Tools for the identification of forest types in the Bavarian Alps

Vegetations- und standortökologisch definierte Waldtypen sind eine wesentliche Grundlage für die Forstwirtschaft (MEIDINGER & POJAR 1991, STÖHR 1996, RAY 2001) und den Naturschutz (MAYBURY 1999). Als biotischer Ausdruck aller wesentlicher Umweltbedingungen sind sie geeignet Standortseinheiten vergleichbaren ökologischen Potentials anschaulich und für Praktiker handhabbar zu machen (WALENTOWSKI et al. 2006). Wo aus ökonomischen oder naturschutzfachlichen Gründen möglichst naturnahe Waldzustände angestrebt werden, stellen sie eine wichtige Referenz dar. Für die Bayerischen Alpen als einer der waldreichsten Landschaften Bayerns mit weit überproportionalen Anteilen an Schutzgebieten liegt eine umfassende Gliederung der Waldytpen vor (EWALD 1999), die bereits in verschiedenen inhaltlichen Detailschärfen und in räumlichen Maßstäben eingesetzt wurde: In einigen Pilotgebieten wurden durch Kartierung am Boden flächendeckende, feinmaßstäbliche Karten der forstlichen Standorteinheiten erstellt. Im Nationalpark Berchtesgaden wurde eine feinmaßstäbliche Standortstypenkarte durch Verschneidung vorhandener Geländeinformationen in einem geographischen Informationssytem (GIS, KONNERT 2001) erstellt. Im Rahmen der zweiten Bundeswaldinventur (BWI2) wurden an Stichprobepunkten natürliche Waldgesellschaften als Referenz für die Naturnähebewertung angesprochen (SCHNELL & BAUER 2005). In den Schutzgebieten der Fauna-Flora-Habitat-Richtlinie der Europäischen Union (FFH-Gebieten) werden Waldlebensraumtypen derzeit als Gruppen von Standortseinheiten bzw. Waldgesellschaften kartiert (BINNER, ROGG & EWALD 2005). Die im Rahmen von Standortkartierung, Bundeswaldinventur und FFHGebietserfassung erstellten Arbeitshilfen werden in dieser Publikation im Zusammenhang vorgestellt und einem breiteren Nutzerkreis zugänglich gemacht.Ecological forest types are an important reference for forest mangement and conservation planning. The forest types of the Bavarian Alps, a densely forested region with large areas protected under the European NATURA 2000 network, are units of uniform species composition and structure occurring under certain combinations of site attributes. The article delivers tools for the recognition, delimitation and mapping of these types at three conceptually integrated levels of detail and spatial resolution. Fine-scale site maps (1:10.000) have been drawn in several pilot field surveys based on dichotomous identification keys for 47 mapping units, one based chiefly on indicator plants (which are delivered in a structured list) and typical structures in mature forests, another one based solely on attributes of soil and relief applicable in more disturbed situations. A set of 24 aggregated forest types (groups of site mapping units) served as a reference for naturalness of forest composition in Germanys second nationwide forest inventory of 2001/02. Inventory teams applied a simple graphical decision scheme, assigning sample plots to forest types based on simple criteria of relief and soil alongside with few plant indicators. Annex I habitats of the European NATURA 2000 network are still more aggregated groups of forest types. Their occurrence in large protected areas can be mapped in a GIS based on geo-parameters derived from existing geological maps and digital elevation models, which are combined in a deterministic model summarising current knowledge on the site-related distribution of forest types. With the system of ecological forest types and tools for their identification at hand, planners and managers can choose the set of methods most suited to their actual requirements and resources. A typical planning procedure may start with a coarse-scale GIS product, and subsequently involve terrestrial checking and mapping for parcels requiring more detailed ecological information

Ecological interpretation of geological maps based on the databank of Bavarian mountain forests and field-mapped site maps

Die Flora-Fauna-Habitat-Richtlinie der Europäischen Union von 1992 dient dem Ziel der Erhaltung und Förderung der biologischen Vielfalt. Sie bildet zusammen mit der Vogelschutz-Richtlinie die Grundlage für das Schutzsystem "Natura-2000", das die EU-Staaten dazu verpflichtet, einen länderübergreifenden Biotopverbund zu etablieren. In den Anhängen der Richtlinien wurde festgelegt, welche Arten und Lebensräume in Europa unter Schutz zu stellen sind ("Nature and Biodiversity" Homepage der EU). Bayern trägt aufgrund seiner geografischen Lage in Mitteleuropa vor allem für Waldlebensräume eine hohe Verantwortung. Wald ist daher auch mit etwa 450.000 ha (56%) deutlich überproportional an den gemeldeten FFH- und SPA-Gebieten beteiligt ("Natura-2000 im Wald"), zwei Drittel davon in den Alpen (Abb. 1). In den bayerischen Waldgebieten spielen Informationen über den Standort als Entscheidungsgrundlage für die Ausscheidung von FFH-Lebensraumtypen eine entscheidende Rolle.The European Natura 2000 network requires management plans for large protected areas. The delimitation of annex I habitat types poses a major challenge for the Bavarian forest administration. A large proportion of the protected area lies in mountain forests of the Alps, where only limited ecological information is available and field mapping would be extremely costly. To solve this and other tasks in managing and monitoring remote areas, the university of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan in cooperation with the Bavarian state institute for forestry establishes an ecological information system that links phytosociological relevé data (ca. 5,000 plots), species attributes (e. g. Ellenberg indicator values for soil reaction), and digital map layers of ground-mapped site types, geology and elevation. The coincidence between community attributes and physiographic geodata will be used to calibrate a model of those units of potential natural vegetation that form annex I habitat types. The approach is exemplified by an analysis of geological mapping units, which were classified according to their significance for soil nutrient supply, as indicated by the coincidence with classified relevés and mapped vegetation types. This calibration allows to predict the nutrient supply for 85 % of the Bavarian Alps. The model will be improved by predicting ecological properties of mixed pleistocene sediments (moraines, gravel) by making assumptions about their origin. The habitat modelling will be refined by taking elevation and relief into account. This project is sponsored by the Bavarian state forestry department

7. Workshop der Arbeitsgruppe Vegetationsdatenbanken zum Thema "Plant-Trait-Environment-Linkages" in Oldenburg

The German Working Group on Vegetation Databanks has held annual meetings since 2002 with financial support by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Ca. 215 members are regularly informed through a mailing-list. The 2008 meeting was hosted by University of Oldenburg’s Landscape Ecology Group and was attended by 72 participants from 15 countries. Software demonstrations of vegetation databanks Turboveg and VegetWeb as well as plant trait databanks LEDA and BiolFlor opened the workshop. There were lecture sessions on trait databanks, recalibration of ecological indicator values and new developments in the field of vegetation databanks. Working groups were devoted to an initiative to build a meta-databank of existing vegetation databanks in Germany and to mathematical modelling of species habitats. In 2009 the 8th workshop will be held on "Vegetation Databanks and Biodindication" at the University of Greifswald.Die Arbeitsgruppe Vegetationsdatenbanken trifft sich seit 2002 jährlich zu bundesweiten, vom Bundesamt für Naturschutz geförderten Workshops. Über einen E-Mail-Verteiler, der derzeit 215 Adressen in Deutschland und angrenzenden Ländern umfasst, wird regelmäßig über einschlägige Aktivitäten informiert - Bitten um Aufnahme in den Verteiler sind per E-Mail an J. Ewald zu richten. Das 7. Arbeitstreffen fand vom 5.-7. März 2008 auf Einladung von Cord Peppler-Lisbach und Michael Kleyer an der Universität Oldenburg, Arbeitsgruppe Landschaftsökologie, statt, und wurde von 72 TeilnehmerInnen besucht. ..

Shade tolerance of tree species : an analysis based on the databank of Bavarian natural forest reserves

Anhand eines Datensatzes von 1.708 Vegetationsaufnahmen aus 154 bayerischen Naturwaldreservaten wurde die realisierte ökologische Nische von 25 Baumarten hinsichtlich Lichtbedarf bzw. Schattentoleranz untersucht. Für jede Baumart wurde die Stetigkeit des Vorkommens in Baumschicht und Verjüngung berechnet. Für jede Aufnahme wurde die dem Bestandesunterwuchs zur Verfügung stehende Lichtmenge durch Berechnung des mittleren ungewichteten Licht-Zeigerwertes (mL) aller vorkommenden Arten (ohne Baumschicht) auf einer Relativskala geschätzt. Für jede 0,5-Einheiten-Stufe von mL wurde die Präferenz jeder Baumart, getrennt nach Baum- (> 5m) und Verjüngungsschicht (< 5m), als Differenz zwischen relativer Häufigkeit der jeweiligen Art und der relativen Häufigkeit aller Aufnahmen in der mL-Stufe im gesamten Datensatz berechnet. Die Präferenzprofile von Baumschicht und Verjüngungsschicht bildeten die Grundlage einer numerischen Klassifikation von 6 lichtökologischen Nischen typen. Diese Typen werden hinsichtlich ihrer Bindung an bestimmte Entwicklungsphasen und Strukturen der natürlichen Walddynamik diskutiert, mit geläufigen Einteilungen der Baumarten verglichen und im Hinblick auf eine Prognose des Verhaltens unter sich ändernden Umweltbedingungen ausgewertet. – Während sich Edellaubbäume des Tilio-Acerion in den Reservaten sehr ähnlich wie Fagus und Abies verhalten, bilden die Baumarten der Eichenmischwälder eine lichtökologische Gruppe mit rückläufiger Verjüngungstendenz. Unter den übrigen Halbschattbaumarten hebt sich eine Gruppe heraus, welche sich in geschlossenen Beständen vorausverjüngt und nach Störung in die Baumschicht vordringt. Pionierbaumarten bleiben in Naturwaldreservaten weitestgehend auf Sonderstandorte, wo ihre Verjüngung viel Licht vorfindet, beschränkt.On the basis of 1,708 phytosociological relevés from 154 natural forest reserves in Bavaria, the ecological niche of 25 tree species with respect to shade tolerance was investigated. Constancy of occurrence of species was calculated separately for tree and regeneration layer. For each relevé relative light availability was estimated by calculating unweighted averages of Ellenberg values for light (mL) for all plant species occurring in the forest understorey. For each 0.5 segment of mL the preference of the tree species, differentiated by tree layer and regeneration, was calculated as the difference between relative frequency of occurrence and frequency of the mL-segment in the entire data set. Preference profiles of tree layer and regeneration formed the basis of a numerical classification of six types of shade tolerance, which are discussed with respect to their role in certain stages and structures of natural forest dynamics, compared to existing categorisations and interpreted with respect to future succession under environmental change. – While deciduous trees of the ash-sycamore maple group (Tilio-Acerion) behave very similarly to Fagus and Abies in the reserves, tree species of mixed oak woodlands form a group with a tendency towards decreasing regeneration. Among the remaining semi-tolerant species one group is conspicuous for the ability to establish advance-regeneration in rather closed stands and, after disturbances, to grow into the canopy. Shade-intolerant pioneer species remain largely restricted to suitable extreme habitats with ample light availability

Relationship of insect biomass and richness with land use along a climate gradient

Recently reported insect declines have raised both political and social concern. Although the declines have been attributed to land use and climate change, supporting evidence suffers from low taxonomic resolution, short time series, a focus on local scales, and the collinearity of the identified drivers. In this study, we conducted a systematic assessment of insect populations in southern Germany, which showed that differences in insect biomass and richness are highly context dependent. We found the largest difference in biomass between semi-natural and urban environments (−42%), whereas differences in total richness (−29%) and the richness of threatened species (−56%) were largest from semi-natural to agricultural environments. These results point to urbanization and agriculture as major drivers of decline. We also found that richness and biomass increase monotonously with increasing temperature, independent of habitat. The contrasting patterns of insect biomass and richness question the use of these indicators as mutual surrogates. Our study provides support for the implementation of more comprehensive measures aimed at habitat restoration in order to halt insect declines

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

The European Forest Plant Species List (EuForPlant): Concept and applications

Question When evaluating forests in terms of their biodiversity, distinctiveness and naturalness, the affinity of the constituent species to forests is a crucial parameter. Here we ask to what extent are vascular plant species associated with forests, and does species’ affinity to forests vary between European regions? Location Temperate and boreal forest biome of Northwestern and Central Europe. Methods We compiled EuForPlant, a new extensive list of forest vascular plant species in 24 regions spread across 13 European countries using vegetation databases and expert knowledge. Species were region-specifically classified into four categories reflecting the degree of their affinity to forest habitats: 1.1, species of forest interiors; 1.2, species of forest edges and forest openings; 2.1, species that can be found in forest as well as open vegetation; and 2.2, species that can be found partly in forest, but mainly in open vegetation. An additional “O” category was distinguished, covering species typical for non-forest vegetation. Results EuForPlant comprises 1,726 species, including 1,437 herb-layer species, 159 shrubs, 107 trees, 19 lianas and 4 epiphytic parasites. Across regions, generalist forest species (with 450 and 777 species classified as 2.1 and 2.2, respectively) significantly outnumbered specialist forest species (with 250 and 137 species classified as 1.1 and 1.2, respectively). Even though the degree of shifting between the categories of forest affinity among regions was relatively low (on average, 17.5%), about one-third of the forest species (especially 1.2 and 2.2) swapped categories in at least one of the study regions. Conclusions The proposed list can be used widely in vegetation science and global change ecology related to forest biodiversity and community dynamics. Shifting of forest affinity among regions emphasizes the importance of a continental-scale forest plant species list with regional specificity.publishedVersio