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 - GEN A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Low-intensity management promotes bryophyte diversity in grasslands T1 - Extensive Landnutzung fördert die Moosdiversität im Grünland T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe 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 m2 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 mead-ows 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. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1049 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 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-460086 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1049 SP - 311 EP - 328 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Direct and productivity-mediated indirect effects of fertilization, mowing and grazing on grassland species richness JF - The journal of ecology N2 - Recent declines in biodiversity have given new urgency to questions about the relationship between land-use change, biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Despite the existence of a large body of research on the effects of land use on species richness, it is unclear whether the effects of land use on species richness are principally direct or indirect, mediated by concomitant changes in ecosystem processes. Therefore, we compared the direct effects of land use (fertilization, mowing and grazing) on species richness with indirect ones (mediated via grassland productivity) for grasslands in central Europe. We measured the richness and above-ground biomass in 150 grassland plots in 3 regions of Germany (the so-called Biodiversity Exploratories). We used univariate and structural equation models to examine direct and indirect land-use effects. The direct effects of mowing (-0.37, effect size) and grazing (0.04) intensity on species richness were stronger compared with the indirect effects of mowing (-0.04) and grazing (-0.01). However, the strong negative effect of fertilization (-0.23) on species richness was mainly indirect, mediated by increased productivity compared with the weak direct negative effect (-0.07). Differences between regions in land-use effects showed five times weaker negative effects of mowing (-0.13) in the region with organic soils (Schorfheide-Chorin), strong overall negative effects of grazing (-0.29) for the region with organic soils opposed to a similar strong positive effect (0.30) in the Hainich-Dun region, whereas the Schwabische Alb region displayed a five times weaker positive effect (0.06) only. Further, fertilization effects on species richness were positive (0.03) for the region with organic soils compared to up to 25 times stronger negative effects in the other two regions. Synthesis. Our results clearly show the importance of studying both direct and indirect effects of land-use intensity. They demonstrate the indirect nature, via productivity, of the negative effect of fertilization intensity on plant species richness in the real-world context of management-induced gradients of intensity of fertilization, mowing and grazing. Finally, they highlight that careful consideration of regional environments is necessary before attempting to generalize land-use effects on species diversity. KW - biodiversity KW - determinants of plant community diversity and structure KW - ecosystem functioning KW - functional plant group KW - land use KW - productivity KW - species richness KW - structural equation modelling Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2012.02020.x SN - 0022-0477 VL - 100 IS - 6 SP - 1391 EP - 1399 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken 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 -