IUNR Campus-Tag der Biodiversität : erste "Volkszählung der Biodiversität" auf dem Campus Grüental der ZHAW Wädenswil

Jagen, fangen, pflücken, bestimmen, auflisten – das war die Devise am IUNR Campus-Tag Biodiversität, der am 6. Juni 2019 erstmals stattfand. Und zwar alles, was auf dem Gelände des Campus Grüental der ZHAW in Wädenswil an Pflanzen und Tieren an diesem Tag zu finden war. Die rund 80 Teilnehmenden, je zur Hälfte UI-Studierende und IUNR-Mitarbeitende, hatten die Qual der Wahl zwischen 11 verschiedenen Artengruppen, bei denen sie mitmachen konnten

Neue Hilfsmittel zur Aufwertung von Waldrändern

Rund ein Drittel der Schweizer Landesfläche ist von Wald bedeckt. Entsprechend häufig kommen in unserer stark fragmentierten Landschaft Waldränder vor. Gemäss dem vierten Schweizerischen Landesforstinventar beträgt die gesamte Waldrandlänge in der Schweiz rund 115 200 km. Zum Vergleich: das gesamte Strassennetz der Schweiz hat eine Länge von 83 274 km

Square Foot Project gestartet : Wandel der Grünlanddiversität in der Schweiz über ein Jahrhundert

Die Grasländer Mitteleuropas sind von grosser ökologischer und ökonomischer Bedeutung. Ihre Artenvielfalt hat sich unter dem Einfluss des Menschen verändert und ist drastisch zurückgegangen. Mit der Auswertung eines weltweit einmaligen Datensatzes historischer Vegetationsaufnahmen zielt das Projekt darauf, diesen Wandel über mehr als ein Jahrhundert zu quantifizieren und seine Treiber zu identifizieren

GrassPlot v. 2.00 : first update on the database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands

GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). Following a previous Long Database Report (Dengler et al. 2018, Phyto-coenologia 48, 331–347), we provide here the first update on content and functionality of GrassPlot. The current version (GrassPlot v. 2.00) contains a total of 190,673 plots of different grain sizes across 28,171 independent plots, with 4,654 nested-plot series including at least four grain sizes. The database has improved its content as well as its functionality, including addition and harmonization of header data (land use, information on nestedness, structure and ecology) and preparation of species composition data. Currently, GrassPlot data are intensively used for broad-scale analyses of different aspects of alpha and beta diversity in grassland ecosystems

Erfolgreiche extensive Bekämpfung des invasiven Adlerfarns

Am Fuss des Calanda-Massivs bei Chur wurde der invasive Adlerfarn (Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn)) zwischen 2008 und 2017 jährlich im Juni durch Ausreissen resp. Mähen bekämpft. Ziel der Untersuchung war es zu prüfen, wie gut sich der Adlerfarn mit nur einem mechanischen Eingriff pro Jahr, welcher die schutzwürdige Vegetation möglichst wenig beeinträchtigt, schwächen lässt. Dafür wurden jeweils Ende August auf den insgesamt 40 1m2 grossen Versuchs- und Kontrollflächen verschiedene Fitness-Parameter des Adlerfarns erfasst. Der zehn Jahre dauernde Bekämpfungsversuch zeigte, dass sowohl Ausreissen als auch Mähen den Adlerfarn erheblich geschwächt haben. Dabei war die Methode Ausreissen und Abführen des Schnittguts effektiver als Mähen und Liegenlassen des Schnittguts, vermutlich weil beim Ausreissen mehr Adlerfarnbiomasse entfernt wird als beim Mähen

On the trails of Josias Braun-Blanquet II : first results from the 12th EDGG Field Workshop studying the dry grasslands of the inneralpine dry valleys of Switzerland

The 12th EDGG Field Workshop took place from 11 to 19 May 2019, organised by the Vegetation Ecology Group of the Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR) of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). Like in the 11th Field Workshop in Austria, the main target was the "Inneralpine Trockenvegetation" (Festuco-Brometea and Sedo-Scleranthetea), which was first extensively sampled by Josias Braun-Blanquet and collaborators during the 1950s. We visited the Rhône valley in the cantons of Vaud and Valais, one of the most ex-treme xerothermic islands of the Alps and the Rhine and Inn valleys in the canton of Grison. In total, 30 nested-plot series (EDGG biodi-versity plots) of 0.0001 to 100 m² and 82 plots of 10 m² were sampled in meso-xeric, xeric and rocky grasslands of 25 different sites, rang-ing from 500 to 1,656 m a.s.l., under different topographic, bedrock and landuse conditions. All vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens were recorded in each plot, along with their cover values. We found on average 28.9 vascular plants on 10 m²; which was the lowest mean species richness of any previous EDGG Field Workshop. These values are comparable to the average species richness values of dry grasslands of the Aosta valley in Italy. The data sampled will be used to understand the biodiversity patterns regionally and in the Palae-arctic context as well as to place the Swiss dry grasslands in the modern European syntaxonomic system

Vegetation change in meso-xeric grasslands of the Swiss Jura Mts. over 40 years

Meso-xeric grasslands have declined sharply in Central Europe during the last century. These spe-cies-rich habitats are threatened by intensification or abandonment of agricultural use, eutrophication, climate change and landscape fragmentation. However, different studies in various regions of Central Europe are inconsistent in their findings about degree and direction of changes. We thus resurveyed the historical vegetation plots of the alliance Mesobromionin the Swiss Jura Mts. In 2020, we re-sampled 28 quasi-permanent vegetation plots originally recorded in 1980 to quantify potential vegetation change. Frequency of individual species, species diversity, 11 ecological indicator values and four functional traits, as well as the presence of diagnostic species of phytosociological alliances, were analysed. Further, a habitat classification and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) were also performed. Species richness, indicator values for light availability and temperature, seed dispersal by animals and seed persistence had significantly decreased by 2020. Conversely, ecological indicator values for nutrient availability and soil moisture as well as community-weighted means for seed mass and canopy height had significantly increased. There were significantly fewer ruderal species, stress-tolerators, therophytes and herbaceous chamaephytes in 2020. In contrast, highly competitive species and hemicryptophytes had increased. Together, these findings indicate an increase in productivity over time. There were fewer specialized species in 2020 than in 1980, indicating a homogenization of the vegetation and a shift towards nutrient-rich pastures and meadows. The shift towards a later succession-al stage might indicate reduced grazing disturbance. Most of these sites are currently not included in an agri-environmental scheme. Partial differences of our findings from those reported elsewhere in Central Europe highlight the importance of regionally adapted conservation strategies in order to stop biodiver-sity loss in meso-xeric grasslands

Dry grasslands of the central valleys of the Alps from a European perspective: the example of Ausserberg (Valais, Switzerland)

The upper Rhone valley in the Swiss canton of Valais is one of the driest and most continental of the inner-alpine valleys and harbours a rich xerothermic flora. We studied syntaxonomy and ecology of dry grasslands and their species richness patterns. In 2018 we recorded 28 vegetation plots (10 m2) and three nested-plot series of 0.0001 to 100 m2 on the south-facing slopes above the village of Ausserberg. Mean richness of all species ranged from 1.7 on 1 cm2 to 47.3 on 100 m2, with little contribution of bryophytes and lichens. The species-area relationship for total richness closely followed a power function. Modified TWINSPAN yielded a three-cluster solution, which could easily be matched with three orders of the class Festuco-Brometea: Stipo pulcherrimae-Festucetalia pallentis (xeric, rocky), Festucetalia valesiacae (xeric, non-rocky) and Brachypodietalia pinnati (meso-xeric). The subdivision of the xeric types into two orders is new for Swiss dry grasslands, where these types up to now had been joined in a single alliance Stipo-Poion within the Festucetalia valesiacae

The Historic Square Foot Dataset : outstanding small‐scale richness in Swiss grasslands around the year 1900

Grasslands host a significant share of Europe's species diversity but are among the most threatened vegetation types of the continent. Resurvey studies can help to understand patterns and drivers of changes in grassland diversity and species composition. However, most resurveys are based on local or regional data, and hardly reach back more than eight decades. Here, we publish and describe the Historic Square Foot Dataset, comprising 580 0.09-m2 and 43 1-m2 vegetation plots carefully sampled between 1884 and 1931, covering a wide range of grassland types across Switzerland. We provide the plots as an open-access data set with coordinates, relocation accuracy and fractional aboveground biomass per vascular plant species. We assigned EUNIS habitat types to most plots. Mean vascular plant species richness in 0.09 m2 was 19.7, with a maximum of 47. This is considerably more than the present-day world record of 43 species for this plot size. Historically, species richness did not vary with elevation, differing from the unimodal relationship found today. The data set provides unique insight into how grasslands in Central Europe looked more than 100 years ago, thus offering manifold options for studies on the development of grassland biodiversity and productivity