Large-scale land use change may explain bird species declines in semi-natural areas: the case of Black Grouse population collapse in Lower Saxony, Germany

Pasture pests are often held in check by natural enemies but we have observed that severe pest attack over a wide area can occur after large scale land use change. Data were reviewed from current projects and databases for pest density and damage records covering the past 30 years. The focus was on areas where large scale land change has been implemented, including new irrigation schemes, pasture development from tussock or scrub, and land moulding for drainage via "flipping" or "hump and hollow". In these situations, pest outbreaks reached unprecedented levels, e.g. 2200 grass grub larvae/m2 in the Amuri irrigation scheme, 770 porina larvae/m2 on the East Otago Plateau and 3500 manuka beetle larvae/ m2 at Cape Foulwind on the West Coast. With major land use change, a new environment is created where pest species are provided abundant resources and the initial invaders multiply rapidly, free from the pressure of natural enemies. Monitoring systems, to provide early warning of pest attack, and remediation strategies can be used to overcome damage by these pests. Keywords: Land development, pest outbreaks, grass grub, manuka beetle, porina

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Impacts of Large-Scale Land-Use Change on the Uptake of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Artificial Three Northern Regions Shelter Forest Across Northern China

Environmental Science & Technology ◽

10.1021/acs.est.6b04835 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 50 (23) ◽

pp. 12885-12893 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Tao Huang ◽

Xiaodong Zhang ◽

Zaili Ling ◽

Leiming Zhang ◽

Hong Gao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽

Large Scale ◽

Northern China ◽

Northern Regions ◽

Polycyclic Aromatic ◽

Large Scale Land

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Representing large-scale land acquisitions in land use change scenarios for the Lao PDR

Regional Environmental Change ◽

10.1007/s10113-018-1316-8 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 1857-1869 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Niels Debonne ◽

Jasper van Vliet ◽

Andreas Heinimann ◽

Peter Verburg

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Large Scale ◽

Lao Pdr ◽

Land Acquisitions ◽

Large Scale Land

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A new European land systems representation accounting for landscape characteristics

Landscape Ecology ◽

10.1007/s10980-021-01227-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yue Dou ◽

Francesca Cosentino ◽

Ziga Malek ◽

Luigi Maiorano ◽

Wilfried Thuiller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Land Cover ◽

Large Scale ◽

Bird Species ◽

Data Availability ◽

Landscape Characteristics ◽

Continental Scale ◽

Land Systems ◽

Land Cover Maps

Abstract Context While land use change is the main driver of biodiversity loss, most biodiversity assessments either ignore it or use a simple land cover representation. Land cover representations lack the representation of land use and landscape characteristics relevant to biodiversity modeling. Objectives We developed a comprehensive and high-resolution representation of European land systems on a 1-km2 grid integrating important land use and landscape characteristics. Methods Combining the recent data on land cover and land use intensities, we applied an expert-based hierarchical classification approach and identified land systems that are common in Europe and meaningful for studying biodiversity. We tested the benefits of using this map as compared to land cover information to predict the distribution of bird species having different vulnerability to landscape and land use change. Results Next to landscapes dominated by one land cover, mosaic landscapes cover 14.5% of European terrestrial surface. When using the land system map, species distribution models demonstrate substantially higher predictive ability (up to 19% higher) as compared to models based on land cover maps. Our map consistently contributes more to the spatial distribution of the tested species than the use of land cover data (3.9 to 39.1% higher). Conclusions A land systems classification including essential aspects of landscape and land management into a consistent classification can improve upon traditional land cover maps in large-scale biodiversity assessment. The classification balances data availability at continental scale with vital information needs for various ecological studies.

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Soil Denitrifier Community Size Changes with Land Use Change to Perennial Bioenergy Cropping Systems

10.5194/soil-2016-34 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Karen A. Thompson ◽

Bill Deen ◽

Kari E. Dunfield

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

16S Rrna ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Crop Production ◽

Large Scale ◽

Perennial Grasses ◽

N2o Emissions ◽

Research Station ◽

N2o Production ◽

Nirs Gene

Abstract. Dedicated biomass crops are required for future bioenergy production. However, the effects of large-scale land use change (LUC) from traditional annual crops, such as corn-soybean rotations to the perennial grasses (PGs) switchgrass and miscanthus on soil microbial community functioning is largely unknown. Specifically, ecologically significant denitrifying communities, which regulate N2O production and consumption in soils, may respond differently to LUC due to differences in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) inputs between crop types and management systems. Our objective was to quantify bacterial denitrifying gene abundances as influenced by corn-soybean crop production compared to PG biomass production. A field trial was established in 2008 at the Elora Research Station in Ontario, Canada (n = 30), with miscanthus and switchgrass grown alongside corn-soybean rotations at different N rates (0 and 160 kg N ha-1) and biomass harvest dates within PG plots. Soil was collected on four dates from 2011–2012 and quantitative PCR was used to enumerate the total bacterial community (16S rRNA), and communities of bacterial denitrifiers by targeting nitrite reductase (nirS) and N2O reductase (nosZ) genes. Miscanthus produced significantly larger yields and supported larger nosZ denitrifying communities than corn-soybean rotations regardless of management, indicating large-scale LUC from corn-soybean to miscanthus may be suitable in variable Ontario conditions while potentially mitigating soil N2O emissions. Harvesting switchgrass in the spring decreased yields in N-fertilized plots, but did not affect gene abundances. Standing miscanthus overwinter resulted in higher 16S rRNA and nirS gene copies than in fall-harvested crops. However, the size of the total (16S rRA) and denitrifying communities changed differently over time and in response to LUC, indicating varying controls on these communities.

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