1. Interannual variation in land-use intensity enhances grassland multidiversity
- Author
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Heiko Nacke, Tim Diekötter, Carsten F. Dormann, Jochen Krauss, Klaus Birkhofer, Stefan Böhm, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Christoph Scherber, Antonis Chatzinotas, Matthias C. Rillig, Christine Hallmann, Ladislav Hodač, Sonja Gockel, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Nico Blüthgen, Norbert Hölzel, Michael Werner, Martin M. Gossner, François Buscot, Steffen Boch, Carmen Börschig, Daniel Prati, Teja Tscharntke, Eric Allan, Peter Schall, Jörg Müller, Christiane N. Weiner, E. Kathryn Morris, Waltraud X. Schulze, Oliver Bossdorf, Markus Lange, Sabina Christ, Michaela Bellach, Rolf Daniel, Esther Pašalić, Stephanie A. Socher, Andreas Hemp, Birgitta König-Ries, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Valentin H. Klaus, Ingo Schöning, Till Kleinebecker, Karl Eduard Linsenmair, Manfred Türke, Thomas Friedl, Ernst Detlef Schulze, Karin Glaser, Kirsten Jung, Markus Fischer, Swen C. Renner, Martin Gorke, Catrin Westphal, Christiane Fischer, Volkmar Wolters, Simone Pfeiffer, Christoph Rothenwöhrer, Tesfaye Wubet, Juliane Steckel, and Publica
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Conservation of Natural Resources ,Time Factors ,agricultural grasslands ,Rare species ,Biodiversity ,Biology ,Poaceae ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Models, Biological ,Grassland ,biodiversity loss ,Common species ,Species Specificity ,Germany ,Grazing ,Taxonomic rank ,Institut für Biochemie und Biologie ,Phylogeny ,geography ,Biodiversity Exploratories ,Multidisciplinary ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Land use ,Ecology ,Agriculture ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,15. Life on land ,Biological Sciences ,Plants ,Variation (linguistics) ,Ecosystems Research ,Area Under Curve ,Biodiversity loss ,040103 agronomy & agriculture ,0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries ,Agricultural grasslands ,biodiversity exploratories - Abstract
Although temporal heterogeneity is a well-accepted driver of biodiversity, effects of interannual variation in land-use intensity (LUI) have not been addressed yet. Additionally, responses to land use can differ greatly among different organisms; therefore, overall effects of land-use on total local biodiversity are hardly known. To test for effects of LUI (quantified as the combined intensity of fertilization, grazing, and mowing) and interannual variation in LUI (SD in LUI across time), we introduce a unique measure of whole-ecosystem biodiversity, multidiversity. This synthesizes individual diversity measures across up to 49 taxonomic groups of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria from 150 grasslands. Multidiversity declined with increasing LUI among grasslands, particularly for rarer species and aboveground organisms, whereas common species and belowground groups were less sensitive. However, a high level of interannual variation in LUI increased overall multidiversity at low LUI and was even more beneficial for rarer species because it slowed the rate at which the multidiversity of rare species declined with increasing LUI. In more intensively managed grasslands, the diversity of rarer species was, on average, 18% of the maximum diversity across all grasslands when LUI was static over time but increased to 31% of the maximum when LUI changed maximally over time. In addition to decreasing overall LUI, we suggest varying LUI across years as a complementary strategy to promote biodiversity conservation.
- Published
- 2013
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