TY - JOUR A1 - Busch, Verena A1 - Klaus, Valentin Helmut A1 - Schaefer, Deborah A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Chiste, Melanie A1 - Mody, Karsten A1 - Blüthgen, Nico A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Kleinebecker, Till T1 - Will I stay or will I go? Plant species-specific response and tolerance to high land-use intensity in temperate grassland ecosystems JF - Journal of vegetation science KW - community composition KW - ecological strategies KW - Ellenberg indicator values KW - land-use intensity niche KW - plant functional traits KW - species-specific niche breadth KW - species-specific niche optima KW - temperate grasslands KW - vegetation dynamics Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12749 SN - 1100-9233 SN - 1654-1103 VL - 30 IS - 4 SP - 674 EP - 686 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Penone, Caterina A1 - Allan, Eric A1 - Soliveres, Santiago A1 - Felipe-Lucia, Maria R. A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Seibold, Sebastian A1 - Simons, Nadja K. A1 - Schall, Peter A1 - van der Plas, Fons A1 - Manning, Peter A1 - Manzanedo, Ruben D. A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Ammer, Christian A1 - Bauhus, Juergen A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Ehbrecht, Martin A1 - Goldmann, Kezia A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Mueller, Joerg A1 - Mueller, Joerg C. A1 - Pena, Rodica A1 - Polle, Andrea A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Ruess, Liliane A1 - Schoenig, Ingo A1 - Schrumpf, Marion A1 - Solly, Emily F. A1 - Tschapka, Marco A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Specialisation and diversity of multiple trophic groups are promoted by different forest features JF - Ecology letters N2 - 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. KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - dark diversity KW - forest management KW - global change KW - land-use KW - multidiversity KW - specialisation KW - temperate forests Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13182 SN - 1461-023X SN - 1461-0248 VL - 22 IS - 1 SP - 170 EP - 180 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinrichs, Steffi A1 - Ammer, Christian A1 - Mund, Martina A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Budde, Sabine A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Mueller, Joerg A1 - Schoening, Ingo A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Schmidt, Wolfgang A1 - Weckesser, Martin A1 - Schall, Peter T1 - Landscape-Scale Mixtures of Tree Species are More Effective than Stand-Scale Mixtures for Biodiversity of Vascular Plants, Bryophytes and Lichens JF - Forests N2 - Tree species diversity can positively affect the multifunctionality of forests. This is why conifer monocultures of Scots pine and Norway spruce, widely promoted in Central Europe since the 18th and 19th century, are currently converted into mixed stands with naturally dominant European beech. Biodiversity is expected to benefit from these mixtures compared to pure conifer stands due to increased abiotic and biotic resource heterogeneity. Evidence for this assumption is, however, largely lacking. Here, we investigated the diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens at the plot (alpha diversity) and at the landscape (gamma diversity) level in pure and mixed stands of European beech and conifer species (Scots pine, Norway spruce, Douglas fir) in four regions in Germany. We aimed to identify compositions of pure and mixed stands in a hypothetical forest landscape that can optimize gamma diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens within regions. Results show that gamma diversity of the investigated groups is highest when a landscape comprises different pure stands rather than tree species mixtures at the stand scale. Species mainly associated with conifers rely on light regimes that are only provided in pure conifer forests, whereas mixtures of beech and conifers are more similar to beech stands. Combining pure beech and pure conifer stands at the landscape scale can increase landscape level biodiversity and conserve species assemblages of both stand types, while landscapes solely composed of stand scale tree species mixtures could lead to a biodiversity reduction of a combination of investigated groups of 7 up to 20%. KW - Fagus sylvatica KW - Pinus sylvestris KW - Picea abies KW - Pseudotsuga menziesii KW - forest management KW - tree species diversity KW - forest conversion KW - gamma diversity KW - landscape scale KW - Biodiversity Exploratories Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010073 SN - 1999-4907 VL - 10 IS - 1 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Pommer, Ulf A1 - Hessenmöller, Dominik A1 - Schall, Peter A1 - Schulze, Ernst Detlef A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Effects of forest management on bryophyte species richness in Central European forests JF - Forest ecology and management N2 - We studied the effect of three major forest management types (unmanaged beech, selection beech, and age class forests) and stand variables (SMId, soil pH, proportion of conifers, litter cover, deadwood cover, rock cover and cumulative cover of woody trees and shrubs) on bryophyte species richness in 1050 forest plots in three regions in Germany. In addition, we analysed the species richness of four ecological guilds of bryophytes according to their colonized substrates (deadwood, rock, soil, bark) and the number of woodland indicator bryophyte species. Beech selection forests turned out to be the most species rich management type, whereas unmanaged beech forests revealed even lower species numbers than age-class forests. Increasing conifer proportion increased bryophyte species richness but not the number of woodland indicator bryophyte species. The richness of the four ecological guilds mainly responded to the abundance of their respective substrate. We conclude that the permanent availability of suitable substrates is most important for bryophyte species richness in forests, which is not stringently linked to management type. Therefore, managed age-class forests and selection forests may even exceed unmanaged forests in bryophyte species richness due to higher substrate supply and therefore represent important habitats for bryophytes. Typical woodland indicator bryophytes and their species richness were negatively affected by SMId (management intensity) and therefore better indicate forest integrity than the species richness of all bryophytes. Nature conservation efforts should focus on the reduction of management intensity. Moreover, maintaining and increasing a variability of substrates and habitats, such as coarse woody debris, increasing structural heterogeneity by retaining patches with groups of old, mature to over-mature trees in managed forests, maintaining forest climate conditions by silvicultural methods that assure stand continuity, e.g. by selection cutting rather than clear cutting and shelterwood logging might promote bryophyte diversity and in particular the one of woodland indicator bryophytes. KW - Beech forests KW - Conifer plantations KW - Cryptogams KW - Ecological guilds KW - Forest management KW - Temperate forests KW - Selection vs. age-class forests KW - Unmanaged vs. managed forests KW - Woodland indicator species Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.019 SN - 0378-1127 SN - 1872-7042 VL - 432 SP - 850 EP - 859 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sorkau, Elisabeth A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Boeddinghaus, Runa S. A1 - Bonkowski, Michael A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Kandeler, Ellen A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Marhan, Sven A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Schoening, Ingo A1 - Schrumpf, Marion A1 - Weinert, Jan A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne T1 - The role of soil chemical properties, land use and plant diversity for microbial phosphorus in forest and grassland soils JF - Journal of plant nutrition and soil science = Zeitschrift für Pflanzenernährung und Bodenkunde N2 - Management intensity modifies soil properties, e.g., organic carbon (C-org) concentrations and soil pH with potential feedbacks on plant diversity. These changes might influence microbial P concentrations (P-mic) in soil representing an important component of the Pcycle. Our objectives were to elucidate whether abiotic and biotic variables controlling P-mic concentrations in soil are the same for forests and grasslands, and to assess the effect of region and management on P-mic concentrations in forest and grassland soils as mediated by the controlling variables. In three regions of Germany, Schwabische Alb, Hanich-Dun, and Schorfheide-Chorin, we studied forest and grassland plots (each n=150) differing in plant diversity and land-use intensity. In contrast to controls of microbial biomass carbon (C-mic), P-mic was strongly influenced by soil pH, which in turn affected phosphorus (P) availability and thus microbial Puptake in forest and grassland soils. Furthermore, P-mic concentrations in forest and grassland soils increased with increasing plant diversity. Using structural equation models, we could show that soil C-org is the profound driver of plant diversity effects on P-mic in grasslands. For both forest and grassland, we found regional differences in P-mic attributable to differing environmental conditions (pH, soil moisture). Forest management and tree species showed no effect on P-mic due to a lack of effects on controlling variables (e.g., C-org). We also did not find management effects in grassland soils which might be caused by either compensation of differently directed effects across sites or by legacy effects of former fertilization constraining the relevance of actual practices. We conclude that variables controlling P-mic or C-mic in soil differ in part and that regional differences in controlling variables are more important for P-mic in soil than those induced by management. KW - age class forest KW - land-use intensity KW - meadow KW - microbes KW - pasture KW - unmanaged forest Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.201700082 SN - 1436-8730 SN - 1522-2624 VL - 181 IS - 2 SP - 185 EP - 197 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Low-intensity management promotes bryophyte diversity in grasslands JF - Tuexenia : Mitteilungen der Floristisch-Soziologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft N2 - Bryophytes constitute an important and permanent component of the grassland flora and diversity in Europe. As most bryophyte species are sensitive to habitat change, their diversity is likely to decline following land-use intensification. Most previous studies on bryophyte diversity focused on specific habitats of high bryophyte diversity, such as bogs, montane grasslands, or calcareous dry grasslands. In contrast, mesic grasslands are rarely studied, although they are the most common grassland habitat in Europe. They are secondary vegetation, maintained by agricultural use and thus, are influenced by different forms of land use. We studied bryophyte species richness in three regions in Germany, in 707 plots of 16 m(2) representing different land-use types and environmental conditions. Our study is one of the few to inspect the relationships between bryophyte richness and land use across contrasting regions and using a high number of replicates. Among the managed grasslands, pastures harboured 2.5 times more bryophyte species than meadows and mown pastures. Similarly, bryophyte cover was about twice as high in fallows and pastures than in meadows and mown pastures. Among the pastures, bryophyte species richness was about three times higher in sheep grazed plots than in the ones grazed by cattle or horses. In general, bryophyte species richness and cover was more than 50% lower in fertilized than in unfertilized plots. Moreover, the amount of suitable substrates was linked to bryophyte diversity. Species richness of bryophytes growing on stones increased with stone cover, and the one of bryophytes growing on bark and deadwood increased with larger values of woody plant species and deadwood cover. Our findings highlight the importance of low-intensity land use and high structural heterogeneity for bryophyte conservation. They also caution against an intensification of traditionally managed pastures. In the light of our results, we recommend to maintain low-intensity sheep grazing on sites with low productivity, such as slopes on shallow soils. T2 - Extensive Landnutzung fördert die Moosdiversität im Grünland KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - competition KW - dry and mesic grasslands KW - grazing KW - fertilization KW - land use KW - liverwort KW - meadow KW - moss KW - pasture Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.14471/2018.38.014 SN - 0722-494X IS - 38 SP - 311 EP - 328 PB - Floristisch-Soziologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dengler, Jürgen A1 - Wagner, Viktoria A1 - Dembicz, Iwona A1 - Garcia-Mijangos, Itziar A1 - Naqinezhad, Alireza A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Chiarucci, Alessandro A1 - Conradi, Timo A1 - Filibeck, Goffredo A1 - Guarino, Riccardo A1 - Janisova, Monika A1 - Steinbauer, Manuel J. A1 - Acic, Svetlana A1 - Acosta, Alicia T. R. A1 - Akasaka, Munemitsu A1 - Allers, Marc-Andre A1 - Apostolova, Iva A1 - Axmanova, Irena A1 - Bakan, Branko A1 - Baranova, Alina A1 - Bardy-Durchhalter, Manfred A1 - Bartha, Sandor A1 - Baumann, Esther A1 - Becker, Thomas A1 - Becker, Ute A1 - Belonovskaya, Elena A1 - Bengtsson, Karin A1 - Benito Alonso, Jose Luis A1 - Berastegi, Asun A1 - Bergamini, Ariel A1 - Bonini, Ilaria A1 - Bruun, Hans Henrik A1 - Budzhak, Vasyl A1 - Bueno, Alvaro A1 - Antonio Campos, Juan A1 - Cancellieri, Laura A1 - Carboni, Marta A1 - Chocarro, Cristina A1 - Conti, Luisa A1 - Czarniecka-Wiera, Marta A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Deak, Balazs A1 - Didukh, Yakiv P. A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Dolnik, Christian A1 - Dupre, Cecilia A1 - Ecker, Klaus A1 - Ermakov, Nikolai A1 - Erschbamer, Brigitta A1 - Escudero, Adrian A1 - Etayo, Javier A1 - Fajmonova, Zuzana A1 - Felde, Vivian A. A1 - Fernandez Calzado, Maria Rosa A1 - Finckh, Manfred A1 - Fotiadis, Georgios A1 - Fracchiolla, Mariano A1 - Ganeva, Anna A1 - Garcia-Magro, Daniel A1 - Gavilan, Rosario G. A1 - Germany, Markus A1 - Giladi, Itamar A1 - Gillet, Francois A1 - Giusso del Galdo, Gian Pietro A1 - Gonzalez, Jose M. A1 - Grytnes, John-Arvid A1 - Hajek, Michal A1 - Hajkova, Petra A1 - Helm, Aveliina A1 - Herrera, Mercedes A1 - Hettenbergerova, Eva A1 - Hobohm, Carsten A1 - Huellbusch, Elisabeth M. A1 - Ingerpuu, Nele A1 - Jandt, Ute A1 - Jeltsch, Florian A1 - Jensen, Kai A1 - Jentsch, Anke A1 - Jeschke, Michael A1 - Jimenez-Alfaro, Borja A1 - Kacki, Zygmunt A1 - Kakinuma, Kaoru A1 - Kapfer, Jutta A1 - Kavgaci, Ali A1 - Kelemen, Andras A1 - Kiehl, Kathrin A1 - Koyama, Asuka A1 - Koyanagi, Tomoyo F. A1 - Kozub, Lukasz A1 - Kuzemko, Anna A1 - Kyrkjeeide, Magni Olsen A1 - Landi, Sara A1 - Langer, Nancy A1 - Lastrucci, Lorenzo A1 - Lazzaro, Lorenzo A1 - Lelli, Chiara A1 - Leps, Jan A1 - Loebel, Swantje A1 - Luzuriaga, Arantzazu L. A1 - Maccherini, Simona A1 - Magnes, Martin A1 - Malicki, Marek A1 - Marceno, Corrado A1 - Mardari, Constantin A1 - Mauchamp, Leslie A1 - May, Felix A1 - Michelsen, Ottar A1 - Mesa, Joaquin Molero A1 - Molnar, Zsolt A1 - Moysiyenko, Ivan Y. A1 - Nakaga, Yuko K. A1 - Natcheva, Rayna A1 - Noroozi, Jalil A1 - Pakeman, Robin J. A1 - Palpurina, Salza A1 - Partel, Meelis A1 - Paetsch, Ricarda A1 - Pauli, Harald A1 - Pedashenko, Hristo A1 - Peet, Robert K. A1 - Pielech, Remigiusz A1 - Pipenbaher, Natasa A1 - Pirini, Chrisoula A1 - Pleskova, Zuzana A1 - Polyakova, Mariya A. A1 - Prentice, Honor C. A1 - Reinecke, Jennifer A1 - Reitalu, Triin A1 - Pilar Rodriguez-Rojo, Maria A1 - Rolecek, Jan A1 - Ronkin, Vladimir A1 - Rosati, Leonardo A1 - Rosen, Ejvind A1 - Ruprecht, Eszter A1 - Rusina, Solvita A1 - Sabovljevic, Marko A1 - Maria Sanchez, Ana A1 - Savchenko, Galina A1 - Schuhmacher, Oliver A1 - Skornik, Sonja A1 - Sperandii, Marta Gaia A1 - Staniaszek-Kik, Monika A1 - Stevanovic-Dajic, Zora A1 - Stock, Marin A1 - Suchrow, Sigrid A1 - Sutcliffe, Laura M. E. A1 - Swacha, Grzegorz A1 - Sykes, Martin A1 - Szabo, Anna A1 - Talebi, Amir A1 - Tanase, Catalin A1 - Terzi, Massimo A1 - Tolgyesi, Csaba A1 - Torca, Marta A1 - Torok, Peter A1 - Tothmeresz, Bela A1 - Tsarevskaya, Nadezda A1 - Tsiripidis, Ioannis A1 - Tzonev, Rossen A1 - Ushimaru, Atushi A1 - Valko, Orsolya A1 - van der Maarel, Eddy A1 - Vanneste, Thomas A1 - Vashenyak, Iuliia A1 - Vassilev, Kiril A1 - Viciani, Daniele A1 - Villar, Luis A1 - Virtanen, Risto A1 - Kosic, Ivana Vitasovic A1 - Wang, Yun A1 - Weiser, Frank A1 - Went, Julia A1 - Wesche, Karsten A1 - White, Hannah A1 - Winkler, Manuela A1 - Zaniewski, Piotr T. A1 - Zhang, Hui A1 - Ziv, Yaron A1 - Znamenskiy, Sergey A1 - Biurrun, Idoia T1 - GrassPlot - a database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands JF - Phytocoenologia N2 - GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). GrassPlot collects plot records (releves) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001;... 1,000 m(2)) and on nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes. The usage of GrassPlot is regulated through Bylaws that intend to balance the interests of data contributors and data users. The current version (v. 1.00) contains data for approximately 170,000 plots of different sizes and 2,800 nested-plot series. The key components are richness data and metadata. However, most included datasets also encompass compositional data. About 14,000 plots have near-complete records of terricolous bryophytes and lichens in addition to vascular plants. At present, GrassPlot contains data from 36 countries throughout the Palaearctic, spread across elevational gradients and major grassland types. GrassPlot with its multi-scale and multi-taxon focus complements the larger international vegetationplot databases, such as the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and the global database " sPlot". Its main aim is to facilitate studies on the scale-and taxon-dependency of biodiversity patterns and drivers along macroecological gradients. GrassPlot is a dynamic database and will expand through new data collection coordinated by the elected Governing Board. We invite researchers with suitable data to join GrassPlot. Researchers with project ideas addressable with GrassPlot data are welcome to submit proposals to the Governing Board. KW - biodiversity KW - European Vegetation Archive (EVA) KW - Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) KW - grassland vegetation KW - GrassPlot KW - macroecology KW - multi-taxon KW - nested plot KW - scale-dependence KW - species-area relationship (SAR) KW - sPlot KW - vegetation-plot database Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/phyto/2018/0267 SN - 0340-269X VL - 48 IS - 3 SP - 331 EP - 347 PB - Cramer CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Simons, Nadja K. A1 - Lewinsohn, Thomas A1 - Bluethgen, Nico A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Daniel, Rolf A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Kaiser, Kristin A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Sonnemann, Ilja A1 - Weiner, Christiane N. A1 - Werner, Michael A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Wurst, Susanne A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. T1 - Contrasting effects of grassland management modes on species-abundance distributions of multiple groups JF - Agriculture, ecosystems & environment : an international journal for scientific research on the relationship of agriculture and food production to the biosphere N2 - 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. KW - Biodiversity KW - Cutting frequency KW - Management intensity KW - Rank-abundance KW - Species loss KW - Rarity Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.12.022 SN - 0167-8809 SN - 1873-2305 VL - 237 SP - 143 EP - 153 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schall, Peter A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Heinrichs, Steffi A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Baumgartner, Vanessa A1 - Blaser, Stefan A1 - Böhm, Stefan A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Daniel, Rolf A1 - Goldmann, Kezia A1 - Kaiser, Kristin A1 - Kahl, Tiemo A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Müller, Jörg Hans A1 - Overmann, Jörg A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Sikorski, Johannes A1 - Tschapka, Marco A1 - Türke, Manfred A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Wemheuer, Bernd A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Ammer, Christian T1 - The impact of even-aged and uneven-aged forest management on regional biodiversity of multiple taxa in European beech forests JF - Journal of applied ecology : an official journal of the British Ecological Society N2 - 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. KW - beta diversity KW - forest specialists KW - gamma diversity KW - heterogeneity KW - Hill numbers KW - saproxylic beetles KW - spatial grain KW - species accumulation curve KW - species richness KW - species turnover Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12950 SN - 0021-8901 SN - 1365-2664 VL - 55 IS - 1 SP - 267 EP - 278 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Busch, Verena A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Penone, Caterina A1 - Schäfer, Deborah A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Niinemets, Ülo A1 - Penuelas, Josep A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Kleinebecker, Till T1 - Nutrient stoichiometry and land use rather than species richness determine plant functional diversity JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - Plant functional traits reflect individual and community ecological strategies. They allow the detection of directional changes in community dynamics and ecosystemic processes, being an additional tool to assess biodiversity than species richness. Analysis of functional patterns in plant communities provides mechanistic insight into biodiversity alterations due to anthropogenic activity. Although studies have consi-dered of either anthropogenic management or nutrient availability on functional traits in temperate grasslands, studies combining effects of both drivers are scarce. Here, we assessed the impacts of management intensity (fertilization, mowing, grazing), nutrient stoichiometry (C, N, P, K), and vegetation composition on community-weighted means (CWMs) and functional diversity (Rao's Q) from seven plant traits in 150 grasslands in three regions in Germany, using data of 6 years. Land use and nutrient stoichiometry accounted for larger proportions of model variance of CWM and Rao's Q than species richness and productivity. Grazing affected all analyzed trait groups; fertilization and mowing only impacted generative traits. Grazing was clearly associated with nutrient retention strategies, that is, investing in durable structures and production of fewer, less variable seed. Phenological variability was increased. Fertilization and mowing decreased seed number/mass variability, indicating competition-related effects. Impacts of nutrient stoichiometry on trait syndromes varied. Nutrient limitation (large N:P, C:N ratios) promoted species with conservative strategies, that is, investment in durable plant structures rather than fast growth, fewer seed, and delayed flowering onset. In contrast to seed mass, leaf-economics variability was reduced under P shortage. Species diversity was positively associated with the variability of generative traits. Synthesis. Here, land use, nutrient availability, species richness, and plant functional strategies have been shown to interact complexly, driving community composition, and vegetation responses to management intensity. We suggest that deeper understanding of underlying mechanisms shaping community assembly and biodiversity will require analyzing all these parameters. KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - fertilization KW - leaf economics KW - mowing KW - nutrient availability KW - nutrient ratios KW - phosphorus KW - plant functional traits KW - plant strategies KW - seed mass Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3609 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 601 EP - 616 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Lewinsohn, Thomas M. A1 - Kahl, Tiemo A1 - Grassein, Fabrice A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Sikorski, Johannes A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Arndt, Hartmut A1 - Baumgartner, Vanessa A1 - Blaser, Stefan A1 - Blüthgen, Nico A1 - Börschig, Carmen A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Diekötter, Tim A1 - Jorge, Leonardo Re A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Keyel, Alexander C. A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - Klemmer, Sandra A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Overmann, Jörg A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Penone, Caterina A1 - Perovic, David J. A1 - Purschke, Oliver A1 - Schall, Peter A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Sonnemann, Ilja A1 - Tschapka, Marco A1 - Tscharntke, Teja A1 - Türke, Manfred A1 - Venter, Paul Christiaan A1 - Weiner, Christiane N. A1 - Werner, Michael A1 - Wolters, Volkmar A1 - Wurst, Susanne A1 - Westphal, Catrin A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Allan, Eric T1 - Land-use intensification causes multitrophic homogenization of grassland communities JF - Nature : the international weekly journal of science N2 - 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. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20575 SN - 0028-0836 SN - 1476-4687 VL - 540 SP - 266 EP - + PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London 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 - Soliveres, Santiago A1 - Manning, Peter A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Alt, Fabian A1 - Arndt, Hartmut A1 - Baumgartner, Vanessa A1 - Binkenstein, Julia A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Blaser, Stefan A1 - Bluethgen, Nico A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Boehm, Stefan A1 - Boerschig, Carmen A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Diekoetter, Tim A1 - Heinze, Johannes A1 - Hoelzel, Norbert A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Klemmer, Sandra A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Morris, E. Kathryn A1 - Mueller, Joerg A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Overmann, Jörg A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Rillig, Matthias C. A1 - Schaefer, H. Martin A1 - Schloter, Michael A1 - Schmitt, Barbara A1 - Schoening, 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 - Tuerke, Manfred A1 - Venter, Paul 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 - Locally rare species influence grassland ecosystem multifunctionality JF - Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences N2 - 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. KW - biodiversity KW - common species KW - ecosystem function KW - identity hypothesis KW - land use KW - multitrophic Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0269 SN - 0962-8436 SN - 1471-2970 VL - 371 SP - 3175 EP - 3185 PB - Royal Society CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Manning, Pete A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Bossdorf, Oliver A1 - Allan, Eric A1 - Zhang, Yuan-Ye A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Blüthgen, Nico A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Böhm, Stefan A1 - Börschig, Carmen A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Klein, Alexandra Maria A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Tschapka, Marco A1 - Türke, Manfred A1 - Weiner, Christiane A1 - Werner, Michael A1 - Gockel, Sonja A1 - Hemp, Andreas A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Wells, Konstans A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V. A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Grassland management intensification weakens the associations among the diversities of multiple plant and animal taxa JF - Ecology : a publication of the Ecological Society of America N2 - 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. KW - Biodiversity indicators KW - correlation KW - fertilization KW - grassland management KW - grazing KW - land-use change KW - land-use intensity KW - mowing KW - multidiversity KW - multitrophic interactions Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1890/14-1307.1 SN - 0012-9658 SN - 1939-9170 VL - 96 IS - 6 SP - 1492 EP - 1501 PB - Wiley CY - Washington 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 - 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 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Blaser, Steffen A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Prati, Daniel T1 - Effects of forest management on bryophyte communities on deadwood JF - Nova Hedwigia : Zeitschrift für Kryptogamenkunde N2 - Epixylic bryophytes are important components of forest vegetation but are currently endangered by increment of wood harvest and intensive forest management. In this paper we present a study about the relationship between forest management, deadwood abundance, deadwood attributes and species richness of epixylic bryophytes on 30 plots comprising three forest types (managed coniferous, managed deciduous and unmanaged deciduous forests) in three regions in Germany. Additionally we analyzed the relations between deadwood attributes (wood species, decay, deadwood type, size) and bryophytes on deadwood items (n = 799) and calculated species interaction networks of wood species and bryophytes. Overall, species richness of epixylic bryophytes was positively related to deadwood abundance and diversity. The mean deadwood abundance was lowest in unmanaged forests (9.7 m(3) ha(-1)) compared with 15.0 m(3) ha(-1) in managed deciduous and 25.1 m(3) ha(-1) in managed coniferous forests. Accordingly, epixylic bryophyte species richness per plot increased from 7 species per 400 m(2) in unmanaged, 10 in managed deciduous and 16 in managed coniferous forests. The interaction network provided evidence of importance of tree-species diversity for bryophyte diversity and the relevance of particular wood species for rare bryophytes. Generally, the results demonstrate a considerable lack of deadwood in all forest types, even in unmanaged forests. Species richness of epixylic bryophytes was strongly limited by available substrates within the observed deadwood abundance ranging up to only 60 m(3) ha(-1). Altogether, this suggests a high demand to increase both abundance and diversity of deadwood in forests. KW - Coarse woody debris KW - cryptogams KW - deadwood KW - species interaction network KW - wood harvest Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/nova_hedwigia/2015/0242 SN - 0029-5035 VL - 100 IS - 3-4 SP - 423 EP - 438 PB - Cramer CY - Stuttgart 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 - 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 -