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  - 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  - Türke, Manfred
A1  - Andreas, Kerstin
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Kowalski, Esther
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Meyhöfer, Rainer
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
T1  - Are gastropods, rather than ants, important dispersers of seeds of myrmecochorous forest herbs?
JF  - The American naturalist : a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences
N2  - Seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory) is widespread, and seed adaptations to myrmecochory are common, especially in the form of fatty appendices (elaiosomes). In a recent study, slugs were identified as seed dispersers of myrmecochores in a central European beech forest. Here we used 105 beech forest sites to test whether myrmecochore presence and abundance is related to ant or gastropod abundance and whether experimentally exposed seeds are removed by gastropods. Myrmecochorous plant cover was positively related to gastropod abundance but was negatively related to ant abundance. Gastropods were responsible for most seed removal and elaiosome damage, whereas insects (and rodents) played minor roles. These gastropod effects on seeds were independent of region or forest management. We suggest that terrestrial gastropods can generally act as seed dispersers of myrmecochorous plants and even substitute myrmecochory, especially where ants are absent or uncommon.
KW  - myrmecochory
KW  - gastropodochory
KW  - Arion
KW  - slug
KW  - seed dispersal
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1086/663195
SN  - 0003-0147
VL  - 179
IS  - 1
SP  - 124
EP  - 131
PB  - Univ. of Chicago Press
CY  - Chicago
ER  - 
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  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Scherber, Christoph
A1  - Eisenhauer, Nico
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Schmid, Bernhard
A1  - Voigt, Winfried
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Schukze, Ernst-Detlef
A1  - Roscher, Christiane
A1  - Weigelt, Alexandra
A1  - Allan, Eric
A1  - Beßler, Holger
A1  - Bonkowski, Michael
A1  - Buchmann, Nina
A1  - Buscot, François
A1  - Clement, Lars W.
A1  - Ebeling, Anne
A1  - Engels, Christof
A1  - Halle, Stefan
A1  - Kertscher, Ilona
A1  - Klein, Alexandra-Maria
A1  - Koller, Robert
A1  - König, Stephan
A1  - Kowalski, Esther
A1  - Kummer, Volker
A1  - Kuu, Annely
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Lauterbach, Dirk
T1  - Bottom-up effects of plant diversity on multitrophic interactions in a biodiversity experiment
Y1  - 2010
UR  - http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7323/full/nature09492.html
SN  - 0028-0836
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Schütz, Wolfgang
A1  - Bernhardt, Karl-Georg
A1  - Koch, Markus
T1  - Special feature : Plant population biology in al multidisciplinary context
Y1  - 2003
ER  -