Die chronologische Liste zeigt aktuelle Veröffentlichungen aus dem Forschungsbetrieb der Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf. Zuständig ist das Zentrum für Forschung und Wissenstransfer (ZFW).
Since the end of World War II, marginal European landscapes with unfavourable environmental conditions for cultivation have experienced severe land-use changes. In many cases, large portions of arable land have been successively abandoned in favour of grassland or fallow land. This general trend of marginalisation in turn affected ecological landscape functions and processes with far-reaching consequences for biodiversity and natural resources. Furthermore, the land-use pattern in marginal European landscapes is expected to undergo further major changes in the future, particularly in the course of EU agricultural policy. Given this background, this multiple-paper thesis (A) analysed agricultural landscape change in a marginal agricultural landscape and (B) developed methods that may support landscape change research at multiple spatio-temporal scales. Both aims were addressed in three studies. Our study area was the Lahn-Dill Highlands (1270 km²), a marginal agricultural landscape in Hesse (Germany) with a pronounced land-use change in the past decades.In the first study, we developed an approach to identify types of land-cover patterns and dynamics (TLPDs) at the rural district scale. By the combination of recent satellite data with historic agricultural statistics, and the application of k-means cluster analysis, we identified six TLPDs and characterised their physical settings. We found a general trend of abandonment of cultivation at the landscape scale, which is governed by significant differences in current land-cover patterns and the directions of land-cover change at the district scale: In the eastern part of the area, where elevation is low, and the proportions of steep slopes and dry soils are small, land cover remained relatively stable. Slight to dramatic changes occurred, in contrast, in the remaining districts with comparatively unfavourable conditions for cultivation. In the second study, we developed a 3-step methodological approach to systematically assess the spatial distribution of grassland age in a marginal agricultural landscape. The approach is based on the combination of an a-priori two-stage landscape stratification with conventional aerial photograph interpretation of selected patches, and the subsequent spatial extrapolation of the determined grassland age. Results proved that our approach provides a realistic estimation of grassland age at the scale of districts and over a time period of five decades. We found that the derived probabilities of grassland age classes are specific for grassland types in areas with a homogenous pattern of land-cover change. Furthermore, the results indicated a predominance of old grassland patches (>47 years). Occurrences of mid-aged grassland (18-47 years) were concentrated in districts with a pronounced land-cover change in this time period, whereas young grassland (<18 years) is apparently evenly distributed across the study area. In the third study, we analysed the potential effects of three alternative transfer payment schemes on the farmland habitat diversity in a marginal agricultural landscape. We defined (1) a scenario with direct transfer payments coupled to production, (2) a scenario with direct transfer payments decoupled from production, and (3) a scenario phasing out all direct transfer payments. We characterised habitat diversity with three indices: habitat richness, evenness, and rarity. The habitat pattern in 1995 served as reference for comparison. All scenarios predicted a general trend of homogenisation of the farmland habitat pattern, yet to a differing extent. Transfer payments coupled to production (Scenario 1) supported spatially segregated land use with fallow land primarily in low-productive areas and arable land use in the more productive sites. The scenario predicted intermediate values for habitat richness and habitat evenness. Decoupling transfer payments from production (Scenario 2) favoured grassland as the most profitable farming system. This led to a grassland-dominated landscape with low values of all habitat diversity indices. Phasing out transfer payments (Scenario 3) resulted in complete abandonment or afforestation of agricultural land and extremely low values in all habitat diversity indices. Scenario results revealed that the payment of subsidies may prevent cessation of agricultural production, but may not fully counteract the homogenisation in marginal landscapes.
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Prof. Dr. Jörg Ewald
Berechtigungen: Peer Reviewed
Plant species richness in mountain forests of the Bavarian Alps (2008) Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology 142 (3), S. 594-603.
DOI: 10.1080/11263500802410942
Based on a stratified random sample of 93 vegetation plots (144 m2) from montane and subalpine climax forests in a representative section through the Bavarian Alps, spatial pattern and environmental correlates of species density of trees, vascular understorey and epigeic bryophytes were analysed. Detecting landscape scale patterns in beta- and gamma-diversity based on interpretation of rarefaction curves proved to be difficult in a sample that had been stratified by ecological criteria. In 144 m2 plots tree species density (5 ± 2.0, max. 10) declined with elevation and increased with stand age (multiple R 2 = 0.557). The latter effect can be attributed to the secular history of game management and browsing pressure, which has hindered the regeneration of species-rich tree stands since ca. 150 yr. Species density of the forest undergrowth reached remarkably high levels for vascular plants (42 ± 12.8, max. 69) and bryophytes (14 ± 6.0, max. 30) and strongly depended on cover of the respective layer in a unimodal pattern, suggesting to separate direct and indirect effects, mediated through the mass effect, in the subsequent construction of regression models. Multiple regression (R 2 = 0.47) revealed that vascular species density is limited chiefly through low plant cover, which in turn decreases with tree cover, elevation and soil quality, and secondly by species pools that contain larger numbers of species requiring high pH and ample light. Cover and direct effects had roughly equal weight in controlling bryophyte species density (R 2 = 0.57). Biomass depended on the proportion of conifers in the tree layer and on site quality, less fertile sites tending to have higher bryophyte cover. The increase of bryophyte species density with elevation was interpreted as an effect of a pool of largely boreal-subalpine species. The increase of species density with stand age suggests dispersal limitation and deserves further study.
Michael Bahn,
Mirco Rodeghiero,
Margaret Anderson-Dunn,
Sabina Dore,
Cristina Gimeno,
Prof. Dr. Matthias Drösler,
Michael Williams,
Christof Ammann,
Frank Berninger,
Chris Flechard,
Stephanie Jones,
Manuela Balzarolo,
Suresh Kumar,
Christian Newesely,
Tibor Priwitzer,
Antonio Raschi,
Rolf T. W. Siegwolf,
Sanna Susiluoto,
John Tenhunen,
Georg Wohlfahrt,
Alexander Cernusca
Berechtigungen: Peer Reviewed
Soil Respiration in European Grasslands in Relation to Climate and Assimilate Supply (2008) Ecosystems 11 , S. 1352-1367.
DOI: 10.1007/s10021-008-9198-0
Neil Bayfield,
Peter Barančok,
Markus Furger,
Maria-Teresa Sebastià,
Gloria Domínguez,
Miloslav Lapka,
Eva Cudlinová,
Loris Vescovo,
Damiano Ganielle,
Alexander Cernusca,
Ulrike Tappeiner,
Prof. Dr. Matthias Drösler
Berechtigungen: Peer Reviewed
Stakeholder perceptions of the impacts of rural funding scenarios on mountain landscapes across Europe (2008) Ecosystems 11 , S. 1368-1382.
DOI: 10.1007/s10021-008-9197-1
H. Steinecke,
Prof. Dr. Swantje Duthweiler
Von formalen Gärten, Teppichbeeten und Siesmayerei (2008) Praxis der Naturwissenschaften – Biologie in der Schule, Heft 6/57, Projekt: Gartenkunst , S. 35-38.
Prof. Dr. Swantje Duthweiler
Historische Sommerblumenkonzepte (2008) Vortrag auf Symposium zur Pflanzenverwendung in der Stadt „Lust am Schmuck“, Fachhochschule Osnabrück, 26.09.2008 .
Prof. Dr. habil. Carsten Lorz
Berechtigungen: Peer Reviewed
Lithological discontinuous soils - archives for the pedo-geochemical genesis of the soil-regolith-complex? (2008) Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie 52 (Suppl. 2), S. 119-132.
DOI: 10.1127/0372-8854/2008/0052S2-0119
Prof. Dr. Christoph Moning,
Elmar Witting
Aus dem Bayerischen Avifaunistischen Archiv, Avifaunistischer Jahresbericht 2007 für Bayern (2008) Ornithologischer Anzeiger 47 , S. 212-230.
Betreuung der Publikationsseiten
Gerhard Radlmayr
Referent für Wissenstransfer und Forschungskommunikation
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