Abstract
Current changes in biodiversity and their functional consequences for ecosystem processes matter for both fundamental and applied reasons. In most places the most important anthropogenic determinant of biodiversity is land use. The effects of type and intensity of land use are modulated by climate and atmospheric change, nutrient deposition and pollution and by feedback effects of changed biological processes. However, it is not known whether the genetic and species diversity of different taxa responds to land-use change in similar ways. Moreover, consequences of changing diversity for ecosystem processes have almost exclusively been studied in model experiments of limited scope. Clearly, there is an urgent scientific and societal demand to investigate the relationships between land use, biodiversity and ecosystem processes in many replicate study sites in the context of actual landscapes. Furthermore, these studies need to be set up in long-term frameworks. Moreover, because monitoring and comparative observation cannot unravel causal mechanisms they need to be complemented by manipulative experiments. In the ‘Exploratories for large-scale and long-term functional biodiversity research’ (see http://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de), we provide a platform for such successful long-term biodiversity research. The biodiversity exploratories aim at contributing to a better understanding of causal relationships affecting diversity patterns and their change, developing applied measures in order to mitigate loss of diversity and functionality, integrating a strong research community to its full potential, training a new generation of biodiversity explorers, extending the integrated view of functional biodiversity research to society and stimulating long-term ecological research in Germany and globally. Our experience has several implications for long-term ecological research and the LTER network including the necessity of formulating common research questions, establishing a joint database, applying modern tools for meta-analysis or quantitative review and developing standardised experimental and measurement protocols for facilitating future data synthesis.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Andow, D. A. (1991). Vegetational diversity and arthropod population response. Annual Review of Entomology, 36, 561–586.
Balvanera, P., Pfisterer, A. B., Buchmann, N., He, J.-S., Nakashizuka, T., Raffaelli, D., et al. (2006). Quantifying the evidence for biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and services. Ecology Letters, 9, 1146–115.
Beck, E. (2004). German Research Programs, related to the understanding and conservation of biodiversity as an example of the impact of the Convention of Rio on an industrial nation. Lyonia, 6, 7–18.
Blüthgen, N., Menzel, F., Hovestadt, T., Fiala, B., & Blüthgen, N. (2007). Specialization, constraints, and conflicting interests in mutualistic networks. Current Biology, 17, 341–346.
Brändle, M., & Brandl, R. (2001). Species richness of insects and mites on trees: Expanding Southwood. Journal of Animal Ecology, 70, 491–504.
Canals, L. M. I., Bauer, C., Depestele, J., Dubreuil, A., Knuchel, R. F., Gaillard, G., et al. (2007). Key elements in a framework for land use impact assessment within LCA. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 12, 5–15.
CBD. (1992). Convention on biological diversity (with annexes). Concluded at Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992. United Nations Treaty Series, 1760, 142–302.
Christensen, N. L., Bartuska, A. M., Brown, J. H., Carpenter, S., D'Antonio, C., Francis, R., et al. (1996). The report of the Ecological Society of America Committee on the scientific basis for ecosystem management. Ecological Applications, 6, 665–691.
Churchfield, S., Hollier, J., & Brown, V. K. (1991). The effects of small mammal predators on grassland invertebrates, investigated by field exclosure experiment. Oikos, 60, 83–290.
Churchfield, S., & Rychlik, L. (2006). Diets and coexistence in Neomys and Sorex shrews in Bialowieza forest, eastern Poland. Journal of Zoology, 269, 381–390.
Clough, Y., Holzschuh, A., Gabriel, D., Purtauf, T., Kleijn, D., Kruess, A., et al. (2007). Alpha and beta diversity of arthropods and plants in organically and conventionally managed wheat fields. Journal of Applied Ecology, 44, 804–812.
Connell, J. H. (1978). Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs – high diversity of trees and corals is maintained only in a non-equilibrium state. Science, 199, 1302–1310.
Ellenberg H. (1996). Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen in ökologischer, dynamischer und historischer Sicht. Stuttgart: Ulmer.
Fischer, M., Schreier, E., & Larigauderie, A. (1997). Interdisziplinäre Forschung im “Integrierten Projekt Biodiversität” des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds: Ziele und Strukturen. Zeitschrift für Ökologie und Naturschutz, 6, 247–252.
Grime, J. P. (1973). Competitive exclusion in herbaceous vegetation. Nature, 242, 344–347.
Hansell, R. I. C., Craine, I. T., & Byers, R. E. (1997). Predicting change in non-linear systems. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 46, 175–190.
Hector, A., & Bagchi, R. (2007). Biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality. Nature, 448, 188–190.
Hector, A., Schmid, B., Beierkuhnlein, C., Caldeira, M. C., Diemer, M., Dimitrakopoulos, P. G., et al. (1999). Plant diversity and productivity experiments in European grasslands. Science, 286, 1123–1127.
Hendricks, F., Maelfait, J. P., Van Wingerden, W., Schweiger, O., Speelmans, M., Aviron, S., et al. (2007). How landscape structure, land-use intensity and habitat diversity affect components of total arthropod diversity in agricultural landscapes. Journal of Applied Ecology, 44, 340–351.
Hendrix, P. F., Parmelee, R. W., Crossley, Jr., D. A., Coleman, D. C., Odum, E. P., & Groffman, P. M. (1986). Detritus food webs in conventional and no-tillage agroecosystems. BioScience, 36, 374–380.
Hietel, E., Waldhardt, R., & Otte, A. (2005). Linking socio-economic factors, environment and land cover in the German Highlands, 1945–1999. Journal of Environmental Management, 75, 133–143.
Hobbs, R. J., Yates, S., & Mooney, H. A. (2007). Long-term data reveal complex dynamics in grassland in relation to climate and disturbance. Ecological Monographs, 77, 545–568.
Hooper, D. U., Chapin, F. S., Ewel, J. J., Hector, A., Inchausti, P., Lavorel, S., et al. (2005). Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: A consensus of current knowledge. Ecological Monographs, 75, 3–35.
Houghton, R. A. (1994). The worldwide extent of land-use change. BioScience, 44, 305–313.
Hughes, A. R., Byrnes, J. E., Kirnbro, D. L., & Stachowicz, J. J. (2007). Reciprocal relationships and potential feedbacks between biodiversity and disturbance. Ecology Letters, 10, 849–864.
Hunter, M. D., & Price, P. W. (1992). Playing chutes and ladders: Heterogeneity and the relative roles of bottom-up and top-down forces in natural communities. Ecology, 73, 724–732.
Hunter, M. L. (1999). Maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kim, E.-S. (2006). Development, potentials, and challenges of the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network. Ecological Research, 21, 788–793.
Koskela, E., Ollikainen, M., & Pukkala, T. (2007). Biodiversity conservation in commercial boreal forestry: The optimal rotation age and retention tree volume. Forest Science, 53, 443–452.
Kruess, A., & Tscharntke T. (2002). Species richness and parasitism in a fragmented landscape: Experiments and field studies with insects on Vicia sepium. Oecologia, 122, 129–137.
Loveland, T. R., Reed, B. C., Brown, J. F., Ohlen, D. O., Zhu, Z., Yang, L., et al. (2005). Development of a global land cover characteristics database and IGBP DISCover from 1 km AVHRR data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 21, 1303–1330.
Memmott, J., Waser, N.M., & Price, M. V. (2004). Tolerance of pollination networks to species extinctions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B-Biological Sciences, 271, 2605–2611.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Mitchell, T. D., & Jones, P. D. (2005). An improved method of constructing a database of monthly climate observations and associated high-resolution grids. International Journal of Climatology, 25, 693–712.
Mittelbach, G. G., Steiner, C. F., Scheiner, S. M., Gross, K. L., Reynolds, H. L., Waide, R. B., et al. (2001). What is the observed relationship between species richness and productivity? Ecology, 82, 2381–2396.
Murdoch, W. W., Peterson, C. H., & Evans, F. C. (1972). Diversity and pattern in plants and insects. Ecology, 53, 819–829.
Naeem, S., Thompson, L. J., Lawler, S. P. Lawton, J. H., & Woodfin, R. M. (1994). Declining biodiversity can alter the performance of ecosystems. Nature, 368, 734–737.
Perner, J., Wytrykush, C., Kahmen, A., Buchmann, N., Egerer, I., Creutzburg, S., et al. (2005). Effects of plant diversity, plant productivity and habitat parameters on arthropod abundance in montane European grasslands. Ecography, 28, 1–14.
Poschlod, P., Bakker, J. P., & Kahmen, S. (2005). Changing land use and its impact on biodiversity. Basic and Applied Ecology, 6, 93–98.
Prendergast, J. R., Quinn, R. M., Lawton, J. H., Eversham, B. C., & Gibbons, D. W. (1993). Rare species, the coincidence of diversity hotspots and conservation strategies. Nature, 365, 335–337.
Proulx, M., & Mazumber, A. (1998). Reversal of grazing impact on plant species richness in nutrient-poor vs. nutrient-rich ecosystems. Ecology, 79, 2581–2592.
Risch, S. J., Andow, D., & Altieri, M. A. (1983). Agroecosystem diversity and pest-control – data, tentative conclusions, and new research directions. Environmental Entomology, 12, 625–629.
Root, R. B. (1973). Organization of a plant-arthropod association in simple and diverse habitats – fauna of Collards (Brassica oleracea). Ecological Monographs, 43, 95–120.
Roscher, C., Temperton, V. M., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Schmitz, M., Schumacher, J., Schmid, B., et al. (2005). Overyielding in experimental grassland communities – irrespective of species pool or spatial scale. Ecology Letters, 8, 419–429.
Rosenzweig, M. L. (1995). Species diversity in space and time. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rudmann-Maurer, K., Weyand, A., Fischer, M., & Stöcklin, J. (2008). The role of landuse and natural determinants for grassland vegetation composition in the Swiss Alps. Basic and Applied Ecology, 9, 494–503..
Sala, O. E., Chapin, F. S., Armesto, J. J., Berlow, E., Bloomfield, J., Dirzo, R., et al. (2000). Biodiversity – Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science, 287, 1770–1774.
Schimel, D., Hargrove, W., Hoffman, F., & MacMahon, J. (2007). NEON: A hierarchically designed national ecological network. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 5, 59.
Schmid, B. (2002). The species richness-productivity controversy. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 17, 113–114.
Schröter, D., Cramer, W., Leemans, R., Prentice, I. C., Araujo, M. B., Arnell, N. W., et al. (2005). Ecosystem service supply and vulnerability to global change in Europe. Science, 310, 1333–1337.
Schulze, W. X., Gleixner, G., Kaiser, K., Guggenberger, G., Mann, M., & Schulze, E.-D. (2005). A proteomic fingerprint of dissolved organic carbon and of soil particles. Oecologia, 142, 335–343.
Seabloom, E. W., & Reichman, O. J. (2001). Simulation models of the interactions between herbivore foraging strategies, social behaviour, and plant community dynamics. American Naturalist, 157, 76–96.
Seabloom, E. W., & Richards, S. A. (2003). Multiple stable equilibria in grasslands mediated by herbivore population dynamics and foraging behaviour. Ecology, 84, 2891–2904.
Senn, J., & Suter, W. (2003). Ungulate browsing on silver fir (Abies alba) in the Swiss Alps: Beliefs in search of supporting data. Forest Ecology and Management, 181, 151–164.
Shucksmith, M., Thomson, K. J., & Roberts, D. (Eds.) (2005). The CAP and the regions: The territorial impact of the common agricultural policy. Wallingford: CABI Publishing.
Siemann, E. (1998). Experimental tests of effects of plant productivity and diversity on grassland arthropod diversity. Ecology, 79, 2057–2070.
Siemann, E., Tilman, D., Haarstad, J., & Ritchie, M. (1998). Experimental tests of the dependence of arthropod diversity on plant diversity. American Naturalist, 152, 738–750.
Sims, R. E. H., Hastings, A., Schlamadinger, B., Taylor, G., & Smith, P. (2006). Energy crops: Current status and future prospects. Global Change Biology, 12, 2054–2076.
Smeets, E. M. W., Faaij, A. P. C., & Lewandowski, I. M. (2004). A quickscan of global bioenergy potentials to 2050 – an analysis of the regional availability of biomass resources for export in relation to the underlying factors. Utrecht: Utrecht University.
Stöcklin, J., Bosshard, A., Klaus, G., Rudmann-Maurer, K., & Fischer, M. (2007). Landnutzung und biologische Vielfalt in den Alpen – Fakten, Perspektiven, Empfehlungen. Zürich: vdf Verlag.
Suding, K. N., Collins, S. L., Gough, L., Clark, C., Cleland, E. E., Gross, K. L., et al. (2005). Functional- and abundance-based mechanisms explain diversity loss due to N fertilization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 4387–4392.
Thuiller, W. (2007). Biodiversity – Climate change and the ecologist. Nature, 448, 550–552.
Tilman, D., Reich, P. B., Knops, J., Wedin, D., Mielke, T., & Lehman, C. (2001). Diversity and productivity in a long-term grassland experiment. Science, 294, 843–845.
Tylianakis, J. M., Tscharntke, T., Lewis, O. T. (2007). Habitat modification alters the structure of tropical host-parasitoid food webs. Nature, 445, 202–205.
Van Valen, L. (1965). Morphological variation and width of ecological niche. American Naturalist, 99, 377–390.
Vellend, M. (2003). Island biogeography of genes and species. American Naturalist, 162, 358–365.
Vellend, M., & Geber, M. A. (2005). Connections between species diversity and genetic diversity. Ecology Letters, 8, 767–781.
Völkl, W., Zwölfer, H., Romstöck-Völkl, M., & Schmelzer, C. (1993). Habitat management in calcareous grasslands – effects on the insect community developing in flower heads of Cynarea. Journal of Applied Ecology, 30, 307–315.
Waser, N. M., & Ollerton, J. (2006). Plant-pollinator interactions: From specialization to generalization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wilson, E. O. (2001). The diversity of life. London: Penguin Press Science.
Zeiter, M., Stampfli, A., & Newbery, D. M. (2006). Recruitment limitation constrains local species richness and productivity in dry grassland. Ecology, 87, 942–951.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG for funding (SPP 1374), our institutions for administrating the exploratories, the participants of the exploratory project for their excellent and dedicated work, the authorities of the biosphere reserve Schorfheide-Chorin and the National Park Hainich and the START team of the biosphere area Schwäbische Alb for support, Sonja Gockel, Konstans Wells and Andreas Hemp for maps, Annett Börner and Ilka Mai for graphs and editorial help and Bernhard Schmid and Mark van Kleunen for comments on the chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fischer, M. et al. (2010). Exploratories for Large-Scale and Long-Term Functional Biodiversity Research. In: Müller, F., Baessler, C., Schubert, H., Klotz, S. (eds) Long-Term Ecological Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8782-9_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8782-9_29
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8781-2
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-8782-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)