@inproceedings{PoppBlaumDomptailetal.2006,
  author    = {Popp, Alexander and Blaum, Niels and Domptail, Stephanie and Herpel, Nicole and Gr{\"o}ngr{\"o}ft, Alexander and Hoffman, T. T. and J{\"u}rgens, Norbert and Milton, Sue and Nuppenau, Ernst-August and Rossmanith, Eva and Schmidt, Michael and Vogel, Melanie and Vohland, Katrin and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {From satellite imagery to soil-plant interactions},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-7302},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Decisions for the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources are typically related to large scales, i.e. the landscape level. However, understanding and predicting the effects of land use and climate change on scales relevant for decision-making requires to include both, large scale vegetation dynamics and small scale processes, such as soil-plant interactions. Integrating the results of multiple BIOTA subprojects enabled us to include necessary data of soil science, botany, socio-economics and remote sensing into a high resolution, process-based and spatially-explicit model. Using an example from a sustainably-used research farm and a communally used and degraded farming area in semiarid southern Namibia we show the power of simulation models as a tool to integrate processes across disciplines and scales.},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{RossmanithBlaumKeiletal.2006,
  author    = {Rossmanith, Eva and Blaum, Niels and Keil, Manfred and Langerwisch, F. and Meyer, Jork and Popp, Alexander and Schmidt, Michael and Schultz, Christoph and Schwager, Monika and Vogel, Melanie and Wasiolka, Bernd and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {Scaling up local population dynamics to regional scales},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-7320},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {In semi-arid savannas, unsustainable land use can lead to degradation of entire landscapes, e.g. in the form of shrub encroachment. This leads to habitat loss and is assumed to reduce species diversity. In BIOTA phase 1, we investigated the effects of land use on population dynamics on farm scale. In phase 2 we scale up to consider the whole regional landscape consisting of a diverse mosaic of farms with different historic and present land use intensities. This mosaic creates a heterogeneous, dynamic pattern of structural diversity at a large spatial scale. Understanding how the region-wide dynamic land use pattern affects the abundance of animal and plant species requires the integration of processes on large as well as on small spatial scales. In our multidisciplinary approach, we integrate information from remote sensing, genetic and ecological field studies as well as small scale process models in a dynamic region-wide simulation tool. <hr> Interdisziplin{\"a}res Zentrum f{\"u}r Musterdynamik und Angewandte Fernerkundung Workshop vom 9. - 10. Februar 2006.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PoppVogelBlaumetal.2009,
  author    = {Popp, Alexander and Vogel, Melanie and Blaum, Niels and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {Scaling up ecohydrological processes : role of surface water flow in water-limited landscapes},
  issn      = {0148-0227},
  doi       = {10.1029/2008jg000910},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {In this study, we present a stochastic landscape modeling approach that has the power to transfer and integrate existing information on vegetation dynamics and hydrological processes from the small scale to the landscape scale. To include microscale processes like ecohydrological feedback mechanisms and spatial exchange like surface water flow, we derive transition probabilities from a fine-scale simulation model. We applied two versions of the landscape model, one that includes and one that disregards spatial exchange of water to the situation of a sustainably used research farm and communally used and degraded rangeland in semiarid Namibia. Our simulation experiments show that including spatial exchange of overland flow among vegetation patches into our model is a precondition to reproduce vegetation dynamics, composition, and productivity, as well as hydrological processes at the landscape scale. In the model version that includes spatial exchange of water, biomass production at light grazing intensities increases 2.24-fold compared to the model without overland flow. In contrast, overgrazing destabilizes positive feedbacks through vegetation and hydrology and decreases the number of hydrological sinks in the model with overland flow. The buffer capacity of these hydrological sinks disappears and runoff increases. Here, both models predicted runoff losses from the system and artificial droughts occurring even in years with good precipitation. Overall, our study reveals that a thorough understanding of overland flow is an important precondition for improving the management of semiarid and arid rangelands with distinct topography.},
  language  = {en}
}