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Estimations of the total global biomass (organically bound carbon) regarding humans, wild terrestrial mammals and large domesticated animals (livestock) for the years 1900 and 2000 (upper charts). The lower chart indicates the ratio of species diversity (number of species) of extant terrestrial mammals as well as number of species of terrestrial mammalian ungulates that have been domesticated (livestock). Sources: 1: Smil (2011), 2: Rondinini et al. (2011), 3: Diamond (2002).
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Here, we introduce a concept that addresses the complex interrelations between land use and biodiversity by applying an organismic and comparative approach towards grassland ecosystems in southern Africa and temperate Europe. While the natural savannas of southern Africa evolved millions of years ago, cultural grasslands in Europe emerged as a resu...
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... level was clearly associated with the protection status in the respective countries. From a more abstract perspective, the experience from Africa, where pastoralists manage to coexist with large predators since more than 10,000 years, might contribute to a common understanding of carnivore-livestock conflicts and mitigation strategies (see Fig. ...
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The Mesopotamian marshlands are one of the most internationally important wetlands in the Middle East, as it constitutes a care ground for many species of birds migrating from Siberia and Europe as well as for its rich biodiversity. East Al-Hammar is a major marsh located in the southern part of Iraq. The relationship between diatom species and env...
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... The change of woodland use is the main drivers of global biodiversity loss. Losses from global change affect humans by simultaneously affecting soil microbial communities and plant diversity, thereby affecting multiple ecosystem functions and services (Zeller et al., 2017;Klaus et al., 2018). The change of woodland use can cause disturbance by changing vegetation coverage and promote soil erosion and disturbance, all of which can affect the microbial communities' composition (Goss-Souza et al., 2019). ...
Microbial communities, which are affected by soil types and climate factors, contribute to maintain the function of terrestrial ecosystems. Recent studies have shown that interdomain relationships in below–aboveground communities may contribute greatly to ecosystem functioning. However, the responses of interactions among plant, soil fungal, and bacterial communities to the change of woodland use and their effects on ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) remain poorly understood. In this study, the plant–microbe and fungi–bacteria interdomain ecology network (IDEN) based on SparCC pairwise associations were constructed by simultaneous aboveground plant surveys and belowground microbial analyses among four different woodland use intensities (WUI) along different seasons. The effects of different seasons on these relationships were surveyed to probe into the links to EMF. With the increase of woodland use intensity, the plant–microbe network complexity decreased, while the fungus–bacteria network complexity increased. In both dry and wet seasons, ecosystem multifunctionality decreased with the increase of woodland use intensity. Some tree species are the network hubs and may play a pivotal role in the community structure stability of the forest ecosystem. During the dry season, WUI could indirectly affect EMF through plant–microbial network complexity. During the wet season, WUI had a direct effect on EMF. WUI also indirectly affected EMF through plant–microbial network complexity and fungus–bacterial network complexity. Air temperature is the main climatic factor for EMF in the dry season, while soil moisture content is the climatic factor for EMF in the wet season. Our study revealed the important role of the relationship between plants and their associated soil microbial communities (IDENs) in maintaining ecosystem processes and function. Investigating the recovery dynamics of inter-domain ecological networks after extreme disturbances is important for understanding the overall development of ecosystems.
... Notably, woodland use change is part of global change. Losses from global change affect humans by simultaneously affecting soil microbial communities and plant diversity, thereby affecting multiple ecosystem functions and services (Klaus et al., 2018;Zeller et al., 2017). From 2000 to 2020, the global forested area was estimated to have declined by 9.93 × 10 6 km 2 (FAO, 2020). ...
A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: Soil Ecosystem multifunctionality Woodland use intensity Dry and wet season Microbial diversity Microbial network complexity Soil water content A B S T R A C T Global change (e.g., woodland use change) affects ecosystem functioning directly by modifying various physi-cochemical processes and indirectly by altering biological metabolism and interactions. To determine whether woodland use intensity (WUI) affects soil ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) via microbial diversity and network complexity and whether the dry and wet season drivers are the same. We analyzed the relationships of soil EMF to soil microbial (bacteria and fungi) diversity and network complexity, considering the WUI in the monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest in dry and wet seasons in subtropical China. The findings showed that with increasing of WUI, soil microbial (bacteria and fungi) diversity increased, whereas soil EMF decreased. The microbial network complexity decreased in the dry season but increased in the wet season. Soil EMF was jointly regulated by indirect effects from WUI in addition to microbial diversity and network complexity. WUI and abiotic factors can indirectly affect soil EMF through microbial diversity and network complexity, among which soil water content is the main environmental factor affecting soil EMF in dry season, and fungal diversity is the main factor affecting soil EMF in wet season. In addition to demonstrating how multiple anthropogenic drivers differ in their impact via different pathways on soil EMF components, our results will facilitate the prediction of ecosystem responses to multiple simultaneous environmental changes.
... Grasslands are a key element of our agricultural systems as they provide nearly half of the feed requirements for global livestock production [1,2]. They also play an essential role in regulating, e.g., soil erosion, carbon, water, and nitrogen fluxes [3][4][5] and are habitats for a broad range of plant and animal species [6,7]. ...
Grassland management practices and intensities are key factors influencing the quality and balance of their provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. Most European temperate grasslands are exploited through mowing, grazing, or a combination of both in relatively small management units. Grazing and mowing can however not be considered equivalent because the first is gradual and selective and the second is not. In this study, the aim is to differentiate grasslands in terms of management practices and to retrieve homogeneous management units. Grasslands are classified hierarchically, first through a pixel-based supervised classification to differentiate grazed pastures from mown hay meadows and then through an object-based mowing detection method to retrieve the timing and frequency of mowing events. A large field dataset was used to calibrate and validate the method. For the classification, 18 different input feature combinations derived from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 were tested for a random forest classifier through a cross-validation scheme. The best results were obtained based on the Leaf Area Index (LAI) times series with cubic spline interpolation. The classification differentiated pastures (grazed) from hay meadows (mown) with an overall accuracy of 88%. The classification is then combined with the existing parcel delineation and high-resolution ancillary data to retrieve the homogeneous management units, which are used for the object-based mowing detection based on the Sentinel-1 coherence and Sentinel-2 NDVI. The mowing detection performances were increased thanks to the grassland mask, the management unit delineation, and the exclusion of pastures, reaching a precision of 93% and a detection rate of 82%. This hierarchical grassland classification approach allowed to differentiate three types of grasslands, namely pastures, and meadows (including mixed practices) with an early first mowing event and with a late first mowing event, with an overall accuracy of 79%. The grasslands could be further differentiated by mowing frequency, resulting in five final classes.
... In Europe, managed grasslands cover about one third of the utilized agricultural area (UAA) and are a major part of the mixed pastoral and agricultural system. In addition to food production, grasslands contribute to regulating services such as carbon sequestration and water storage (Bengtsson et al., 2019;Chang et al., 2021) and they embed a rich biodiversity (O'Mara, 2012;Pärtel et al., 2005;Zeller et al., 2017). The ecological state and condition of European permanent grasslands, i. e. managed grasslands that have not been included in crop rotations for at least five years, is, however, threatened by agricultural intensification and conversion to annual crops (O'Mara, 2012;Silva et al., 2008). ...
Managed grasslands cover about one third of the European utilized agricultural area. Appropriate grassland management is key for balancing trade-offs between provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. The timing and frequency of mowing events are major factors of grassland management. Recent studies have shown the feasibility of detecting mowing events using remote sensing time series from optical and radar satellites. In this study, we present a new method combining the regular observations of Sentinel-1 (S1) and the better accuracy of Sentinel-2 (S2) grassland mowing detection algorithms. This multi-source approach for grassland monitoring was assessed over large areas and in various contexts. The method was first validated in six European countries, based on Planet image interpretation. Its performances and sensitivity were then thoroughly assessed in an independent study area using a more precise and complete reference dataset based on an intensive field campaign. Results showed the robustness of the method across all study areas and different types of grasslands. The method reached a F1-score of 79% for detecting mowing events on hay meadows. Furthermore, the detection of mowing events along the growing season allows to classify mowing practices with an overall accuracy of 69%. This is promising for differentiating grasslands in terms of management intensity. The method could therefore be used for large-scale grassland monitoring to support agri-environmental schemes in Europe.
... The LNP was created in 2001 as part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP), which also includes KNP in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park (GNP) in Zimbabwe, Banhine National Park (BNP), and Zinave National Park (ZNP) in Mozambique, and the interstitial zone between these parks (Direcção Nacional das Áreas de Conservação [DINAC], 2003;Milgroom and Spierenburg, 2008). The GLTP consists of a network of transboundary ecosystems of African savannas (Direcção Nacional das Áreas de Conservação [DINAC], 2003;Milgroom and Spierenburg, 2008) that can serve as a reference for the rest of the world because they present megafauna features close to the pre-human or near-natural situation (Zeller et al., 2017;Rottstock et al., 2020;Zeller and Göttert, 2021). Before 2001, LNP was a trophy hunting concession called "Coutada 16" (Mavhunga and Spierenburg, 2009;Massé, 2016). ...
This study provides a first attempt to describe the historical distribution and movement patterns of selected large herbivore (LH) species in Limpopo National Park (LNP), an area in Mozambique today connected to a network of transboundary conservation areas. Between 1976 and the early 2000s, most LH species were absent in this area following the civil war in Mozambique followed by intense poaching due to weak law enforcement capacity. Through the reconstruction of the historical and current distribution and movement patterns of seven LH species in five periods, we investigate possible changes in distribution and movement patterns over time. Data collection is based on a systematic literature search, censuses reports, online databases, dung count transects, and camera trap surveys. We mapped all LH observations and movements using ArcGIS 10.1. Our results reveal a dramatic collapse of LH populations between the peak of the colonial period and the post-colonial/civil war period (1800-2001), followed by a slight recovery from the post-proclamation of Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park to the current period (2002-2021). While LH population decline applied to all seven species, there are species-specific differences in the process of restoration: African elephant (Loxodonta africana), African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), and plains zebra (Equus quagga) appear to recover to a greater extent than giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), eland (Tragelaphus oryx), blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), and white rhino (Ceratotherium simum). We found evidence of the functioning of proposed wildlife corridors in the LNP. The results give reason to assume that restoration of populations of LH is still in a very early and vulnerable state and that further efforts are necessary to strengthen the slowly increasing populations of LH. Our results highlight the importance of combining past and current data as a guide for the restoration of threatened species in African savannas impacted by human activities.
... Central Eurasia and southern Africa provide a good example in this regard. Although these regions appear to have little in common at first glance, there are several striking natural similarities [60][61][62]. Natural links and parallels between these regions include: (i) Tertiary tectonic events and shifting in the African-Eurasian plate boundary zone [63], (ii) Tertiary similarities in vegetation-a Mediterranean-type woodland thorn scrub [64], (iii) Quaternary Western European complex of Mediterranean/African affinities with North-South and South-North fluctuations of faunistic elements [65], and (iv) the Palearctic-African bird migration system, the largest bird migration system in the world [66]. ...
... An obvious global similarity is that large representatives of a systematic group (carnivores), as well as domesticated forms of a today-extinct wild species (cattle), exist all over the world. As a result of a growing human population and an increase in livestock-related biomass [60], humans are simulating an increasing abundance of a large ungulate species, which has also been modified by humans and is often more readily available as prey for large carnivores than naturally occurring ungulate species. ...
... The experience from regions, where other carnivore species cause conflicts with livestock, is also part of the comparative framework. In Africa, for example, pastoralists coexist with large predators for millennia [60]. This knowledge might contribute to a common understanding of carnivore-livestock conflicts and mitigation strategies (Figure 3). ...
Here, we address the question of if/to what extent human–wildlife conflict (HWC) can be reduced or mitigated by supra-regional or even global approaches, or whether case- and region-specific strategies are necessary. First, we try to shift the perspective from humans towards wildlife and regard modern era (near) extinctions of selected wildlife species as an ultimate expression of HWC. We then reflect on the legitimacy of ecosystem comparisons beyond the borders of biogeographical regions—an important prerequisite for global approaches. In the following, we present two case scenarios that exemplarily illustrate the topic from different perspectives: carnivore–livestock conflicts (classical view, human perspective) and wind turbine-induced mortality of bats (wildlife perspective, rarely regarded as a form of HWC). On this basis, we try to develop a framework that enables a global approach, while adequately considering case- and region-specificity. We think that a globally valid and generally approachable dimension can be defined, as long as there is a natural link: in the present case the established monophyly of the orders Carnivora and Chiroptera, i.e., representatives descending from common ancestors, thus sharing common ecological features. This natural relationship among all representatives of a systematic group (specification of the “wildlife” concept) is key for the development of an overarching strategy that can be adjusted to a specific case.
... The occurrence of species such as Lepus europaeus, Cricetus cricetus, Otis tarda, Emberiza hortulana, Alauda arvensis, etc. pp., in today's Poland (and elsewhere in central Europe) is only possible due to agriculture. To preserve the biodiversity, the types of natural moderate disturbances are essential, and both intensification and abandonment or marginalization of agricultural practices are likely to threaten biodiversity in the so-called "semi-natural" areas, which are natural-like areas that resulted from some degree of human influence [76][77][78]. ...
When humans began interfering with the environment to produce food, some free-ranging animal species adapted to live on typical farmland, sometimes choosing it as their main habitat. They use it on the basis of symbiosis or as a pest. The animals affect farms in different ways, and the same concerns farms affecting animals. There are negative, from a human perspective, as well as positive aspects of this interaction. The aim of this study was to review and propose the solutions to reconcile these two factors, agriculture and wildlife, using Poland as an example. Two major problems were observed: the negative impact of agriculture on the occurrence or abundance of certain species, and wildlife damage caused mainly by wild boars (Sus scrofa) and Cervidae. The most important issue for agricultural economy is the strict control and limitation of the wild boar population , while the farmer's approach to cultivation and the environment are important for the wildlife. For years, man has been undertaking various activities using and subordinating elements of the environment, and each even small interference in the system that creates a harmony will have far-reaching consequences.
... Changes in woodland use are major drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. These losses affect multiple ecosystem functions and services by simultaneously influencing plant diversity and soil microbial communities, which in turn affects humans (Klaus et al., 2018;Zeller et al., 2017). Global forested area is estimated to have decreased by 9.93 × 10 6 km 2 from 2000 to 2020 (Fao, 2020). ...
A key aspect of global forest management, woodland use intensity (WUI) greatly affects the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities, thereby affecting multiple ecosystem functions and services. However, the effects of WUI on soil microbial community composition and enzymatic activities remains unclear. The effects of anthropomorphic alterations to a natural monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest in terms of the composition and diversity of soil fungal and bacterial communities, was investigated at a site in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Soil microbial communities were assessed under four levels of disturbance with increasing levels of WUI: (i) none, undisturbed forest (control), (ii) light, naturally-regenerated Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon forest, (iii) intermediate, shrub and grassland communities formed through grazing, and (iv) severe, continuously managed coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plantations. With increasing WUI, the diversity of soil fungal and bacterial communities increased, while similarities in community composition decreased for fungi but increased for bacteria. Among fungal functional groups, ectomycorrhizal fungi decreased significantly with increasing WUI, whereas saprotrophic fungi (undefined, wood, and soil saprotrophs) increased significantly. The species richness of woody plants remarkably affected fungal functional guilds. Ectomycorrhizal fungi interacted in a synergistic manner with the fungal network structure. Significantly affecting microorganismal network structure, WUI increases led to more homogeneous networks with less integration within modules within the microbial community. The WUI strongly altered hub identity and module composition in the microbial community. According to structural equation models, WUI had direct positive effects on soil fungal community composition via its effects on plant species richness. The diversity of bacterial and fungal communities and composition of bacterial communities were jointly regulated by the indirect effects of plant species richness and soil nutrients (including enzyme activity). Deterministic processes largely determined the composition of soil fungal and bacterial communities. This study highlights the importance of maintaining the diversity of soil fungal and bacterial communities despite changes in woodland use to sustain ecosystem functions. These results can be used to develop management practices in subtropical forests and help sustain plant and soil microbial diversity at levels sufficient to maintain long-term ecosystem function and services.
... Land use change is a continuous process which involves alteration of various types of land uses and poses considerable effects on atmospheric composition leading towards climate change at regional and global levels (Pielke et al., 2011;Rawat et al., 2013;Pielke et al., 2013). Moreover, changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services and extent and frequency of disasters are also associated with land use changes (Mas et al., 2004;Zeller et al., 2017;Gomes et al., 2021;Su et al., 2021). Land use change is mainly triggered by socio-economic development which causes persistent environmental degradation especially in terms of land fragmentation (Grimm et al., 2008). ...
Rapid urbanization is among the dominant causes of land use changes all over the world. Therefore, detection of land use changes of a particular area is a matter of great concern. In this scenario, geo-spatial techniques offer promising tool for land use classification of an area over variable time. In this regard, present study was carried out for land use classification of district Sialkot. For this purpose, Landsat satellite images (Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 8 OLI) for the year 1990, 2000 and 2016 of district Sialkot were obtained through United State Geological Survey (USGS). Pre-processing of the obtained satellite imagery i.e., layer stacking, image enhancement etc. was performed using Erdas imagine 9.0 and Arc Map 10.1 software. Supervised classification of satellite images was carried out and the total area of district Sialkot was classified in to four different land use classes i.e., agriculture land, bare soil, build up area and water bodies. According to the results, the total agriculture area in 1990 was 2109.60 km 2 which was decreased in 2000 (2027.07 km 2) and increased in 2016 (2354.65 km 2). Bare soil area (809.70 km 2) in 1990 was found decreased and reached up to 391.45 km 2 in 2016. Build up area was also increased in district Sialkot and reached at 176.59 km 2 in 2016. So based on results, it can be concluded that land use classes such as agriculture and built-up area were increased while the area covered by bare soil exhibited decline and water bodies exhibited a positive trend in all the years. Moreover, results of present study also suggested that geo-spatial techniques have considerable potential for land use classification of a particular area. Additionally, the results of present study might be useful for developing and implementing valuable management strategies for resource utilization on sustainable basis.
... Different components of plant diversity (e.g., species richness, functional diversity, assemblage structures) would also make grasslands more resilient to hazards and extreme weather events (such as prolonged droughts, e.g., Vogel et al. 2012;Craven et al. 2016) and would be able to stabilize forage production and maintain overall ecosystem services (Cleland 2011). It is thus essential to preserve these open spaces in order to preserve their biodiversity and the associated services, but also to study them to better appreciate their evolution under different constraints (Zeller et al. 2017). In hay meadows, which typically occur where the environmental constraints are less important compared to high-elevation pastures, the management practices and their intensity tend to be the main drivers of plant diversity (Pittarello et al. 2020), whose changes reflect the evolution of both environmental conditions (pedo-climate) and management practices (Pontes et al. 2015). ...
Climate and management affect grassland plant diversity but studies vary regarding the magnitude of changes in plant species richness. Here we develop a comprehensive understanding of species richness modification due to management (mowing) and climate (warming) variations worldwide, and present the results of two meta-analyses from 999 and 1793 records (articles). Recorded articles had at least one experiment with a case-control design. The results show that both mowing (43 articles) and warming (34 articles) modify species richness, which on average increased by c. 32% with once-a-year mowing (against no mowing) and declined by c. 13% with warming (against ambient temperature). Our meta-analysis on the mowing regime supports the humped-back model, with one or two cuts per year being the level of disturbance optimising species richness. We also observed that warming-induced reduction in species richness is lower in dry climates (< 300 mm yr-1) and at low elevations (< 1000 m a.s.l.). Where available, we accounted for harvested biomass as a concomitant variable and we found that overall it decreased by c. 21% (mowing) and increased by c. 11% (warming). The evidence provided of an opposite response of species richness and harvested biomass to disturbance is consistent with the competitive-exclusion hypothesis of negatively correlated patterns between the two outcomes (high taxonomic diversity with low biomass production, and vice versa). The reported difficulties in finding representative studies in previous meta-analyses and in the present ones highlight the need to orient future research towards long-term experiments on the combined effects of mowing and warming for a more robust inference of environmental and management constraints on grassland performance.
