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Both local and landscape factors determine plant and Orthoptera diversity in the semi-natural grasslands of Transylvania, Romania

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Abstract

Semi-natural grassland supports a large proportion of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe, however, it is continuing to be destroyed or degraded. In addition to the clear role of local management in these processes, there is increasing evidence for wider landscape-scale effects on species richness and community composition of plants and animals. Most of this evidence comes from studies in highly altered western European landscapes with only fragments of remaining semi-natural grassland. In contrast, Eastern European countries such as Romania still contain large areas of semi-natural grassland, but this habitat is threatened by agricultural intensification and homogenization. We analyzed vascular plant and Orthoptera communities from species-rich pastures in Southern Transylvania, Romania, against a range of local and landscape factors. Species richness of plants had a highly significant positive relationship with landscape heterogeneity. Orthoptera species richness and abundance were negatively correlated with plant species richness, and increased with proportion of grassland in the landscape and local vegetation height. The results suggest that large and species-rich grassland communities can be significantly affected by both local and landscape scale land use changes, but effects can vary within and between taxonomic groups. Conservation measures such as agri-environment schemes should therefore seek to address landscape scale processes better, promoting a range of low-intensity land use practices in order to support a variety of landscape types.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from Fundatia ADEPT Transilvania in carrying out this study. L. S. was supported by a grant from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, P. B. was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG BA 4438/1-1). We would also like to thank three anonymous reviewers who gave valuable feedback to improve this manuscript, as well as Joern Fischer, Jan Hanspach, Tibor Hartel and Henrik von Wehrden for providing helpful advice.

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Sutcliffe, L.M.E., Batáry, P., Becker, T. et al. Both local and landscape factors determine plant and Orthoptera diversity in the semi-natural grasslands of Transylvania, Romania. Biodivers Conserv 24, 229–245 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0804-5

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