Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.033 |
| Title (Primary) | A novel modeling approach to evaluate the ecological effects of timing and location of grassland conservation measures |
| Author | Johst, K.; Drechsler, M.; Mewes, M.; Sturm, A.; Wätzold, F. |
| Source Titel | Biological Conservation |
| Year | 2015 |
| Department | OEKON; OESA |
| Volume | 182 |
| Page From | 44 |
| Page To | 52 |
| Language | englisch |
| Supplements | https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006320714004583-mmc1.doc |
| Keywords | Agri-environment; Biodiversity conservation; Birds; Butterflies; Ecological modeling; Grassland use |
| UFZ wide themes | RU5 |
| Abstract | Several billion euros are spent in Europe every year on agri-environment schemes to compensate farmers for (costly) conservation measures such as specific mowing and grazing regimes. These measures can impact grassland species during their reproductive period. Therefore, it is particularly important when (and not only where) they are applied. However, in contrast to the spatial allocation of measures, their temporal allocation has rarely been taken into consideration. Existing modeling approaches suffer from two major limitations: They consume too much computing time for optimization procedures at the landscape scale, and they are too specific to be applicable to a wide variety of species and measures. We overcome these limitations by developing a spatially and temporally explicit general modeling approach that can quantify a species-specific habitat quality as a function of timing and location of grassland measures in a straightforward and general way. We apply our approach to the example of grassland conservation in the German Federal State of Saxony, demonstrate its usefulness, and identify the effects of the timing and location of grassland measures. We find that considerable heterogeneity in the timing of measures is necessary for multi-species conservation. This type of quantitative analysis can assist decision makers in improving agri-environment schemes. |
| Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=15029 |
| Johst, K., Drechsler, M., Mewes, M., Sturm, A., Wätzold, F. (2015): A novel modeling approach to evaluate the ecological effects of timing and location of grassland conservation measures Biol. Conserv. 182 , 44 - 52 10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.033 |
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