Papers by Ingrid Schmitzberger
Insects
We assessed the relationships between site size, habitat quality, landscape factors (fragmentatio... more We assessed the relationships between site size, habitat quality, landscape factors (fragmentation, landscape diversity) and species richness in communities of Collembola in 50 small dry grassland habitat patches in an agricultural landscape of eastern Austria. Grasslands in that region were once widespread and extensive, but have become increasingly fragmented and isolated. We hypothesized that dry grassland springtails species richness is significantly correlated with site variables (soil properties, habitat quality) and that the size of grassland sites is positively correlated with species richness. We used pitfall traps in 50 dry grasslands in differently structured agricultural landscapes and tested total abundance and three species richness measures: (1) the number of dry grassland specialist species; (2) total number of dry grassland species and (3) overall species richness. In the multivariate correlation models, we found that all species richness measures were significantly related to the plant species richness, a shape parameter of the sites, soil properties such as humus, temperature, sand and gravel content and the landscape variable reflecting isolation (distance to the nearest large dry grassland area). This landscape variable indicates that neighbouring grasslands are influencing the species richness of the sites. This may be a result of passive wind dispersal across the landscape or historic connection of the small sites with much larger dry grasslands. The size of the site did not show any significant correlation with total, dry grassland specialist, dry grassland generalist or generalist species richness. The small size of Collembola might explain these findings, because they have high population densities even in small patches.
Transhumance and Biodiversity in European Mountains 2004 Isbn 9032703374 Pags 93 112, 2004
Mit den Wäldern, Wiesen und Wiesenbrachen sowie den waldfreien Trockenbiotopen konnten im Zeitrau... more Mit den Wäldern, Wiesen und Wiesenbrachen sowie den waldfreien Trockenbiotopen konnten im Zeitraum von 2000 bis 2006 die wichtigsten terrestrischen Lebensräume des Nationalparkes Thayatals vegetationsökologisch dokumentiert werden. Damit wurde eine für den österreichischen Anteil dieses bedeutenden Naturraumes bestehende Kenntnislücke geschlossen, nachdem der tschechische Nationalpark Podyjí bereits ab 1989 gründlich bearbeitet worden war. Im Rahmen naturschutzfachlicher Bestandsaufnahmen für Planung und Naturraummanagement wurde nach vorheriger Luftbildauswertung eine vollständige Erhebung und Begehung aller Wiesen und Wiesenbrachen sowie aller waldfreien Trockenbiotope durchgeführt. Die Bearbeitung der ausgedehnten Wälder erfolgte mit Hilfe einer geschichteten Stichprobe, bei der 200 Aufnahmepunkte ausgewählt wurden, welche die hohe lithologische und geomorphologische Vielfalt des Untersuchungsgebietes repräsentieren. Insgesamt wurden 534 Vegetationsaufnahmen durchgeführt und mit Hilfe multivariater Verfahren klassifiziert. Als Ergebnis konnten insgesamt 54 Vegetationstypen unterschieden und 37 Pflanzengesellschaften auf Assoziationsbzw. Subassoziationsniveau identifiziert werden. Für 17 Typen wurden keine passenden Literaturreferenzen gefunden, sodass eine vorläufige Beschreibung und provisorische syntaxonomische Zuordnung vorgenommen wurde. Dies zeigt auch den weiteren Forschungsbedarf, vor allem im Bereich von Brachen und Saumgesellschaften auf, in dem sich durch Sukzessionsprozesse und allenfalls auch Einwanderung invasiver Arten neue Pflanzengesellschaften zu formieren beginnen.
Wageningen UR Frontis Series, 2004
... Thomas Wrbka, Johannes Peterseil, Ingrid Schmitzberger and Andrea Stocker-Kiss Abstract The p... more ... Thomas Wrbka, Johannes Peterseil, Ingrid Schmitzberger and Andrea Stocker-Kiss Abstract The paper explores the importance of alpine farming in Austria ... 1972) and Grabherr et al.(1998), turned out to be a good predictor for bryophyte species richness (Zechmeister and Moser ...
Land Use Policy, 2004
Sustainability has become a central term in environmental planning and policy since the late 1980... more Sustainability has become a central term in environmental planning and policy since the late 1980s. However, an understanding of landscapes in terms of sustainability is still poorly developed. The project Spatial Indices for Land Use Sustainability was conducted to ...
Projekt im Rahmen des Leitschwerpunktes …, 2003
Redaktion und Gestaltung: Institut für Ökologie und Naturschutz der Universität Wien, IECB, Johan... more Redaktion und Gestaltung: Institut für Ökologie und Naturschutz der Universität Wien, IECB, Johannes Peterseil und Thomas Wrbka, A-1090 Wien, Althanstraße 14; +43-1-4277-54375; [email protected]. ... AutorInnen: IECB: Thomas Wrbka, Johannes ...
Community Ecology, 2008
Agricultural management is a major driver of changes in floral and faunal species richness of ant... more Agricultural management is a major driver of changes in floral and faunal species richness of anthropogenic landscapes. Counteracting the negative impact of industrialized agriculture by providing subsidies to farmers for environmentally friendly agricultural practices, agri-environmental schemes (AES) are the most important policy instruments to protect European biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, as they are rarely cost-effective, there is an urgent need for evaluation and improvement. To assess the environmental effects of the Austrian AES, we mapped landscapes and vascular plants in 1998 and 2003 and birds in 2003. The sampling areas were located in the three most important types of Austrian agricultural landscape, i.e., grassland in alpine valleys and basins, mixed agriculture in mountain areas, and eastern arable land. We investigated the agri-environmental measures (AEMs) in a parcel-wise manner and analyzed their effects on landscape values and biodiversity. Reduction of agrochemicals showed positive effects on biodiversity of vascular plants in grassland and birds in arable land. Targeted measures that directly address threatened species were most effective, but had much less coverage. Contradicting developments became apparent for landscape structure and ecological infrastructures, but effects of the AES were generally larger in simple than in complex landscapes. We conclude that AEMs are currently not targeted enough to effectively halt biodiversity losses, and recommend better regionalization by offering landscape-context specific measures, stronger focus on maintenance and improvement of landscape diversity, avoidance of counterproductive development, and improvement of the coverage of specific conservation measures.
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2005
Austria is characterised by a high variety of different landscapes ranging from high mountain are... more Austria is characterised by a high variety of different landscapes ranging from high mountain areas to continental lowlands. Wilderness areas as well as traditionally maintained agricultural landscapes contribute to Austria's biodiversity. Farming still is the main activity in rural areas, but it is now largely dependent on agro-environmental subsidies. We investigated the relationship between biodiversity and farming activities in selected Austrian agricultural landscapes. The negative effect of high land-use intensity on biodiversity on agricultural land could be confirmed. The concept of farming styles, which integrates human attitudes, farming objectives and economic success can be used to show the different ecological performances of farmers. A close link between mentality of farmers, land-use intensity and biodiversity could be established. Farmers who were highly production oriented supported the lowest nature values on their land, whereas both traditionally oriented and innovative farm businesses carried a higher potential to farm in concordance with the biodiversity of their landscape. The farming styles also differed in their dependency on subsidies. We conclude that agro-environmental subsidies, which are the main factor ensuring sustainable farming in less favoured areas in Austria, would have a far better effect if they were tailored to the individual needs of different regions and predominant farming styles. #
According to island biogeography theory, the species richness of patches is determined by their s... more According to island biogeography theory, the species richness of patches is determined by their size and spatial isolation, while in conservation practice, it is patch quality that determines protection and guides management. We analysed whether size, isolation or habitat quality are most important for the species richness in a set of 50 dry grassland fragments in agricultural landscapes of eastern Austria. We studied two plant taxa (vascular plants, bryophytes) and 11 invertebrate taxa (gastropods, spiders, springtails, grasshoppers, true bugs, leafhoppers and planthoppers, ground beetles, rove beetles, butterflies and burnets, ants and wild bees). The species richness of three categories was analysed: (1) dry grassland specialist species, (2) all grassland species and (3) all species. We used regression and hierarchical partitioning techniques to determine the relationship between species richness and environmental variables describing patch size and shape, patch quality, landscape configuration and landscape quality. The area-isolation paradigm was only applicable for dry grassland specialists, which comprised 12% of all species. Richness of all grassland species was determined mostly by landscape heterogeneity parameters. Total species richness was highly influenced by spillover from adjacent biotopes, and was significantly determined by the percentage of arable land bordering the patches. When analysing all taxa together, species richness of dry grassland specialists was significantly related to historical patch size but not to current patch size, indicating an extinction debt. At the landscape scale, the variable ‘short-grass area’ was a better predictor than the less specific variable ‘area of extensively used landscape elements’. ‘Distance to mainland’ was a good predictor for specialists of mobile animal taxa. Plant specialists showed a pronounced dependence on quality measures at the patch scale and at the landscape scale, whereas animal specialists were influenced by patch size, patch quality, landscape quality and isolation measures. None of the taxa benefited from linear structures in the surroundings. In conclusion, high patch quality and a network of high-quality areas in the surrounding landscape should be the best conservation strategy to ensure conservation of dry grassland specialists. This goal does not conflict with the specific demands of single taxa.
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Papers by Ingrid Schmitzberger