A novel modeling approach to evaluate the ecological effects of timing and location of grassland conservation measures. (February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Johst, Karin; Drechsler, Martin; Mewes, Melanie; Sturm, Astrid; Wätzold, Frank
• Is Part Of: Biological conservation. Volume 182(2015)
• Page Start: 44
• Page End: 52
• Publication Date: 2015-02
• Subjects: Agri-environment -- Biodiversity conservation -- Birds -- Butterflies -- Ecological modeling -- Grassland use; Conservation of natural resources -- Periodicals; Nature conservation -- Periodicals; Ecology -- Periodicals; Environment -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 333.9516
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.033
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0006-3207

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: The timing of mowing or grazing within a year is important for biodiversity conservation. We developed a novel modeling approach that predicts the ecological effects of timing and location. It has the advantage of generality (for birds, butterflies, grassland types) and straightforwardness. Temporal heterogeneity is required for conserving multiple grassland species. This approach is important for the design of agri-environment grassland schemes. Abstract: Several billion euros are spent in Europe every year on agri-environment schemes to compensate farmers for (costly) conservation measures such as specific mowing and grazing regimes. These measures can impact grassland species during their reproductive period. Therefore, it is particularly important when (and not only where ) they are applied. However, in contrast to the spatial allocation of measures, their temporal allocation has rarely been taken into consideration. Existing modeling approaches suffer from two major limitations: They consume too much computing time for optimization procedures at the landscape scale, and they are too specific to be applicable to a wide variety of species and measures. We overcome these limitations by developing a spatially and temporally explicit general modeling approach that can quantify a species-specific habitat quality as a function of timing and location of grassland measures in a straightforward and general way. We apply our approach to the example of grassland conservation in the German Federal State of Saxony, demonstrate its usefulness, and identify the effects of the timing and location of grassland measures. We find that considerable heterogeneity in the timing of measures is necessary for multi-species conservation. This type of quantitative analysis can assist decision makers in improving agri-environment schemes.