The vegetation of East and South African savannahs has been shaped by the complex interaction of geo-biophysical processes and human impact. For both regions a controversial discussion is pertinent, as to whether massive degradation threatens the sustainability of livelihoods in these regions. Rangeland vegetation is mainly affected by environmental conditions (soil and climate) and by livestock management. Extent and interaction of these drivers are not well understood but have profound impacts on the resilience and vulnerability of these systems to be shifted toward unfavourable degraded or bush encroached states. The project aims to analyse and model rangeland vegetation in response to range management including livestock, soil quality and climatic conditions and to assess the impacts of changes in these conditions on the resilience and vulnerability of rangeland systems. Field measurements, remote sensing of vegetation patterns and dynamics and simulation modelling will be used to understand the dynamics of rangeland vegetation. We will use the 'fast' or 'state' variables potential of pastures to produce palatable biomass, the variability of this production, and the system's potential to recover from disturbance impact as indicators of resilience. 'slow' variables that control (or drive) the 'fast' variables such as management, climate and soil variables are recorded in cooperation with other subprojects as with A1 for soil variables. Results of the project will show which management activities are most favourable for individual regions to sustain plant production in the long term.
Traditional Indonesian homegardens harbour often high crop diversity, which appears to be an important basis for a sustainable food-first strategy. Crop pollination by insects is a key ecosystem service but threatened by agricultural intensification and land conversion. Gaps in knowledge of actual benefits from pollination services limit effective management planning. Using an integrative and agronomic framework for the assessment of functional pollination services, we will conduct ecological experiments and surveys in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. We propose to study pollination services and net revenues of the locally important crop species cucumber, carrot, and eggplant in traditional homegardens in a forest distance gradient, which is hypothesized to affect bee community structure and diversity. We will assess pollination services and interactions with environmental variables limiting fruit maturation, based on pollination experiments in a split-plot design of the following factors: drought, nutrient deficiency, weed pressure, and herbivory. The overall goal of this project is the development of 'biodiversity-friendly' land-use management, balancing human and ecological needs for local smallholders.
Increasing population pressure is leading to unsustainable land use in North Vietnamese highlands and destruction of natural habitats. The resulting loss of biodiversity includes plant genetic resources - both wild (= non-cultivated) species and cultivated landraces - adapted to local conditions, and local knowledge concerning the plants. A particularly important group among endangered plants are the legumes (1) because Southeast Asia is a major centre of genetic diversity for this family, and (2) because the potential contribution of legumes to sustainable land use is, due to their multifunctionality (e.g., soil improvement, human and livestock nutrition), especially high. The project aims to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources of legumes with an integrated approach wherein a series of components are combined: (1) A participatory, indigenous knowledge survey complemented by information from the literature; (2) germplasm collection missions (for ex situ conservation) complemented by field evaluation and seed increase; (3) genetic diversity analysis of selected material by molecular markers; and (4) GIS based analysis of generated data to identify areas of particular genetic diversity as a basis for land area planning and in situ preservation recommendations. Project results are expected to be also applicable to similar highlands in Southeast Asia.
Das Auerhuhn ist eine stark gefährdete Brutvogelart der Schweiz. Veränderungen in der Zusammensetzung und Nutzung des Waldes haben dazu geführt, dass sich die Bestände dieses Raufusshuhns in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten halbiert haben. Deshalb sollen die Lebensraumansprüche des attraktiven Waldvogels vermehrt in der Planung und Umsetzung von Waldreservaten und der Bewirtschaftung von Wäldern der höheren Lagen berücksichtigt werden. Auf der kleinen räumlichen Ebene sind die Habitatsansprüche der Art durch Untersuchungen in West- und Mitteleuropa (Storch 1993, 2002, Schroth 1994) und Skandinavien relativ gut bekannt. Dagegen werden die Populationsprozesse auf der Ebene der Landschaft erst in Ansätzen verstanden (Sjöberg 1996, Kurki 2000). Entsprechend konnte man die Bestandsrückgänge in den meisten Gebieten Europas noch nicht stoppen, da einerseits genauere Kenntnisse über das Zusammenspiel und die relative Bedeutung der einzelnen Faktoren fehlen (Habitatqualität, Störungen, Prädatoren, Witterung-Klima, Huftierkonkurrenz), und andererseits noch nicht versucht wurde, die Bestandsentwicklung im grossen landschaftlichen Massstab als Metapopulationsdynamik zu verstehen. Es ist das primäre Ziel dieses Projekts, ein räumlich explizites Metapopulationsmodell des Auerhuhns für einen grossen Landschaftsausschnitt der Schweizer Alpen zu erarbeiten. Dabei sollen die erwähnten Einflussfaktoren möglichst umfassend berücksichtigt werden. Die Arbeit soll modellhaft zeigen, dass für das Verständnis von Populationsvorgängen von raumbeanspruchenden Wildtierarten eine Analyse und Bewertung von lokal bis überregional wirksamen Einflussfaktoren notwendig sind. Die Ergebnisse sollen zudem als konzeptionelle Grundlage für den Nationalen Aktionsplan Auerhuhn und für regionale Artenförderungsprojekte dienen. Folgende Fragen und Themen sind für das Projekt von zentraler Bedeutung: Wie gross ist das landschaftsökologische Lebensraumpotenzial für das Auerhuhn in den Alpen, wie ist es räumlich verteilt? Wie verteilen sich die lokalen Auerhuhnpopulationen in diesen Potenzialgebieten? Wie gross sind die Bestände? Welche Faktoren beeinflussen den Status von Lokal- und Regionalpopulationen? Welche Populationen haben abgenommen oder sind verschwunden, welche sind stabil (Source-Sink-Mechanismen)? Zwischen welchen räumlich getrennten Populationen besteht ein Austausch? Welche Landschaftselemente wirken als Barrieren? Entwickeln einer nicht-invasiven Methode für die genetische Differenzierung von Populationen, sowie für Bestandsschätzungen und Monitoring.
In spite of a variety of efforts, tropical forests are still threatened by exploitation and conversion to agricultural land-use. Besides legal protection, sustainable management concepts are essential for stable conservation of these ecosystems. This project aims at identifying and optimizing the potentials for forest management for three different ecosystems (Dry Forest, Tropical Mountain Rain Forest, Paramo) along a height- and climate gradient in Southern Ecuador. Therefore, multiple and locally differentiated aspects of forest management have to be considered: the direct provision of goods (timber and non-timber forest products) as well as ecosystem services (carbon sequestration, water regulation), which are of increasing importance; moreover, the effects of forest management on biodiversity and the impacts of climate change on resilience indicators and the potential distribution of selected species with high potential for sustainable management or conservation should be investigated. First of all, the most important forest structure types and possible improvements of management alternatives have to be identified at the three sites for the assessment of different management concepts. The alternatives will be tested on experimental field plots and consequently monitored for their impacts on the locally most important criteria of forest management. A sound decision support tool will be developed, taking into account uncertainties with regard to input parameters and the relevance of different criteria of forest management. Therefore, Multi Criteria Decision Analysis will be used to generate locally adapted management concepts for the different ecosystems. Those concepts should be able to consider the multiple functions of forest management and will represent the forestry component in sustainable land-use models. The comprehensive studies will be carried out in close cooperation with other scientific teams from Germany and Ecuador as well as local institutions of relevance for forest management. The direct involvement of Ecuadorian students and young academics and the integration of the investigations in educational concepts will contribute to capacity building and local efforts for the enhancement of environmental competencies. Moreover, the experimental field plots will serve in parts as demonstration objects for the implementation of sustainable forest management concepts.
Background: Aquaculture significantly contributes to protein supply and cash income of Black Thai farmers in Yen Chau, Son La province, Northern Vietnam. Fish is produced for cash income (2/3rd) and subsistence (1/3rd) while self recruiting species (small fish, crustaceans and molluscs) provide additional protein for home consumption. The current aquaculture system is a polyculture of the macroherbivorous grass carp as main species together with 3-5 other non-herbivorous fish species like Common Carp, Silver Carp, Bighead Carp, Mud Carp, Silver Barb and Nile Tilapia. With a rearing period of 21 months, the productivity of the aquaculture system amounts to 1.54 +- 0.33 t ha-1 a-1 and can be characterized as low. Nearly each household has at least one pond, which serves multiple purposes and is operated as a flow-through-system. The steady water flow is advantageous for the culture of grass carp, but causes a continuous loss of nutrients and high turbidity and thereby limits the development of phytoplankton and zooplankton which are natural food for non-herbivorous species. The farmers are using mainly green leaves (banana, bamboo, cassava, maize and grass) and crop residues (rice bran, rice husk, cassava root peel, distillery residue) as feed input, which is available to Grass Carp while non-herbivorous fish species are not fed specifically. Manure is used as fertilizer. The uneaten parts of fed plants are sometimes accumulating in the pond over several years, resulting in heavy loads of organic matter causing oxygen depletion. Anaerobic sediment and water layers limit the development of zoobenthos and may provide a habitat for anaerobe disease agents. Since 2003 an unknown disease condition has been threatening Grass Carp production and is having a major economic impact on the earnings from fish farming in Yen Chau region. Other fish in the same ponds are not affected. Especially in March-April and in September-October the disease is causing high morbidity and mortalities of Grass Carp in affected ponds and is thereby decreasing the dietary protein supply and income generation of Black Thai farmers. Little is known about the definition or aetiology of the disease condition.
Background Global environmental change is threatening ecosystems and biodiversity worldwide. Important components of global change are, among others, land-use changes, climate change and biological invasions. While the effects of each aspect alone have been studied intensively, the interactions between two or more aspects are much more difficult to assess. However, it is obvious that there are and will be interactions, which will very likely have synergistic effects. An obvious interaction is between climate change and biotic exchange. The chance that this interaction will speed up invasion processes and will threaten biodiversity and ecosystem functioning even more is very high. Climate in Central Europe is projected to become on average warmer, but also more extreme, i.e. there will be a higher occurrence of floods and droughts. Effects of these changes on plants have been documented already. Especially high-altitude ecosystems, which are highly specialized and adapted to the current conditions, seem highly vulnerable to these changes in climate. Whether these changes will favour alien species more than native species, however, has only been discussed in the literature, but experimental tests are lacking so far. Specific Aims The proposed study aims to assess whether alien species can profit more from the projected climate change than native species, and whether this will enable them to successfully invade native plant communities, especially pristine alpine meadows. In addition the project investigates the effects of extreme weather events on the individual plant species and on the invasion process in general. Methods and Experimental Design We will use two approaches to test our hypotheses. We will compare the reaction of native and alien species in a controlled garden experiment under ambient and changed climatic conditions (increased mean temperature and extreme weather events, i.e. drought and flooding). We will assess the invasiveness under these conditions as well as the invasibility of native meadow communities. In a transplant experiment in the field along altitudinal gradients we will test the reaction of in-situ native communities and alien species to increased temperature and drought and quantify the invasion success under these changed conditions. Expected Value of the Proposed Project We expect the proposed project to provide first insights into the proposed synergistic effects of climate change and plant invasions and especially on the effects of extreme weather events on the invasibility of native meadow communities, in particular alpine communities. The results will help to assess the potential combined threats of climate change and biotic invasions to native plant communities and provide a basis for the development of policies to control plant invasions, especially to protect fragile mountain ecosystems.
The Indonesian Archipelago harbours the most diverse marine habitat on earth, but also the presently most endangered. Overfishing, deleterious fishing practices and land-based sources of pollution result in a dramatic decline of the reef-based ecosystems. Coral reefs thrive in clear oligotrophic water. Deteriorating water quality due to increased terrigenous inputs of sediments, nutrients and pollutants are believed to be among the major causes of the demise of Indonesian coral reefs over the last decades. The pelagic cycling of material, production and development of larvae in shallow coastal waters as well as the exports of material to the benthos and adjacent deep water ecosystem are yet poorly understood. In this program 12 Indonesian and 14 German universities and institutions are involved. From the German side it is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) is responsible for the overall coordination. The main goal of the project is to strengthen the scientific basis for the protection of coral reefs in Southeast Sulawesi, harbouring some of the richest but also most endangered coral reefs in the world. In the Spermonde Archipelago off Makassar coral reef losses amounted to 20 Prozent over the last 12 years, eroding the income base for many thousands of families. Regulations related to the marine environment and its valuable resources have not been effectively implemented, and public awareness among the growing local population is still very limited. The aim of the AWI plankton group is to assess the significance of suspended matter for the reef organisms and to demonstrate that environmental changes are an important factor for phyto- and zooplankton communities and hence, for their consumers. To achieve this goal, quantitative studies of plankton occurrence and distribution are essential on various spatial and temporal scales. Further topics are the duration of the pelagic phase of economically important benthic organisms and the life cycles of dominant zooplankton species.
A crucial vulnerability faced by the international community in the near future will be access to fresh water in sufficient quantity and of adequate quality to meet increasing and more diverse needs of a growing world population. Mountains have always held a privileged relationship with water, as the sources of the world's greatest rivers and as the home of the great reserves of water held in glaciers.Major global forces nevertheless threaten these mountain reservoirs. Climate change is predicted to modify quantities of water available as well as shift its seasonality. It is likely that even greater challenges will come from the dynamics of human behavior. Population growth is perhaps the most obvious threat to sufficient water supply but it goes hand in hand with changing norms and evolving activities, leading to increasing competition among use for agriculture, industry, leisure, and domestic activities. Influencing production and distribution are societal rules and norms such as pricing schemes, regulations, and property rights that determine who gets how much water and when. Appropriate solutions to oversee water use will contribute to efficient and equitable distribution. Poor management can aggravate shortages, increase social and economic disparities, and is a potential source of deadly international conflict.Mountain regions are generally considered to be the 'water towers of the world' not only because they receive important quantities of precipitation, but also because this water is then stored there in the form of snow and ice. Populations living in mountains have a very long history of overseeing this precious resource and can be the source of important knowledge about solving the dilemmas of managing a public good that knows no boundaries and can therefore be diverted and traded. Resources governed by natural processes in this way become inextricably linked with political and economic forces. (...)
Forest structure is altered by humans for long times (Bramanti et al. 2009). The long lasting modification of forests pursuant to human demands modified the living conditions for birds as well as for many other animals. This included changes in resource availability (e.g., food, foraging, nesting sites) and changes of interspecific interactions, e.g., parasitism and predation (Knoke et al. 2009; Ellis et al. 2012). Also species compositions and the survivability of populations and even species are affected. The loss of foraging sites and suitable places for reproduction, the limitation of mobility due to fragmented habitats and the disturbances by humans itself may lead to more stressed individuals and less optimal living conditions. In certain cases species are not able to deal with the modified requirements and their populations will shrink and even vanish. Depending on the intensity of management and the remaining forest structure, biodiversity is more or less endangered. Especially in systems of two or more strongly connected taxa changing conditions that affect at least one part may subsequently affect the other, too. One system of interspecific communities that recently attracted the attention of biologists includes birds, blood parasites (haemosporidians) and their transmitting vectors. For instance, avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) represents the reason for extreme declines in the avifauna of Hawaii since the introduction of respective vectors (e.g. Culicidae) during the 20th century (van Riper et al. 1986, Woodworth et al. 2005). With the current knowledge of this topic we are not able to predict if such incidences could also occur in Germany. All in all, different management strategies and intensity of forest management may influence the network of birds, vectors and blood parasites and change biodiversity. To elucidate this ecological complex, and to understand the interactions of the triad of songbirds as vertebrate hosts, dipteran vectors and haemosporidians within changing local conditions, I intend to collect data on the three taxa in differently managed forest areas, the given forest structure and the climatic conditions. I will try to explain the role of abiotic factors on infection dynamics, in detail the role of forest management intensity. Data acquisition takes place at three spatially divided locations: inside the Biodiversity Exploratory Schwäbische Alb, at the Mooswald in Freiburg, and inside the Schwarzwald.
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