Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps
Alpine grasslands are ecosystems with a great diversity of plant species. However, little is known about other levels of biodiversity, such as landscape diversity, diversity of biological interactions of plants with herbivores or fungal pathogens, and genetic diversity. We therefore explored natural...
Published in: | Mountain Research and Development |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
International Mountain Society
2008
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5251927 https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/ https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/1/mrd.0964.pdf https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.0964 |
id |
ftunivbasel:oai:edoc.unibas.ch:8752 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivbasel:oai:edoc.unibas.ch:8752 2023-05-15T18:01:39+02:00 Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps Fischer, Markus Rudmann-Maurer, Katrin Weyand, Anne Stöcklin, Jürg 2008 application/pdf http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5251927 https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/ https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/1/mrd.0964.pdf https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.0964 eng eng International Mountain Society https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/1/mrd.0964.pdf Fischer, Markus and Rudmann-Maurer, Katrin and Weyand, Anne and Stöcklin, Jürg. (2008) Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps. Mountain Research and Development, 28 (2). pp. 148-155. doi:10.1659/mrd.0964 info:isi/000256940200010 urn:ISSN:0276-4741 urn:ISSN:1994-7151 cc_by info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY Article PeerReviewed 2008 ftunivbasel https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.0964 2023-03-05T06:50:18Z Alpine grasslands are ecosystems with a great diversity of plant species. However, little is known about other levels of biodiversity, such as landscape diversity, diversity of biological interactions of plants with herbivores or fungal pathogens, and genetic diversity. We therefore explored natural and anthropogenic determinants of grassland biodiversity at several levels of biological integration, from the genetic to the landscape level in the Swiss Alps. Differences between cultural traditions (Romanic, Germanic, and Walser) turned out to still affect land use diversity and thus landscape diversity. Increasing land use diversity, in turn, increased plant species diversity per village. However, recent land use changes have reduced this diversity. Within grassland parcels, plant species diversity was higher on unfertilized mown grasslands than on fertilized or grazed ones. Most individual plants were affected by herbivores and fungal leaf pathogens, reflecting that parcels harbored a great diversity of herbivores and pathogens. However, as plant damage by herbivores and pathogens was not severe, conserving these biological interactions among plants is hardly compromising agricultural goals. A common-garden experiment revealed genetic differentiation of the important fodder grass Poa alpina between mown and grazed sites, suggesting adaptation. Per-village genetic diversity of Poa alpina was greater in villages with higher land use diversity, analogous to the higher plant species diversity there. Overall, landscape diversity and biodiversity within grassland parcels are currently declining. As this contradicts the intention of Swiss law and international agreements, financial incentives need to be re-allocated and should focus on promoting high biodiversity at the local and the landscape level. At the same time, this will benefit landscape attractiveness for tourists and help preserve a precious cultural heritage in the Swiss Alps. Article in Journal/Newspaper Poa alpina University of Basel: edoc Mountain Research and Development 28 2 148 155 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Basel: edoc |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbasel |
language |
English |
description |
Alpine grasslands are ecosystems with a great diversity of plant species. However, little is known about other levels of biodiversity, such as landscape diversity, diversity of biological interactions of plants with herbivores or fungal pathogens, and genetic diversity. We therefore explored natural and anthropogenic determinants of grassland biodiversity at several levels of biological integration, from the genetic to the landscape level in the Swiss Alps. Differences between cultural traditions (Romanic, Germanic, and Walser) turned out to still affect land use diversity and thus landscape diversity. Increasing land use diversity, in turn, increased plant species diversity per village. However, recent land use changes have reduced this diversity. Within grassland parcels, plant species diversity was higher on unfertilized mown grasslands than on fertilized or grazed ones. Most individual plants were affected by herbivores and fungal leaf pathogens, reflecting that parcels harbored a great diversity of herbivores and pathogens. However, as plant damage by herbivores and pathogens was not severe, conserving these biological interactions among plants is hardly compromising agricultural goals. A common-garden experiment revealed genetic differentiation of the important fodder grass Poa alpina between mown and grazed sites, suggesting adaptation. Per-village genetic diversity of Poa alpina was greater in villages with higher land use diversity, analogous to the higher plant species diversity there. Overall, landscape diversity and biodiversity within grassland parcels are currently declining. As this contradicts the intention of Swiss law and international agreements, financial incentives need to be re-allocated and should focus on promoting high biodiversity at the local and the landscape level. At the same time, this will benefit landscape attractiveness for tourists and help preserve a precious cultural heritage in the Swiss Alps. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fischer, Markus Rudmann-Maurer, Katrin Weyand, Anne Stöcklin, Jürg |
spellingShingle |
Fischer, Markus Rudmann-Maurer, Katrin Weyand, Anne Stöcklin, Jürg Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps |
author_facet |
Fischer, Markus Rudmann-Maurer, Katrin Weyand, Anne Stöcklin, Jürg |
author_sort |
Fischer, Markus |
title |
Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps |
title_short |
Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps |
title_full |
Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps |
title_fullStr |
Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps |
title_full_unstemmed |
Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps |
title_sort |
agricultural land use and biodiversity in the alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the swiss alps |
publisher |
International Mountain Society |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5251927 https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/ https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/1/mrd.0964.pdf https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.0964 |
genre |
Poa alpina |
genre_facet |
Poa alpina |
op_relation |
https://edoc.unibas.ch/8752/1/mrd.0964.pdf Fischer, Markus and Rudmann-Maurer, Katrin and Weyand, Anne and Stöcklin, Jürg. (2008) Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps : how cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps. Mountain Research and Development, 28 (2). pp. 148-155. doi:10.1659/mrd.0964 info:isi/000256940200010 urn:ISSN:0276-4741 urn:ISSN:1994-7151 |
op_rights |
cc_by info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1659/mrd.0964 |
container_title |
Mountain Research and Development |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
148 |
op_container_end_page |
155 |
_version_ |
1766171158481207296 |