Steffen Boch
A5020022869- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Plant and animal studies
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Lichen and fungal ecology
- Bryophyte Studies and Records
- Forest Management and Policy
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
- Mediterranean and Iberian flora and fauna
- Plant Parasitism and Resistance
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Ecology, Conservation, and Geographical Studies
- Plant Taxonomy and Phylogenetics
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
- Pasture and Agricultural Systems
- Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology
- Plant Ecology and Soil Science
- Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Mollusks and Parasites Studies
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
2017-2025
University of Bern
2012-2021
Institute of Plant Biology
2019
Osnabrück University
2018
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt/M
2018
University of Debrecen
2018
BOKU University
2018
Babeș-Bolyai University
2014
Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research
2011-2013
University of Potsdam
2013
Significance Land-use intensification is a major threat to biodiversity. So far, however, studies on biodiversity impacts of land-use intensity (LUI) have been limited single or few groups organisms and not considered temporal variation in LUI. Therefore, we examined total ecosystem grasslands varying LUI with newly developed index called multidiversity, which integrates the species richness 49 different organism ranging from bacteria birds. Multidiversity declined strongly increasing LUI,...
Significance Ecosystem services derive from ecosystem functions and rely on complex interactions among a diversity of organisms. By understanding the relationships between biodiversity, functions, humans receive nature, we can anticipate how changes in land use will affect ecosystems human wellbeing. We show that increasing land-use intensity homogenizes synergies three organizational levels ecosystem, namely, services. Increasing keystone components, which are important for functioning...
Abstract Aim The EUNIS Habitat Classification is a widely used reference framework for European habitat types (habitats), but it lacks formal definitions of individual habitats that would enable their unequivocal identification. Our goal was to develop tool assigning vegetation‐plot records the system, use classify database, and compile statistically‐derived characteristic species combinations distribution maps these habitats. Location Europe. Methods We developed classification expert...
Abstract For managed temperate forests, conservationists and policymakers favour fine‐grained uneven‐aged (UEA) management over more traditional coarse‐grained even‐aged (EA) management, based on the assumption that within‐stand habitat heterogeneity enhances biodiversity. There is, however, little empirical evidence to support this assumption. We investigated for first time how differently grained forest systems affect biodiversity of multiple above‐ below‐ground taxa across spatial scales....
Trade-offs and synergies in the supply of forest ecosystem services are common but drivers these relationships poorly understood. To guide management that seeks to promote multiple services, we investigated between 12 stand-level attributes, including structure, composition, heterogeneity plant diversity, plus 4 environmental factors, proxies for 14 150 temperate plots. Our results show attributes best predictors most also good several trade-offs services. Environmental factors play an...
Summary Recent declines in biodiversity have given new urgency to questions about the relationship between land‐use change, and ecosystem processes. Despite existence of a large body research on effects land use species richness, it is unclear whether richness are principally direct or indirect, mediated by concomitant changes Therefore, we compared (fertilization, mowing grazing) with indirect ones (mediated via grassland productivity) for grasslands central Europe. We measured above‐ground...
Abstract Intransitive competition networks, those in which there is no single best competitor, may ensure species coexistence. However, their frequency and importance maintaining diversity real‐world ecosystems remain unclear. We used two large data sets from drylands agricultural grasslands to assess: (1) the generality of intransitive competition, (2) intransitivity–richness relationships (3) effects major drivers biodiversity loss (aridity land‐use intensification) on intransitivity...
Abstract Land-use intensification is a major driver of biodiversity loss. However, understanding how different components land use drive loss requires the investigation multiple trophic levels across spatial scales. Using data from 150 agricultural grasslands in central Europe, we assess influence local- and landscape-level on more than 4,000 above- belowground taxa, spanning 20 groups. Plot-level land-use intensity strongly negatively associated with aboveground groups, but positively or...
Abstract Organismal functional strategies form a continuum from slow- to fast-growing organisms, in response common drivers such as resource availability and disturbance. However, whether there is synchronisation of these at the entire community level unclear. Here, we combine trait data for >2800 above- belowground taxa 14 trophic guilds spanning disturbance gradient German grasslands. The results indicate that most consistently respond through both direct trophically mediated effects,...
Fine root decomposition contributes significantly to element cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, studies on rates and the factors that potentially influence them are fewer than those leaf litter decomposition. To study effects of region land use intensity fine decomposition, we established a large scale three German regions with different climate regimes soil properties. Methods In 150 forest grassland sites deployed litterbags (100 μm mesh size) standardized consisting roots from...
Abstract Human land use may detrimentally affect biodiversity, yet long-term stability of species communities is vital for maintaining ecosystem functioning. Community can be achieved by higher diversity (portfolio effect), asynchrony across (insurance hypothesis) and abundance populations. However, the relative importance these stabilizing pathways whether they interact with in real-world ecosystems unknown. We monitored inter-annual fluctuations 2,671 plant, arthropod, bird bat 300 sites...
Species diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, relative functional importance rare and common species in driving biodiversity–multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied between (according to their local abundances across nine different trophic groups), multifunctionality indices derived from 14 on 150 grasslands a land-use intensity (LUI) gradient. The above- below-ground had opposite effects, with above-ground being...
Temperate forest understorey vegetation poses an excellent study system to investigate whether increases in resource availability lead increase plant species richness. Most sunlight is absorbed by the species-poor tree canopy, making much more species-rich inhabit a severely resource-limited habitat. Additionally, heterogeneity of light availability, resulting from management-moderated composition and age structure, may contribute coexistence. One would therefore expect that diversity herb...
GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003).GrassPlot collects plot records (relevés) from grasslands other open habitats Palaearctic biogeographic realm.It focuses on precisely delimited plots eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001; ... 1,000 m²) nested-plot series with at least four different sizes.The usage regulated through bylaws that intend to...