TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Bossdorf, Oliver
A1  - Gockel, Sonja
A1  - Haensel, Falk
A1  - Hemp, Andreas
A1  - Hessenmoeller, Dominik
A1  - Korte, Gunnar
A1  - Nieschulze, Jens
A1  - Pfeiffer, Simone
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Renner, Swen
A1  - Schoening, Ingo
A1  - Schumacher, Uta
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.
A1  - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
A1  - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
T1  - Implementing large-scale and long-term functional biodiversity research : the biodiversity exploratories
N2  - Functional biodiversity research explores drivers and functional consequences of biodiversity changes Land use change is a major driver of changes of biodiversity and of biogeochemical and biological ecosystem processes and services However, land use effects on genetic and species diversity are well documented only for a few taxa and trophic networks We hardly know how different components of biodiversity and their responses to land use change are interrelated and very little about the simultaneous, and interacting, effects of land use on multiple ecosystem processes and services Moreover, we do not know to what extent land use effects on ecosystem processes and services are mediated by biodiversity change Thus, overall goals are on the one hand to understand the effects of land use on biodiversity and on the other to understand the modifying role of biodiversity change for land-use effects on ecosystem processes, including biogeochemical cycles To comprehensively address these Important questions, we recently established a new large-scale and long-term project for functional biodiversity, the Biodiversity Exploratories (www biodiversity-exploratories de) They comprise a hierarchical set of standardized field plots in three different regions of Germany covering manifold management types and intensities in grasslands and forests They serve as a joint research platform for currently 40 projects involving over 300 people studying various aspects of the relationships between land use biodiversity and ecosystem processes through monitoring, comparative observation and experiments We introduce guiding questions, concept and design of the Biodiversity Exploratories - including main aspects of selection and implementation of field plots and project structure - and we discuss the significance of this approach for further functional biodiversity research This includes the crucial relevance of a common study design encompassing variation in both drivers and outcomes of biodiversity change and ecosystem processes, the interdisciplinary integration of biodiversity and ecosystem researchers, the training of a new generation of integrative biodiversity researchers, and the stimulation of functional biodiversity research in real landscape contexts, in Germany and elsewhere.
Y1  - 2010
UR  - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14391791
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2010.07.009
SN  - 1439-1791
ER  -