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  - Allan, Eric
A1  - Manning, Pete
A1  - Alt, Fabian
A1  - Binkenstein, Julia
A1  - Blaser, Stefan
A1  - Blüthgen, Nico
A1  - Böhm, Stefan
A1  - Grassein, Fabrice
A1  - Hölzel, Norbert
A1  - Klaus, Valentin H.
A1  - Kleinebecker, Till
A1  - Morris, E. Kathryn
A1  - Oelmann, Yvonne
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Renner, Swen C.
A1  - Rillig, Matthias C.
A1  - Schaefer, Martin
A1  - Schloter, Michael
A1  - Schmitt, Barbara
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Schrumpf, Marion
A1  - Solly, Emily
A1  - Sorkau, Elisabeth
A1  - Steckel, Juliane
A1  - Steffen-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Stempfhuber, Barbara
A1  - Tschapka, Marco
A1  - Weiner, Christiane N.
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Werner, Michael
A1  - Westphal, Catrin
A1  - Wilcke, Wolfgang
A1  - Fischer, Markus
T1  - Land use intensification alters ecosystem multifunctionality via loss of biodiversity and changes to functional composition
JF  - Ecology letters
N2  - Global change, especially land-use intensification, affects human well-being by impacting the delivery of multiple ecosystem services (multifunctionality). However, whether biodiversity loss is a major component of global change effects on multifunctionality in real-world ecosystems, as in experimental ones, remains unclear. Therefore, we assessed biodiversity, functional composition and 14 ecosystem services on 150 agricultural grasslands differing in land-use intensity. We also introduce five multifunctionality measures in which ecosystem services were weighted according to realistic land-use objectives. We found that indirect land-use effects, i.e. those mediated by biodiversity loss and by changes to functional composition, were as strong as direct effects on average. Their strength varied with land-use objectives and regional context. Biodiversity loss explained indirect effects in a region of intermediate productivity and was most damaging when land-use objectives favoured supporting and cultural services. In contrast, functional composition shifts, towards fast-growing plant species, strongly increased provisioning services in more inherently unproductive grasslands.
KW  - Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning
KW  - ecosystem services
KW  - global change
KW  - land use
KW  - multifunctionality
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12469
SN  - 1461-023X
SN  - 1461-0248
VL  - 18
IS  - 8
SP  - 834
EP  - 843
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Birkhofer, Klaus
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Alt, Fabian
A1  - Herold, Nadine
A1  - Klarner, Bernhard
A1  - Maraun, Mark
A1  - Marhan, Sven
A1  - Oelmann, Yvonne
A1  - Wubet, Tesfaye
A1  - Yurkov, Andrey
A1  - Begerow, Dominik
A1  - Berner, Doreen
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Daniel, Rolf
A1  - Diekötter, Tim
A1  - Ehnes, Roswitha B.
A1  - Erdmann, Georgia
A1  - Fischer, Christiane
A1  - Fösel, Baerbel
A1  - Groh, Janine
A1  - Gutknecht, Jessica
A1  - Kandeler, Ellen
A1  - Lang, Christa
A1  - Lohaus, Gertrud
A1  - Meyer, Annabel
A1  - Nacke, Heiko
A1  - Näther, Astrid
A1  - Overmann, Jörg
A1  - Polle, Andrea
A1  - Pollierer, Melanie M.
A1  - Scheu, Stefan
A1  - Schloter, Michael
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Schulze, Waltraud X.
A1  - Weinert, Jan
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Wolters, Volkmar
A1  - Schrumpf, Marion
T1  - General relationships between abiotic soil properties and soil biota across spatial scales and different land-use types
JF  - PLoS one
N2  - Very few principles have been unraveled that explain the relationship between soil properties and soil biota across large spatial scales and different land-use types. Here, we seek these general relationships using data from 52 differently managed grassland and forest soils in three study regions spanning a latitudinal gradient in Germany. We hypothesize that, after extraction of variation that is explained by location and land-use type, soil properties still explain significant proportions of variation in the abundance and diversity of soil biota. If the relationships between predictors and soil organisms were analyzed individually for each predictor group, soil properties explained the highest amount of variation in soil biota abundance and diversity, followed by land-use type and sampling location. After extraction of variation that originated from location or land-use, abiotic soil properties explained significant amounts of variation in fungal, meso-and macrofauna, but not in yeast or bacterial biomass or diversity. Nitrate or nitrogen concentration and fungal biomass were positively related, but nitrate concentration was negatively related to the abundances of Collembola and mites and to the myriapod species richness across a range of forest and grassland soils. The species richness of earthworms was positively correlated with clay content of soils independent of sample location and land-use type. Our study indicates that after accounting for heterogeneity resulting from large scale differences among sampling locations and land-use types, soil properties still explain significant proportions of variation in fungal and soil fauna abundance or diversity. However, soil biota was also related to processes that act at larger spatial scales and bacteria or soil yeasts only showed weak relationships to soil properties. We therefore argue that more general relationships between soil properties and soil biota can only be derived from future studies that consider larger spatial scales and different land-use types.
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043292
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 7
IS  - 8
PB  - PLoS
CY  - San Fransisco
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  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Socher, Stephanie
A1  - Baumbach, Henryk
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Hessenmöller, Dominik
A1  - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.
A1  - Linsenmair, K. Eduard
A1  - Pfeiffer, Simone
A1  - Pommer, Ulf
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Seilwinder, Claudia
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Fischer, Markus
T1  - High plant species richness indicates management-related disturbances rather than the conservation status of forests
JF  - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie
N2  - There is a wealth of smaller-scale studies on the effects of forest management on plant diversity. However, studies comparing plant species diversity in forests with different management types and intensity, extending over different regions and forest stages, and including detailed information on site conditions are missing. We studied vascular plants on 1500 20 m x 20 m forest plots in three regions of Germany (Schwabische Alb, Hainich-Dun, Schorfheide-Chorin). In all regions, our study plots comprised different management types (unmanaged, selection cutting, deciduous and coniferous age-class forests, which resulted from clear cutting or shelterwood logging), various stand ages, site conditions, and levels of management-related disturbances. We analyzed how overall richness and richness of different plant functional groups (trees, shrubs, herbs, herbaceous species typically growing in forests and herbaceous light-demanding species) responded to the different management types. On average, plant species richness was 13% higher in age-class than in unmanaged forests, and did not differ between deciduous age-class and selection forests. In age-class forests of the Schwabische Alb and Hainich-Dun, coniferous stands had higher species richness than deciduous stands. Among age-class forests, older stands with large quantities of standing biomass were slightly poorer in shrub and light-demanding herb species than younger stands. Among deciduous forests, the richness of herbaceous forest species was generally lower in unmanaged than in managed forests, and it was even 20% lower in unmanaged than in selection forests in Hainich-Dun. Overall, these findings show that disturbances by management generally increase plant species richness. This suggests that total plant species richness is not suited as an indicator for the conservation status of forests, but rather indicates disturbances.
KW  - Biodiversity Exploratories
KW  - Coniferous plantations
KW  - Disturbance
KW  - Ellenberg indicator values
KW  - Forest management
KW  - Selection vs. age-class forests
KW  - Silviculture
KW  - Standing biomass
KW  - Typical forest species
KW  - Unmanaged vs. managed forests
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2013.06.001
SN  - 1439-1791
VL  - 14
IS  - 6
SP  - 496
EP  - 505
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Jena
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Marcus, Tamar
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Durka, Walter
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Drees, Claudia
A1  - Assmann, Thorsten
T1  - Living in Heterogeneous Woodlands - Are Habitat Continuity or Quality Drivers of Genetic Variability in a Flightless Ground Beetle?
JF  - PLoS one
N2  - Although genetic diversity is one of the key components of biodiversity, its drivers are still not fully understood. While it is known that genetic diversity is affected both by environmental parameters as well as habitat history, these factors are not often tested together. Therefore, we analyzed 14 microsatellite loci in Abax parallelepipedus, a flightless, forest dwelling ground beetle, from 88 plots in two study regions in Germany. We modeled the effects of historical and environmental variables on allelic richness, and found for one of the regions, the Schorfheide-Chorin, a significant effect of the depth of the litter layer, which is a main component of habitat quality, and of the sampling effort, which serves as an inverse proxy for local population size. For the other region, the Schwabische Alb, none of the potential drivers showed a significant effect on allelic richness. We conclude that the genetic diversity in our study species is being driven by current local population sizes via environmental variables and not by historical processes in the studied regions. This is also supported by lack of genetic differentiation between local populations sampled from ancient and from recent woodlands. We suggest that the potential effects of former fragmentation and recolonization processes have been mitigated by the large and stable local populations of Abax parallelepipedus in combination with the proximity of the ancient and recent woodlands in the studied landscapes.
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144217
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 10
IS  - 12
PB  - PLoS
CY  - San Fransisco
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  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pfestorf, H.
A1  - Weiss, L.
A1  - Müller, J.
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Socher, S. A.
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Weisser, W.
A1  - Fischer, M.
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Community mean traits as additional indicators to monitor effects of land-use intensity On grassland plant diversity
JF  - Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics
N2  - Semi-natural grasslands, biodiversity hotspots in Central-Europe, suffer from the cessation of traditional land-use. Amount and intensity of these changes challenge current monitoring frameworks typically based on classic indicators such as selected target species or diversity indices. Indicators based on plant functional traits provide an interesting extension since they reflect ecological strategies at individual and ecological processes at community levels. They typically show convergent responses to gradients of land-use intensity over scales and regions, are more directly related to environmental drivers than diversity components themselves and enable detecting directional changes in whole community dynamics. However, probably due to their labor- and cost intensive assessment in the field, they have been rarely applied as indicators so far.
 Here we suggest overcoming these limitations by calculating indicators with plant traits derived from online accessible databases. Aiming to provide a minimal trait set to monitor effects of land-use intensification on plant diversity we investigated relationships between 12 community mean traits, 2 diversity indices and 6 predictors of land-use intensity within grassland communities of 3 different regions in Germany (part of the German 'Biodiversity Exploratory' research network). By standardization of traits and diversity measures, use of null models and linear mixed models we confirmed (i) strong links between functional community composition and plant diversity, (ii) that traits are closely related to land-use intensity, and (iii) that functional indicators are equally, or even more sensitive to land-use intensity than traditional diversity indices. The deduced trait set consisted of 5 traits, i.e., specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), seed release height, leaf distribution, and onset of flowering. These database derived traits enable the early detection of changes in community structure indicative for future diversity loss. As an addition to current monitoring measures they allow to better link environmental drivers to processes controlling community dynamics.
KW  - Biodiversity Exploratories
KW  - Biological conservation
KW  - (Semi-natural) Grasslands
KW  - Plant functional traits
KW  - Indicators
KW  - Land-use intensity
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2012.10.003
SN  - 1433-8319
VL  - 15
IS  - 1
SP  - 1
EP  - 11
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Jena
ER  - 
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  - Soliveres, Santiago
A1  - Maestre, Fernando T.
A1  - Ulrich, Werner
A1  - Manning, Peter
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Bowker, Matthew A.
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel
A1  - Quero, Jose L.
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Gallardo, Antonio
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Garcia-Gomez, Miguel
A1  - Ochoa, Victoria
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Allan, Eric
T1  - Intransitive competition is widespread in plant communities and maintains their species richness
JF  - Ecology letters
N2  - Intransitive competition networks, those in which there is no single best competitor, may ensure species coexistence. However, their frequency and importance in maintaining diversity in real-world ecosystems remain unclear. We used two large data sets from drylands and agricultural grasslands to assess: (1) the generality of intransitive competition, (2) intransitivity-richness relationships and (3) effects of two major drivers of biodiversity loss (aridity and land-use intensification) on intransitivity and species richness. Intransitive competition occurred in >65% of sites and was associated with higher species richness. Intransitivity increased with aridity, partly buffering its negative effects on diversity, but was decreased by intensive land use, enhancing its negative effects on diversity. These contrasting responses likely arise because intransitivity is promoted by temporal heterogeneity, which is enhanced by aridity but may decline with land-use intensity. We show that intransitivity is widespread in nature and increases diversity, but it can be lost with environmental homogenisation.
KW  - Aridity
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - coexistence
KW  - drylands
KW  - land use
KW  - mesic grasslands
KW  - rock-paper-scissors game
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12456
SN  - 1461-023X
SN  - 1461-0248
VL  - 18
IS  - 8
SP  - 790
EP  - 798
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Soliveres, Santiago
A1  - van der Plas, Fons
A1  - Manning, Peter
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Renner, Swen C.
A1  - Alt, Fabian
A1  - Arndt, Hartmut
A1  - Baumgartner, Vanessa
A1  - Binkenstein, Julia
A1  - Birkhofer, Klaus
A1  - Blaser, Stefan
A1  - Blüthgen, Nico
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Böhm, Stefan
A1  - Börschig, Carmen
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Diekötter, Tim
A1  - Heinze, Johannes
A1  - Hölzel, Norbert
A1  - Jung, Kirsten
A1  - Klaus, Valentin H.
A1  - Kleinebecker, Till
A1  - Klemmer, Sandra
A1  - Krauss, Jochen
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Morris, E. Kathryn
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Oelmann, Yvonne
A1  - Overmann, Jörg
A1  - Pasalic, Esther
A1  - Rillig, Matthias C.
A1  - Schaefer, H. Martin
A1  - Schloter, Michael
A1  - Schmitt, Barbara
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Schrumpf, Marion
A1  - Sikorski, Johannes
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Solly, Emily F.
A1  - Sonnemann, Ilja
A1  - Sorkau, Elisabeth
A1  - Steckel, Juliane
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Stempfhuber, Barbara
A1  - Tschapka, Marco
A1  - Türke, Manfred
A1  - Venter, Paul C.
A1  - Weiner, Christiane N.
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Werner, Michael
A1  - Westphal, Catrin
A1  - Wilcke, Wolfgang
A1  - Wolters, Volkmar
A1  - Wubet, Tesfaye
A1  - Wurst, Susanne
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Allan, Eric
T1  - Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality
JF  - Nature : the international weekly journal of science
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19092
SN  - 0028-0836
SN  - 1476-4687
VL  - 536
SP  - 456
EP  - +
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
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  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Solly, Emily
A1  - Schöning, Ingo
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Mueller, J.
A1  - Socher, S. A.
A1  - Trumbore, S. E.
A1  - Schrumpf, M.
T1  - Mean age of carbon in fine roots from temperate forests and grasslands with different management
JF  - Biogeosciences
N2  - Fine roots are the most dynamic portion of a plant's root system and a major source of soil organic matter. By altering plant species diversity and composition, soil conditions and nutrient availability, and consequently belowground allocation and dynamics of root carbon (C) inputs, land-use and management changes may influence organic C storage in terrestrial ecosystems. In three German regions, we measured fine root radiocarbon (C-14) content to estimate the mean time since C in root tissues was fixed from the atmosphere in 54 grassland and forest plots with different management and soil conditions. Although root biomass was on average greater in grasslands 5.1 +/- 0.8 g (mean +/- SE, n = 27) than in forests 3.1 +/- 0.5 g (n = 27) (p < 0.05), the mean age of C in fine roots in forests averaged 11.3 +/- 1.8 yr and was older and more variable compared to grasslands 1.7 +/- 0.4 yr (p < 0.001). We further found that management affects the mean age of fine root C in temperate grasslands mediated by changes in plant species diversity and composition. Fine root mean C age is positively correlated with plant diversity (r = 0.65) and with the number of perennial species (r = 0.77). Fine root mean C age in grasslands was also affected by study region with averages of 0.7 +/- 0.1 yr (n= 9) on mostly organic soils in northern Germany and of 1.8 +/- 0.3 yr (n = 9) and 2.6 +/- 0.3 (n = 9) in central and southern Germany (p < 0.05). This was probably due to differences in soil nutrient contents and soil moisture conditions between study regions, which affected plant species diversity and the presence of perennial species. Our results indicate more long-lived roots or internal redistribution of C in perennial species and suggest linkages between fine root C age and management in grasslands. These findings improve our ability to predict and model belowground C fluxes across broader spatial scales.
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-4833-2013
SN  - 1726-4170
VL  - 10
IS  - 7
SP  - 4833
EP  - 4843
PB  - Copernicus
CY  - Göttingen
ER  -