Hierarchical classification system of Germany’s ecosystems as basis for an ecosystem accounting – methods and first results

Information on changes in the area of different ecosystems is needed in order to establish an accounting system for ecosystem conditions and services. Currently, there are no comprehensive field mappings for the German federal states that obey a uniform mapping system. To create a nationwide “ecosystem accounting”, it is necessary to develop a uniform system of ecosystem classifications that can consistently deal with diverse nationwide data sources on the extent and condition of ecosystems, some of which use their own forms of classification. Against this background, we present a concrete proposal on how to combine and blend GIS land-use and ecosystem data that is compatible with EU-wide approaches with other regularly collected data sources, for example, from sample-based surveys, so as to generate a complete, updatable picture of the state of Germany’s ecosystems. The area shares of ecosystem types (ETs) can be shown in maps. Allocation tables with different classes or levels (layers) enable an ecosystem extent accounting, which are used to help draw up balances (area balance, status balance, service balance) and can be further detailed, depending on the task at hand. First results and trends of areal changes of main and sub-ecosystem types in Germany, based on the proposed classification system, are presented and discussed. However, the brevity of the considered timeframe (the three periods 2012-2015-2018) does not yet allow us to pinpoint trends or migratory movements, as these may be masked by methodological changes in the classification of land use and land cover. Nonetheless, the presented system for accounting changes in ecosystem areas should be continued and developed in the future in order to create a useful tool for biodiversity monitoring in Germany.

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Effect of spatial scale on regional land-use pattern analysis in different classification system and data sources

2009 17th International Conference on Geoinformatics ◽

10.1109/geoinformatics.2009.5293204 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Qiu Bingwen ◽

Chen Chongcheng ◽

Wu Xiaozhu

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Spatial Scale ◽

Classification System ◽

Pattern Analysis ◽

Data Sources ◽

Land Use Pattern ◽

Use Pattern ◽

Regional Land

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Richness in Lower Saxony and Other German Federal States (Bundesländer) - Results Based on the German Wage and Income Tax Statistics 2003 for Professions, Entrepeneurs and Employees

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.1427748 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

Paul Böhm ◽

Joachim Merz

Keyword(s):

Income Tax ◽

Lower Saxony ◽

Federal States ◽

German Federal States

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Cropland Abandonment in Slovakia: Analysis and Comparison of Different Data Sources

Land ◽

10.3390/land10040334 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 334

Author(s):

Juraj Lieskovský ◽

Dana Lieskovská

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Cover ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Data Sources ◽

Communist Regime ◽

Corine Land Cover ◽

Cropland Area ◽

Cropland Abandonment ◽

Multi Temporal

This study compares different nationwide multi-temporal spatial data sources and analyzes the cropland area, cropland abandonment rates and transformation of cropland to other land cover/land use categories in Slovakia. Four multi-temporal land cover/land use data sources were used: The Historic Land Dynamics Assessment (HILDA), the Carpathian Historical Land Use Dataset (CHLUD), CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data and Landsat images classification. We hypothesized that because of the different spatial, temporal and thematic resolution of the datasets, there would be differences in the resulting cropland abandonment rates. We validated the datasets, compared the differences, interpreted the results and combined the information from the different datasets to form an overall picture of long-term cropland abandonment in Slovakia. The cropland area increased until the Second World War, but then decreased after transition to the communist regime and sharply declined following the 1989 transition to an open market economy. A total of 49% of cropland area has been transformed to grassland, 34% to forest and 15% to urban areas. The Historical Carpathian dataset is the more reliable long-term dataset, and it records 19.65 km2/year average cropland abandonment for 1836–1937, 154.44 km2/year for 1938–1955 and 140.21 km2/year for 1956–2012. In comparison, the Landsat, as a recent data source, records 142.02 km2/year abandonment for 1985–2000 and 89.42 km2/year for 2000–2010. These rates, however, would be higher if the dataset contained urbanisation data and more precise information on afforestation. The CORINE Land Cover reflects changes larger than 5 ha, and therefore the reported cropland abandonment rates are lower.

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Kleinstaaterei im Dienstrecht der deutschen Bundesländer

10.5771/9783748907237 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nicolai Dose ◽

Felix Wolfes ◽

Carolin Burmester

Keyword(s):

Public Administration ◽

Case Studies ◽

Human Resource ◽

Online Survey ◽

Civil Service ◽

Civil Servants ◽

Human Resource Managers ◽

Federal States ◽

Resource Managers ◽

German Federal States

With the federalism reform of 2006, the German federal states gained legislative power over their civil servants. This did not only lead to a substantial difference in pay levels but also to fragmented civil service regulations with different degrees of attractiveness. Requests to move to another state have created various problems in the different areas of the civil service. They are partly caused by the fragmented regulations and partly by an informal agreement between the states. By making use of an online survey among human resource managers in the different areas of public administration and 32 case studies of civil servants who either aspire to move to or have moved to another state, this book systematically identifies and analyses civil servants’ motivations for and hindrances to doing so. In this way, it reveals both obstructive and conducive factors which explain mobility. Moreover, the authors put forward some reform proposals.

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Regional differences in reasons for consultation and general practitioners’ spectrum of services in Northern Germany – Results of a cross-sectional observational study

10.21203/rs.2.16496/v3 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ingmar Schäfer ◽

Heike Hansen ◽

Thomas Ruppel ◽

Dagmar Lühmann ◽

Hans-Otto Wagner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Observational Study ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Medical Training ◽

Practice Trial ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Federal States ◽

German Federal States ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Individual Consultation

Abstract Background Among other factors, the patients’ consultation reasons and GPs’ spectrum of services determine the process and outcome of the medical treatment. So far, however, there has been little information on differences in reasons for consultation and GPs’ services between urban and rural areas. Our study’s goal was thus to investigate these factors in relation to the regional location of GPs’ practices. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional observational study based on standardised GP interviews in a quota sampling design. All counties and independent cities within a radius of 120 km around Hamburg were divided into three regional categories (urban area, environs, rural area) and stratified proportionally to the population size. Differences in the number of reasons for consultation and services were analysed by multivariate linear regressions in mixed models adjusted for random effects on the levels of the German federal states and administrative districts. Differences in individual consultation reasons and services were identified by logistic regression via stepwise forward and backward selection. Results Primary care practices in 34 of the 37 selected administrative districts (91.9%) were represented in the dataset. In total, 211 GPs were personally interviewed. On average, GPs saw 344 patients per month with a slightly higher number of patients in rural areas. They reported 59.1 ± 15.4 different reasons for consultation and 30.3 + 3.9 different services. There was no statistically significant regional variation in the number of different consultation reasons, but there was a broader service spectrum by rural GPs (ß=-1.42; 95% confidence interval -2.75/-0.08; p=0.038) which was statistically explained by a higher level of medical training. Additionally, there were differences in the frequency of individual consultation reasons and services between rural and urban areas. Conclusion GPs in rural areas performed more frequently services usually provided by medical specialists in urban areas. This might be caused by a low availability of specialists in rural areas. The association between medical training and service spectrum might imply that GPs compensate the specific needs of their patients by completing advanced medical training before or after setting up a medical practice. Trial registration The study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02558322).

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