Biodiversity & Ecology

Journal of the Division Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology of Plants , Institute for Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg.

Short Database Report Open Access

BioChangeMeadows – German meadows in the 1950s, 1990s and in 2008

Karsten Wesche* & Benjamin Krause

Article first published online: 24 September 2012

DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00142

*Corresponding author contact: karsten.wesche@senckenberg.de

<< Volume 4

Biodiversity & Ecology (Biodivers. Ecol.)

Special Volume: Vegetation databases for the 21st century,
edited by Jürgen Dengler, Jens Oldeland, Florian Jansen, Milan Chytrý, Jörg Ewald, Manfred Finckh, Falko Glöckler, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Robert K. Peet & Joop H.J. Schaminée

Volume 4, pages 351–351, Sep 12

PDF (245 kB)

Keywords: central Europe; diversity; historical comparison; map; phytosociology.

English

Abstract: The BioChangeMeadows database (GIVD ID EU-DE-008) contains samples of moist and mesic meadows in northern and central Germany, and covers both historical (1950s and 1960s) and more recent (1990s, 2008) relevés. Analyses showed that plot-level diversity has decreased tremendously over time, which was largely irrespective of landscape context. Plant community composition shifted as well with decreasing numbers of insect-pollinated herbs and increasing numbers of grasses. Functional diversity showed similarly large declines as taxomomic diversity. Historical and current vegetation maps are also available and can be retrieved from the authors upon request.

Suggested citation:
Wesche, K., Krause, B. (2012): BioChangeMeadows – German meadows in the 1950s, 1990s and in 2008. – In: Dengler, J., Oldeland, J., Jansen, F., Chytrý, M., Ewald, J., Finckh, M., Glöckler, F., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Peet, R.K., Schaminée, J.H.J. [Eds.]: Vegetation databases for the 21st century. – Biodiversity & Ecology 4: 351–351. DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00142.