Martin KöchyDeutsche Agrarforschungsallianz (DAFA)/German Agricultural Research Alliance
Martin Köchy
PhD, Diplom (M.Sc.), fil.kand.(B.Sc.)
About
76
Publications
10,481
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,810
Citations
Introduction
Additional affiliations
February 2017 - present
German Agricultural Research Alliance
Position
- Joint Manager
July 2012 - January 2017
Position
- Senior Project Researcher
Description
- Coordination and management of the FACCE MACSUR knowledge hub in the field of modelling European agriculture with climate change
April 2012 - June 2012
—
Position
- Researcher
Description
- Submission of a project proposal to BMBF/BMU on a spatially explicit ecosystem service assessment of Germany.
Education
September 1994 - August 1999
September 1989 - August 1990
April 1988 - March 1994
Publications
Publications (76)
in: Schriftenreihe der Bayerischen Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft, vol 2019 (12), ISSN 1611-4159. https://www.lfl.bayern.de/mam/cms07/publikationen/daten/schriftenreihe/zukunftsfaehige-betriebliche-systeme-expertengespraech_lfl-schriftenreihe.pdf
Presentation at a Workshop about systemic research in agriculture.
— Der Ansatz einer systemischen Forschung entspricht den Forderungen der Gesellschaft, dass Forschung die Weiterentwicklung der Landwirtschaft unterstützen soll.
— Der Systemansatz sollte auch auf eine Anpassung der Forschungsausrichtung (Farming Systems Research), der Forschungsor...
— A systemic research approach corresponds with societal demands that research supports the evolution of agricultural systems.
— A systemic approach (farming systems research) should also be applied to a change of the research goals, research organization, and research funding.
— The experiences of transition management and transition sciences shou...
Research in agriculture should involve practitioners as early as possible in order to approach societal targets.
European farming systems are challenged by an increasing global population, income growth, dietary changes and last, but not least, by a changing climate threatening future harvests, especially through increased frequency and severity of extreme events such as drought and heat waves. Therefore, there is a clear need to sustainably intensify and eff...
This study presents results from a major grassland model intercomparison exercise, and highlights the main challenges faced in the implementation of a multi-model ensemble prediction system in grasslands. Nine, independently developed simulation models linking climate, soil, vegetation and management to grassland biogeochemical cycles and productio...
The global soil organic carbon (SOC) mass is relevant for the carbon cycle budget and thus atmospheric carbon concentrations. We review current estimates of SOC stocks and mass (stock * area) in wetlands, permafrost and tropical regions and the world in the upper 1 m of soil. The Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD) v.1.2 provides one of the most...
Global biosphere models vary greatly in their projections of future changes of global soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and aggregated global SOC masses in response to climate change. We estimated the certainty (likelihood) and quantity of increases and decreases on a half-degree grid. We assessed the effect of changes in controlling factors, includ...
![Figure 2 Simulated effects of [CO 2 ], temperature and precipitation...](profile/Gianni-Bellocchi/publication/273064431/figure/fig2/AS:294819411841032@1447301833620/Simulated-effects-of-CO-2-temperature-and-precipitation-changes-on-the-yearly-GPP-g_Q320.jpg)
Uncertainty in simulating biomass yield and carbon–water fluxes from grasslands under climate change - Volume 6 Issue 1 - R. Sándor, S. Ma, M. Acutis, Z. Barcza, H. Ben Touhami, L. Doro, D. Hidy, M. Köchy, E. Lellei-Kovács, J. Minet, A. Perego, S. Rolinski, F. Ruget, G. Seddaiu, L. Wu, G. Bellocchi
The global soil organic carbon (SOC) mass is relevant for the carbon cycle budget. We review current estimates of soil organic carbon stocks (mass/area) and mass (stock * area) in wetlands, permafrost and tropical regions and the world in the upper 1 m of soil. The Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD) v.1.2 provides one of the most recent and cohe...
Global biosphere models vary greatly in their projections of future changes of global soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and aggregated global SOC masses in response to climate change. We estimated the certainty (likelihood) and quantity of increases and decreases on a half-degree grid. We assessed the effect of changes in controlling factors, includ...
The grassland model intercomparison of the FACCE MACSUR knowledge hub involves nine modelling approaches. Grassland-specific approaches (AnnuGrow, PaSim, SPACSYS) were compared to the approaches mainly conceived to simulate crops (ARMOSA, EPIC, STICS) and biomes (Biome-BGC MuSo, CARAIB, LPJmL). The model intercomparison exercise is run over nine gr...
Eastern Mediterranean ecosystems are prone to desertification when under grazing pressure. Therefore, management of grazing intensity plays a crucial role to avoid or to diminish land degradation and to sustain both livelihoods and ecosystem functioning. The dynamic land-use model LandSHIFT was applied to a case study on the country level for Jorda...
The global expansion of species beyond their ancestral ranges can derive from mechanisms that are trait-based (e.g., post-establishment evolved differences compared to home populations) or circumstantial (e.g., propagule pressure, with no trait-based differences). These mechanisms can be difficult to distinguish following establishment, but each ma...
Global estimates of soil organic carbon stocks have been produced in the past to support the calculation of potential emissions of CO2 from the soil under scenarios of change land use/cover and climatic conditions (IPCC, 2006), but very few global estimates are presented as spatial data. For global spatial layers on soil parameters, the most recent...
In order to develop pathways to increase the benefits from regional water resources for humans and ecosystems, the GLOWA Jordan River project comprises the elaboration of regional development scenarios for Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Since land-use change strongly affects water quantity and quality as well as biodiversity and ecos...
available at: http://www.iasks.org/sites/default/files/swes20110301025031.pdf
Abstract available at: http://www.iasks.org/sites/default/files/swes20110301025031.pdf
Background/Question/Methods
Dominance can derive from a number of processes ranging from trait-based (born, made) to neutral (stochastic disturbance, propagule pressure), which are difficult to distinguish once dominance has been attained. This is especially true for successful invaders, where trait-based mechanisms are often assumed but sometimes...
We reviewed currently available data bases of wetlands including peatlands, their spatial resolution, and the time period when the data was assembled. We found six global datasets that use information from various data sources. The database with the greatest spatial detail (0.5 arcminutes, c. 1 km at the equator) and finest classification is the Gl...
In this article, we describe a simulation method for investigating the impacts of different grazing land management strategies on the productivity of (semi-)natural vegetation and the resulting feedback on land-use change. In a first application, we analyze the effects of sustainable and intensive grazing land management in the Jordan River region....
Small livestock is an important resource for rural human populations in dry climates. How strongly will climate change affect the capacity of the rangeland? We used hierarchical modelling to scale quantitatively the growth of shrubs and annual plants, the main food of sheep and goats, to the landscape extent in the eastern Mediterranean region. Wit...
The effect of moderate rates of nitrogen deposition on ground floor vegetation is poorly predicted by uncontrolled surveys or fertilization experiments using high rates of nitrogen (N) addition. We compared the temporal trends of ground floor vegetation in permanent plots with moderate (7–13 kg ha−1 year−1) and lower bulk N deposition (4–6 kg ha−1...
Standard parameters used in the plant module. Standard parameters used in the plant module for all simulations.
Validation. The file describes how the soil, seed bank, and plant modules of the model were validated. The file contains text and three figures.
Standard parameters used in the seed bank module. Standard parameters used in the seed bank module for all simulations.
Absolute changes of variables. Alternative view of data shown in Fig. 2 based on relative changes of mean annual precipitation.
Precipitation distribution at climate stations. Precipitation distribution at climate stations close to the field sites.
Standard parameters used in the soil module. Standard parameters used in the soil module for all simulations.
Model source code. The archive contains directories with the source code in the c++ language distributed over several text files. The archive also includes a sample input file for running the model in batch mode.
Sensitivity analyses. The file describes the method and results of testing the sensitivity of runoff, soil moisture, and peak shoot mass to changes in parameters. The file contains text and two figures.
Plant population modelling has been around since the 1970s, providing a valuable approach to understanding plant ecology from a mechanistic standpoint. It is surprising then that this area of research has not grown in prominence with respect to other approaches employed in modelling plant systems. In this review, we provide an analysis of the devel...
To improve the understanding of consequences of climate change for annual plant communities, I used a detailed, grid-based model that simulates the effect of daily rainfall variability on individual plants in five climatic regions on a gradient from 100 to 800 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP). The model explicitly considers moisture storage in th...
Germination rates and germination fractions of seeds can be predicted well. by the hydrothermal time (HTT) model. Its four parameters HTT, minimum soil temperature, minimum soil moisture, and variation of minimum soil moisture, however, must be determined by lengthy germination experiments at combinations of several levels of soil temperature and m...
Thirty-year time slices of a regional climate model with 0.5° resolution for two IPCC climate change scenarios (A2, B2) were analyzed to produce stochastic time series of annual precipitation. We used these time series to drive the spatially explicit landscape model WADISCAPE with 1.5 km by 1.5 km resolution. WADISCAPE integrates results of a shrub...
We use a cascading modelling approach to simulate vegetation dynamics along a climate gradient from Mediterranean to arid under climate change. The spatially explicit landscape model WADISCAPE with 1.5 km by 1.5 km resolution integrates results of a shrub model and an annuals model with finer resolution. Using two ICCP climate change scenarios (A2,...
The spatially explicit model WADISCAPE was used to simulate the effect of climate change on the grazing capacity of semi-natural vegetation consisting of dwarfshrubs and annuals in the Middle East. The model simulates water availability due to elevation, exposition, and annual rainfall. Vegetation responses are primarily controlled by water availab...
This contribution describes a generator of stochastic time series of daily precipitation for the interior of Israel from c. 90 to 900 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP) as a tool for studies of daily rain variability. The probability of rainfall on a given day of the year is described by a regular Gaussian peak curve function. The amount of rain is...
Global Circulation Models of climate predict not only a change of annual precipitation amounts but also a shift in the daily distribution. To improve the understanding of the importance of daily rain pattern for annual plant communities, which represent a large portion of semi-natural vegetation in the Middle East, I used a detailed, spatially expl...
This contribution describes a generator of stochastic time series of daily precipitation for the interior of Israel from ca. 90 to 900 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP) as a tool for studies of daily rain variability. The probability of rainfall on a given day of the year is described by a regular Gaussian peak curve function. The amount of rain i...
Global Circulation Models of climate predict not only a change of annual precipitation amounts but also a shift in the daily distribution. To improve the understanding of the importance of daily rain pattern for annual plant communities, which represent a large portion of semi-natural vegetation in the Middle East, I used a detailed, spatially expl...
Regional variation in nitrogen (N) deposition increases plant productivity and decreases species diversity, but landscape- or local-scale influences on N deposition are less well-known. Using ion-exchange resin, we measured variation of N deposition and soil N availability within Elk Island National Park in the ecotone between grassland and boreal...
Some climate change scenarios predict that the frequency of intense rainstorms in the eastern Mediterranean will change. We used a process-based, spatially explicit model of soil moisture and the annual grass
Standing crop and species composition in semiarid grassland are linked to long-term patterns of water availability, but grasslands
are characterized by large single-season variability in rainfall. We tested whether a single season of altered water availability
influenced the proportions of grasses and shrubs in a semiarid grassland near the norther...
Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has become one of the most important agents of vegetation change in densely populated regions. It may also contribute to forest expansion into grasslands at the northern edge of the North American Great Plains.
We measured N deposition and available soil N with ion‐exchange resin over 2 years in six national park...
Variation in the competitive ability of plant species may determine their persistence and abundance in communities. We quantified the competitive effects of grasses and woody plants in native mixed‐grass prairie on the performance of transplant species and on resources.
We separated the effects of grasses, shrubs and intact vegetation containing bo...
We investigated the relative contributions of size and growth form (biomass allocation) to competitive effects between grasses and shrubs in western Canada for two years. We measured the effects of grasses and shrubs on each other at the population level using removal experiments in natural vegetation. In prairie where shrub abundance was low, shru...
The increase of island species richness with area can be explained by an increase in habitat diversity or by an equilibrium of species immigration and extinction. We examined vascular plant species richness in 39 sites (24 habitat islands, 7 ‘habitat peninsulas’ and 8 comparable ‘mainland’ sites). We sampled at three scales: whole sites, meadows wi...
Temperature and moisture have larger effects on litter decomposition than litter quality on regional scales. We tested whether this also holds for microclimatic differences between adjacent habitats. We placed litter of aspen (Populus tremuloides) and prairie grasses in both forest and prairie. Microclimate was varied by shading half the litter in...
Databases, and in some jurisdictions the contained data, are protected by intellectual property regulations. This serves the economic and intellectual interests of their creators. International, EU, and national bodies call for free and open access to scientific data, especially if it is funded by public money, to allow the unfettered advancement o...
In a recent contribution in Nature (vol. 442, pp. 555-558) Austin & Vivanco showed that sunlight is the dominant factor for decomposition of grass litter in a semi-arid grassland in Argentine. The quantification of this effect was portrayed as a novel finding. I put this result in the context of three other publications from as early as 1980 that q...
Questions
Questions (2)
Progress in crop production depends on experiments in the field. Proper statistical design and evaluation of these field trials are important for deriving correct conclusions. Indeed, the well-known split-plot designs in ANOVA originate from agricultural science. In past decades, however, funding for public agricultural research has declined, at least in Germany. Training in statistics for students of agriculture has been cut. Students and experienced scientists often have to look for expert advice outside the area of agriculture. The matter is aggravated by diverging statistical methods typically used in agricultural economy, in breeding, and crop or horticultural sciences.
Point of discussion: is available training in statistics at university level and available advice adequate to the need at your institution (in your country)? What is needed? At which stage of education?
I presume the answers vary by country and type of institution, so please mention that in your replies.
What details are useful in a national database of agricultural research institutes in order to find collaborators or experts? Address and research topics are obvious, but what else? How about staff size, infrastructure, facilities, services, patents, past projects, knowledge transfer activities? Would you use such a database at all or would you rely on ResearchGate etc, literature search, and past contacts?
