Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2012
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Authors
Felix Herzog Michaela Arndorfer Debra Bailey Katalin Balázs Peter Dennis Tetyana Dyman Wendy Fjellstad Jürgen Friedel Salah Garchi Ilse Geijzendorffer Philippe Jeanneret Rob Jongman Maximilian Kainz Luisa Last Gisela Lüscher Gerardo Moreno Charles Nkwiine Maurizio Paoletti Philippe Pointereau Jean-Pierre Sarthou Siyka Stoyanova Stefano Targetti Davide ViaggiAbstract
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Sebastian EiterAbstract
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Landscapes reflect both historic and current cultural and socio-economic activities of human societies. Accordingly, as human societies change, the landscape changes as well. Agriculture is the main driver of landscape changes in the Czech Republic. Therefore, it is necessary to devote special attention to agricultural practices and define simple but effective steps to improve landscape mosaics towards a sustainable development. In this study, regional information about historic changes in landscape structure was studied to (1) identify the trends in land use/cover development since 1940 to 2010 and (2) determine the impact of land use change on the resulting heterogeneity of the landscape. The overall purpose was to find areas of compromise which would allow strengthening of landscape structure and thus stabilize its functions. We specified trends of land use/cover development in 15 catchments with varying agriculture intensity. We digitalized aerial photographs from 1940, 1960, and 1990 and orthophotomaps from 2010. Then, we used a heterogeneity index to define landscape heterogeneity in all catchments and time horizons. The results of our research confirmed increasing tillage effort in intensively cultivated areas, support of secondary succession processes in marginalized areas, and overall increase in forest area. Our study found that simplification and homogenization of the landscape mosaic took place in all studied areas, with the steepest decline found in areas with high agriculture intensity. However, linear vegetation proved to be a suitable starting point for a targeted effort to increase heterogeneity and thus seemed to be crucial for sustainable development of landscape functions in agroecosystems.
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Phytosociological studies can be an important tool to detect temporal vegetation changes in response to global climate change. In this study, we present the results of a resurvey of a plot-based phytosociological study from Sikkilsdalen, central Norway, originally executed between 1922 and 1932. By using a detailed phytosociological study we are able to investigate several aspects of elevational shifts in species ranges. Here we tested for upward and downward shifts in observed upper and lower distribution limits of species, as well as changes in species optima along an elevational gradient, and related the observed range shifts to species traits that could explain the observed trends. More species shifted upwards than downwards, independently of whether we were investigating shifts in species\" upper or lower distribution ranges or in species optima. However, shifts in species upper range margins changed independently of their lower range margins. Linking different species traits to the magnitude of shifts we found that species with a higher preference for prolonged snow cover shifted upwards more in their upper elevational limits and in their optima than species that prefer a shorter snow cover, whereas no species traits were correlated with the magnitude of changes in lower limits. The observed change in species ranges concord both with studies on other mountains in the region and with studies from other alpine areas. Furthermore, our study indicates that different factors are influencing species ranges at the upper and lower range limits. Increased precipitation rates and increased temperatures are considered the most important factors for the observed changes, probably mainly through altering the pattern in snow cover dynamics in the area.
2011
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As in many countries throughout Europe, there has been a polarisation within the agricultural landscape of Norway during the last decades. On the one hand there is an increasing trend of intensified use of favourable areas, while on the otherhand there is an increase in the amount of land abandonment of extensively managed or marginal areas (Fjellstad Dramstad 1999, Robinson Sutherland 2002, Haines-Younget al. 2003). Among the main impact factors for biodiversity in agricultural landscapes are increased amount of built-up areas, intensification of agriculture and land abandonment. But different land use practices has been shown to have differential effects on biodiversity (Haines-Young 2009). Finding the relationships between land use practices and effects on biodiversity are fundamental to understand the links between people and their environment and development of sustainable agriculture ....
Abstract
The centennial volume of this journal provides a fitting time to stop and reflect. Do we know where we are heading? Are we progressing in the right direction? Having studied landscape change for some years, we have seen the tremendous power of engagement that can be found in landscapes. Landscape is a theme that most people easily relate to. At the same time, landscape research has provided many appropriate tools for documenting landscape change and the effects of change. Yet in spite of public engagement and scientific knowledge, we still find many examples of negative landscape developments. In this paper we reflect on the applications of landscape research and the issue of communicating scientific findings to policy, management, landowners and the general public. Do we need a greater focus on communication to achieve sustainable landscape development?