions in Germany in 2008 and 2009. Increasing land-use intensity generally increased plant biomass and decreased plant diversity, mainly through increasing fertilization. Herbivore diversity decreased together with plant diversity but showed no response to changes in plant biomass. Hence, land-use effects on herbivore diversity were mediated through resource diversity rather than quantity. Land-use effects on predator diversity were mediated by both herbivore diversity (resource diversity) and herbivore quantity (herbivore biomass), but indirect effects through resource quantity were stronger. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing both direct and indirect effects of land-use intensity and mode on different trophic levels. In addition to the overall effects, there were subtle differences between the different regions, pointing to the importance of regional land-use specificities. Our study underlines the commonly observed strong effect of grassland land use on biodiversity. It also highlights that mechanistic approaches help us to understand how different land-use modes affect biodiversity.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107033
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 9
IS  - 9
PB  - PLoS
CY  - San Fransisco
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weiss, Lina
A1  - Pfestorf, Hans
A1  - May, Felix
A1  - Körner, Katrin
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Grazing response patterns indicate isolation of semi-natural European grasslands
JF  - Oikos
N2  - Identifying drivers of species diversity is a major challenge in understanding and predicting the dynamics of species-rich semi-natural grasslands. In particular in temperate grasslands changes in land use and its consequences, i.e. increasing fragmentation, the on-going loss of habitat and the declining importance of regional processes such as seed dispersal by livestock, are considered key drivers of the diversity loss witnessed within the last decades.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.00957.x
SN  - 0030-1299
SN  - 1600-0706
VL  - 123
IS  - 5
SP  - 599
EP  - 612
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -