The BIOKLIM project: biodiversity research between climate change and wilding in a temperate montane forest : the conceptual framework

To understand the rapid rate of change in global biodiversity, it is necessary to analyse the present condition of ecosystems and to elucidate relationships of species to their environment. The BIOKLIM Project (Biodiversity and Climate Change Project) is intended to close this gap in our knowledge of montane and high montane forests of Central European low mountain ranges, one of the most threatened mixed montane systems worldwide. The Bavarian Forest National Park is characterised by its altitude range of ca. 800 m and a strongly developed gradient of forest structure. Relicts of old growth forests (areas of former local nature reserves) and dead stands, mostly killed by bark beetles, are accompanied by widely varying levels of woody debris and light. The gradients comprise a wide range of abiotic and forest structure factors, making the study area well suited for a multidisciplinary investigation of biodiversity. Unconstrained ordination (CA) of six taxa (vascular plants, wood inhabiting fungi, birds, carabids, spiders and molluscs) indicate the altitudinal gradient to be the main driver for distribution patterns of species assemblages. Objectives, structure, study design and data sampling of the BIOKLIM Project are described in detail. We set up 293 sampling plots along four main straight transects following the altitudinal gradient. All abiotic and stand structure data regarded as relevant are available for each plot. Vascular plants, wood inhabiting fungi and birds were sampled or mapped on all 293 plots. For the other 22 investigated taxa we used subsamples pre-stratified according to the sampling methods. The necessity of dealing with spatial autocorrelation, arising from sampling along linear transects, is described. Finally, study approach of our biodiversity project is compared with others involving altitudinal gradients. Worldwide, only a few multidisciplinary biodiversity studies have been previously conducted on long altitudinal gradients. However, in most cases sampling techniques were similar to ours, which allows comparison of results between continents. Keywords: Climate Change, Biodiversity, species-environment relationshipsUm die rasante Veränderung globaler Biodiversität zu verstehen, ist es erforderlich, den gegenwärtigen Zustand von Ökosystemen zu analysieren und die Zusammenhänge zwischen Arten und deren Umwelt aufzulösen. Das BIOKLIMProjekt (Biodiversität und Klima Projekt) hat zum Ziel, diese Wissenslücken für Wälder montaner und hochmontaner Mittelgebirge zu schließen. Der Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald ist neben dem Höhengradient (ca. 800 m) durch einen starken Strukturgradient geprägt. Dieser resultiert aus Restvorkommen sehr alter Bestände (ehem. Naturschutzgebiete) sowie dem Wirken des Borkenkäfers seit ca. zwei Jahrzehnten und einem dadurch verbundenen z. T. sehr hohen Totholzvorrat. Die Gradienten umfassen eine breite Spanne von abiotischen Faktoren und Bestandesstrukturen und machen den Nationalpark zu einem gut geeigneten Untersuchungsgebiet für interdisziplinäre Biodiversitätsforschung. Korrespondenzanalysen (CA) für 6 taxonomische Gruppen (Gefäßpflanzen, Holzpilze, Vögel, Laufkäfer, Spinnen und Mollusken) machen die starke Abhängigkeit der Artengruppen vom Höhengradienten deutlich. Es werden detailliert die Zielsetzungen, Projektaufbau, das Untersuchungsdesign sowie die Erfassungsmethoden des BIOKLIM-Projektes beschrieben. 293 Probepunkte wurden entlang von 4 Transekten, welche dem Höhengradienten folgen, eingerichtet. Zu jedem Probekreis stehen alle als relevant erachteten Daten zur Abiotik und Bestandesstruktur zur Verfügung. Gefäßpflanzen, Holzpilze und Vögel wurden auf allen 293 Probepunkten erfasst. Für die anderen 22 untersuchten Artengruppen wurde in Abhängigkeit von der Methode ein stratifiziertes Design gewählt. Lösungsansätze zum Umgang mit Autokorrelation, die durch die Anordnung von Probekreisen entlang von Linien (Transekte) bedingt ist, werden dargestellt. Schließlich wird das BIOKLIM-Projekt mit den wenigen weltweiten Biodiversitätsprojekten verglichen und diskutiert. In den meisten Fällen sind die Erhebungsmethoden ähnlich, sodass Vergleiche der Ergebnisse zwischen verschiedenen Kontinenten möglich werden. Schlüsselwörter: Klimawandel, Biodiversität, Arten-Umwelt-Beziehun

Disentangling effects of climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services - a multi‐scale experimental design

Climate and land-use change are key drivers of environmental degradation in the Anthropocene, but too little is known about their interactive effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Long-term data on biodiversity trends are currently lacking. Furthermore, previous ecological studies have rarely considered climate and land use in a joint design, did not achieve variable independence or lost statistical power by not covering the full range of environmental gradients. Here, we introduce a multi-scale space-for-time study design to disentangle effects of climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The site selection approach coupled extensive GIS-based exploration (i.e. using a Geographic information system) and correlation heatmaps with a crossed and nested design covering regional, landscape and local scales. Its implementation in Bavaria (Germany) resulted in a set of study plots that maximise the potential range and independence of environmental variables at different spatial scales. Stratifying the state of Bavaria into five climate zones (reference period 1981–2010) and three prevailing land-use types, that is, near-natural, agriculture and urban, resulted in 60 study regions (5.8 × 5.8 km quadrants) covering a mean annual temperature gradient of 5.6–9.8°C and a spatial extent of ~310 × 310 km. Within these regions, we nested 180 study plots located in contrasting local land-use types, that is, forests, grasslands, arable land or settlement (local climate gradient 4.5–10°C). This approach achieved low correlations between climate and land use (proportional cover) at the regional and landscape scale with |r ≤ 0.33| and |r ≤ 0.29| respectively. Furthermore, using correlation heatmaps for local plot selection reduced potentially confounding relationships between landscape composition and configuration for plots located in forests, arable land and settlements. The suggested design expands upon previous research in covering a significant range of environmental gradients and including a diversity of dominant land-use types at different scales within different climatic contexts. It allows independent assessment of the relative contribution of multi-scale climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Understanding potential interdependencies among global change drivers is essential to develop effective restoration and mitigation strategies against biodiversity decline, especially in expectation of future climatic changes. Importantly, this study also provides a baseline for long-term ecological monitoring programs

Overcoming Protein Orientation Mismatch Enables Efficient Nanoscale Light-Driven ATP Production.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-producing modules energized by light-driven proton pumps are powerful tools for the bottom-up assembly of artificial cell-like systems. However, the maximum efficiency of such modules is prohibited by the random orientation of the proton pumps during the reconstitution process into lipid-surrounded nanocontainers. Here, we overcome this limitation using a versatile approach to uniformly orient the light-driven proton pump proteorhodopsin (pR) in liposomes. pR is post-translationally either covalently or noncovalently coupled to a membrane-impermeable protein domain guiding orientation during insertion into preformed liposomes. In the second scenario, we developed a novel bifunctional linker, trisNTA-SpyTag, that allows for the reversible connection of any SpyCatcher-containing protein and a HisTag-carrying protein. The desired protein orientations are verified by monitoring vectorial proton pumping and membrane potential generation. In conjunction with ATP synthase, highly efficient ATP production is energized by the inwardly pumping population. In comparison to other light-driven ATP-producing modules, the uniform orientation allows for maximal rates at economical protein concentrations. The presented technology is highly customizable and not limited to light-driven proton pumps but applicable to many membrane proteins and offers a general approach to overcome orientation mismatch during membrane reconstitution, requiring little to no genetic modification of the protein of interest

Subsistence farming and conservation constrains in coastal peat swamp forests of the Kosi Bay Lake system, Maputaland, South Africa

Maputaland is a region of exceptionally rich biodiversity located in the north-eastern corner of Kwazulu-Natal and forms the southern most tip of the Mozambique coastal plain. It can be considered as the most southern end of the tropics in Africa and consequently many tropical species reach their southern most distribution boundary here. Maputaland is the largest peat containing region in South Africa with 60 % of the country’s peat present therein. Coastal peat swamps forests are more abundant in Maputaland than anywhere else in South Africa, but remain poorly studied as far as their vegetation composition, structure, functioning, and the nature and impact of exploitation on them are concerned. In this ongoing study an initial vegetation and environmental dataset of May 2003 was used to assess the impact of subsistence farming, predominately with madumbes (Colocasia esculenta) and bananas (Musa xparadisiaca), on coastal peat swamp forests. A TWINSPAN numerical classification resulted in the identification of 10 vegetation groups, exhibiting a gradient from pristine to highly disturbed peat swamp forests. The pristine peat swamp forest group is separated on the degree of wetness, ranging from wet to dry peat swamp forests, while the highly disturbed group is divided according to the presence or absence of active gardening. A Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA ordination) determined anthropogenic practices involving tree felling and peat draining as the main factors responsible for peat swamp forest habitat modification. The change in swamp forest structure and peat hydrology critically threatens the continued existence and ecological functioning of these systems. This impacts negatively on habitat and biodiversity loss and will eventually deprive the rural community of a sustainable gardening environment, bring about a change in the lake system’s nutrient balance, and even reduce available sources of clean and fresh water. The situation poses an urgent conservation challenge for the conservation agency and local community whose livelihood is intricately interwoven and pivoted around their peat swamp forest environments. Before progress can however be made trust needs to be established between the different stakeholders, looking beyond solutions of complete exclusion, but rather to mutual cooperation, involving practices such as wise use gardening management.La conciliation difficile entre cultures vivrières et conservation de la nature dans les forêts marécageuses côtières de Kosi Bay dans le Maputaland en Afrique du Sud Le Maputaland est un secteur de la province du Kwazulu-Natal, une région située au nord-est de l’Afrique du Sud, près des frontières avec le Swaziland et le Mozambique. Ce secteur correspond d’un point de vue géomorphologique à l’extrémité sud de la plaine côtière du Mozambique et d’un point de vue bio-climatique aux confins méridionaux de la zone tropicale africaine. Aussi de nombreuses espèces tropicales se trouvent ici à la limite de leur aire de répartition. Le Maputaland accueille par ailleurs l’essentiel des zones tourbeuses d’Afrique du Sud avec 60 % des tourbières nationales. Celles des forêts marécageuses - swamp forests - de la région côtière, bien que les plus riches d’un point de vue biologique, sont parmi les moins bien étudiées alors même qu’elles sont sérieusement menacées de disparition par la très forte pression des communautés agricoles locales. Les études dont cet article rend compte s’appuient sur une base de données constituée en mai 2003 à partir de 34 sites tourbeux sites au cœur des forêts marécageuses. Elle comporte un ensemble d’informations relatives à la végétation mais également à la pédologie, à l’occupation humaine, aux perturbations anthropiques…. Une classification des tourbières a ensuite été réalisée au moyen du modèle TWINSPAN qui a proposé dix classes, des tourbières intactes à celles largement affectées par les interventions humaines. Une analyse statistique a ensuite permis de mettre en évidence les principaux facteurs de la dégradation des tourbières qui sont liés à la progression des cultures vivrières au cœur même de la forêt. Il apparaît que certaines zones tourbeuses ont désormais un fonctionnement hydrologique gravement affecté, ce qui menace la structure même des forêts marécageuses. A cela s’ajoutent les conséquences sur la qualité de l’eau et la disponibilité en nutriments des eaux lacustres qui, en plus de leurs intérêts écologiques, sont une zone de pêche pour les populations locales. Cette situation pose un double problème : celui de la conservation des tourbières et des forêts primaires qui les abritent d’une part, celui de l’avenir des populations locales qui peu à peu détruisent les milieux qui les font vivre. Des solutions sont à imaginer pour concilier les intérêts des populations à long terme et le maintien de la biodiversité, cela dans la perspective d’un développement durable

Plant species composition and local habitat conditions as primary determinants of terrestrial arthropod assemblages

Arthropods respond to vegetation in multiple ways since plants provide habitat and food resources and indicate local abiotic conditions. However, the relative importance of these factors for arthropod assemblages is less well understood. We aimed to disentangle the effects of plant species composition and environmental drivers on arthropod taxonomic composition and to assess which aspects of vegetation contribute to the relationships between plant and arthropod assemblages. In a multi-scale field study in Southern Germany, we sampled vascular plants and terrestrial arthropods in typical habitats of temperate landscapes. We compared independent and shared effects of vegetation and abiotic predictors on arthropod composition distinguishing between four large orders (Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera), and five functional groups (herbivores, pollinators, predators, parasitoids, detritivores). Across all investigated groups, plant species composition explained the major fraction of variation in arthropod composition, while land-cover composition was another important predictor. Moreover, the local habitat conditions depicted by the indicator values of the plant communities were more important for arthropod composition than trophic relationships between certain plant and arthropod species. Among trophic groups, predators showed the strongest response to plant species composition, while responses of herbivores and pollinators were stronger than those of parasitoids and detritivores. Our results highlight the relevance of plant community composition for terrestrial arthropod assemblages across multiple taxa and trophic levels and emphasize the value of plants as a proxy for characterizing habitat conditions that are hardly accessible to direct environmental measurements.ISSN:0029-8549ISSN:1432-193

Disentangling effects of climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services—A multi‐scale experimental design

Climate and land-use change are key drivers of environmental degradation in the Anthropocene, but too little is known about their interactive effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Long-term data on biodiversity trends are currently lacking. Furthermore, previous ecological studies have rarely considered climate and land use in a joint design, did not achieve variable independence or lost statistical power by not covering the full range of environmental gradients. Here, we introduce a multi-scale space-for-time study design to disentangle effects of climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The site selection approach coupled extensive GIS-based exploration (i.e. using a Geographic information system) and correlation heatmaps with a crossed and nested design covering regional, landscape and local scales. Its implementation in Bavaria (Germany) resulted in a set of study plots that maximise the potential range and independence of environmental variables at different spatial scales. Stratifying the state of Bavaria into five climate zones (reference period 1981–2010) and three prevailing land-use types, that is, near-natural, agriculture and urban, resulted in 60 study regions (5.8 × 5.8 km quadrants) covering a mean annual temperature gradient of 5.6–9.8°C and a spatial extent of ~310 × 310 km. Within these regions, we nested 180 study plots located in contrasting local land-use types, that is, forests, grasslands, arable land or settlement (local climate gradient 4.5–10°C). This approach achieved low correlations between climate and land use (proportional cover) at the regional and landscape scale with |r ≤ 0.33| and |r ≤ 0.29| respectively. Furthermore, using correlation heatmaps for local plot selection reduced potentially confounding relationships between landscape composition and configuration for plots located in forests, arable land and settlements. The suggested design expands upon previous research in covering a significant range of environmental gradients and including a diversity of dominant land-use types at different scales within different climatic contexts. It allows independent assessment of the relative contribution of multi-scale climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Understanding potential interdependencies among global change drivers is essential to develop effective restoration and mitigation strategies against biodiversity decline, especially in expectation of future climatic changes. Importantly, this study also provides a baseline for long-term ecological monitoring programs