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23-28 August 2009
DDC:
550 - Earth sciences
Abstract:
Large areas of the agricultural landscapes in the lowlands of Northern Germany are low-structured and monotonous due to a consequent removal of trees, shrubs or other landscape elements within the last decades. The lack of heterogeneity has a drawback on biodiversity. Many species of the open field use hedgerows as refuges when environmental conditions become to harsh. If such refuges do not exists, the population decreases. Furthermore, forest species that usually perceive agricultural landscapes as a barrier, may use hedgerows as corridors connecting different habitats. For these species hedgerows in the landscape are important to ensure an exchange between different populations. Alley cropping with strips of short rotation coppice (SRC) offers an opportunity to re-introduce hedgerows into the treeless agricultural landscape. In the presented study five species communities representing different trophic groups in SRC and alley cropping systems were investigated. The results were compared with that from conventionally managed agricultural land and presented for young stands as well as for more than ten years old stands. The results suggest that alley cropping implies many benefits for an increased biodiversity and may help to sustain or even to increase the number of species in the agricultural landscape. But the effects are manifold and it has to be considered that the benefit for biodiversity depends on the considered group. Species that depend exclusively on open farmland are likely to decrease as a consequence of an increased share of hedgerows in the agricultural landscape. Anyway, a differentiated harvest management of the trees may improve the diversity of many organism groups and benefits many species from the fields as well.
