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Kulturlandschaftsforschung in Südostasien – das LEGATO-Projekt
Abstract
LEGATO stands for 'Land-use intensity and Ecological Engineering - Assessment Tools for risks and Opportunities in irrigated rice based production systems' and aims to advance long-term sustainable development of irrigated rice landscapes, against risks arising from multiple aspects of global change. The overall objective is the elaboration and testing of generally applicable principles within the frarne of ecological engineering - an ernerging discipline, concerned with design, monitoring and construction of ecosystems. Ecological engineering aims at developing strategies to maximize the ecosystem services through exploiting natural regulation mechanisms instead of suppressing them. A core component of this research project, which is part of the framework programme 'fona - Research for Sustainability', is to create the knowledge and decision-making base necessary for sustainable land management and also to provide the corresponding action strategies, technologies and systems solutions.
... The study has been part of the research project LEGATO 1 with partners from Europe and Southeast Asia (Settele et al., 2013). The project's core objective is to investigate the interactions between irrigated rice cropping systems, the landscapes in which they are embedded and the human perception and valuation of relevant ESs. ...
... In contrast to the majority of sites, the chemical inputs in Philippine rice terraces are extremely low. Also, the yields obtained in such systems are smaller, while simultaneously the landscape is well diversified and high quality local rice varieties are grown (Settele et al., 2013;Settele, 1998). ...
... The special topographic and environmental conditions require a strict water management, strong cooperation and organization of community labour (Acabado, 2012). Table 1 gives an overview of the seven regions' differences in land use intensities, landscape structural diversity and cultural identity (for a more detailed description see Settele et al., 2013). ...
... The local landscape surrounding each site (variable LandSur) was assessed categorically according to the presence (at diverse sites) or absence (at monoculture sites) of non-paddy habitats in their direct proximity. Regional land use intensity and structural diversity classes were taken from Settele et al. (2013). ...
... We checked for interactions Table 1 Southeast Asian study regions and important corresponding attributes related to geography, climate, management and sampling design. Land use intensity and structural diversity classes by Settele et al. (2013). with already included fixed effects before including remaining predictors or their interactions into existing models. ...
Rice ecosystems vary greatly in climate, edaphic conditions, landscape heterogeneity, agricultural management and biodiversity. However, ongoing land use intensification and conversion to large-scale monoculture are threatening this diversity. We analyzed how rice-growing regions in Southeast Asia differ in diversity and composition of vascular plants in paddy rice ecosystems, and how the local and regional biodiversity of these plants is determined by variations in abiotic conditions, habitat type (paddy vs. bunds) and the proximity of non-paddy habitats. The vegetation of paddies and their bunds was surveyed in seven important rice production regions located in highlands and lowlands of Vietnam and the Philippines. Within the regions we sampled 67 pairs of study sites comprising a total of 122 paddies and 134 bunds. We identified major drivers of field-level weed diversity (alpha diversity) separately for bunds and paddies. Species turnovers (beta diversity) across sampling sites, between paddies and their bunds, and between regions were visualized using the Bray-Curtis coefficient of dissimilarity and DCA ordinations. Species richness on bunds was mainly influenced by the proximity of non-paddy habitats, mean annual temperature and soil acidity. Soil moisture was the decisive factor for the variation in paddy weed richness. In both habitat types, Shannon diversity and the number of insect-pollinated plants showed patterns similar to species richness. Regional differences in plot species richness were stronger on bunds than in paddies. Species turnover was high among habitat types and between upland and lowland regions. Future ecological engineering approaches can build on our findings to promote pollination services more efficiently in Southeast Asian rice landscapes.
... This research was part of a project on the assessment of sustainable development strategies for rice production-related ecosystem services in the Philippines and in Vietnam (LEGATO-Land-use Intensity and Ecological Engineering: Assessment Tools for Risks and Opportunities in irrigated rice based production systems 9 , 2011Settele et al., 2013Settele et al., , 2015). The overall purpose of the LEGATO project was to assess linkages between (traditional as well as modern) agricultural practices, ecosystem functions (ESF), services (ES) and biodiversity conservation, e.g. ...
... The overall purpose of the LEGATO project was to assess linkages between (traditional as well as modern) agricultural practices, ecosystem functions (ESF), services (ES) and biodiversity conservation, e.g. sustainable pest management strategies or soil management, and their applicability under the increasing influence of current socio-economic, environmental and land use changes ( Settele et al., 2013;Tekken and Settele, 2014). It was made possible with funding supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the research grant FKZ01LL0917A in the Sustainable Land Management programme. ...
Traditional rice production has shaped distinctive cultural landscapes in SE Asia. Rice cultivation is closely linked to socio-cultural values and has created specific agrobiodiversity. Increasing development pressures lead to an intensification of small-scale production systems and with this to changes of landscapes and associated ecosystems services. With a focus on cultural ecosystem services and along different land use gradients a qualitative assessment of farmer’s perceptions regarding cultural values of their landscapes was conducted. Interviews focused on traditional farming methods and the abundance of cultural values and perceptions that support the preservation of low-input, sustainable land management strategies. 73 indicators for Cultural Identity, Landscape Aesthetics, and Knowledge Systems were derived, revealing that socio-cultural structures and the socioeconomic situation of farmers influence their view on landscape-related cultural services. The qualitative approach of this research provides an important contribution to the field of ecosystem service assessments because these are the values people perceive based on culturally embedded and socially shaped preferences. For the implementation of ecological engineering, which is based on participation and on the belief into the natural resilience of ecosystems, the assessment of cultural ecosystem services provides important evidence in which areas this theoretical concept could find higher acceptance.
... Additionally, the number of collected relevés, the number of recorded taxa and the percentage of recorded taxa from the total species pool assessed during the study are given for each region. Information on land use intensity and structural diversity is taken from Settele et al. (2013) Country code Study area ID Province ...
Which plant species can be found on rice field bunds and what are the prevailing life forms? Which plant communities occur and what are the main environmental drivers and phytogeographic patterns shaping these communities? How do species diversity and composition differ between bunds and paddies? To answer these questions, 133 vegetation relevés using the Braun-Blanquet method were collected in lowlands and uplands of Vietnam and the Philippines between 2012 and 2015. Soil samples were collected and farmers were interviewed. Properties of soil, climate, and geography were assessed, further structural parameters, landscape heterogeneity, seasonality, management and intensity of cultivation. Hierarchical UPGMA cluster analysis and NMDS ordinations were performed to visualize variation in plant community composition and the determinants. We found 302 vascular plant species, of which 94 species are red listed by the IUCN (under category “Least concern”). Therophytes and helophytes are the prevailing life forms. Six clusters of plant communities were classified, and temperature, soil acidity, land use intensity and nutrient availability were identified (according to relevance) as explanatory variables. Bunds revealed higher species richness than paddies and bunds in mountain areas were more species-rich than those in the lowlands. We conclude that the composition of bund communities provides valuable information on environmental and biogeographical conditions of the local rice landscapes, and that it is probably the best applicable and most reliable indicator of management intensity.
Irrigated rice croplands are among the most biologically diverse agroecosystems
globally. However, this biodiversity is threatened by agricultural intensification and
homogenization of farmed areas, resulting in a degradation of ecosystem services
such as natural pest regulation. While evidence exists that increasing landscape
heterogeneity in some agroecosystems can enhance natural enemy populations
and promote bio-control, little is known about the multi-scale effects of landscape
composition and configuration on arthropod communities in rice agroecosystems. In
this thesis, I examined the influence of landscape heterogeneity on the distribution
of arthropods in three rice-production regions in the Philippines and derived
practical recommendations to improve biodiversity and biological control in rice
production systems. Through the different chapters of this thesis, I measured
landscape heterogeneity at different levels of complexity and spatial scales, and
tested its effect on different types of the arthropod biodiversity (taxonomic and
functional diversity).
In a cross-disciplinary project (LEGATO) combining inter- and transdisciplinary methods, we quantify the dependency of rice-dominated socio-ecological systems on ecosystem functions (ESF) and the ecosystem services (ESS) the integrated system provides. In the collaboration of a large team including geo- and bioscientists, economists, political and cultural scientists, the mutual influences of the biological, climate and soil conditions of the agricultural area and its surrounding natural landscape have been analysed. One focus was on sociocultural and economic backgrounds, another on local as well as regional land use intensity and biodiversity, and the potential impacts of future climate and land use change. LEGATO analysed characteristic elements of three service strands defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA): (a) provisioning services: nutrient cycling and crop production; (b) regulating services: biocontrol and pollination; and (c) cultural services: cultural identity and aesthetics. However, in line with much of the current ESS literature, what the MA called supporting services is treated as ESF within LEGATO. As a core output, LEGATO developed generally applicable principles of ecological engineering (EE), suitable for application in the context of future climate and land use change. EE is an emerging discipline, concerned with the design, monitoring and construction of ecosystems and aims at developing strategies to optimise ecosystem services through exploiting natural regulation mechanisms instead of suppressing them. Along these lines LEGATO also aims to create the knowledge base for decision-making for sustainable land management and livelihoods, including the provision of the corresponding governance and management strategies, technologies and system solutions.
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