Causes of biodiversity loss

This is why research in this field is very complex

Before researchers can start their research, they must come up with a plan

179 research areas in Bavaria

The main research question is: What is the impact of climate warming and land use on the reduction of animals and plants, including flying insects, as well as their pollination and pest control and other ecological services? The research design allows the selection of 179 suitable forests, arable land, and arable land in Bavaria.

"We all know that we must act before it's too late

Many things must be considered when designing a research project

In order to avoid misunderstandings about the observations, before the actual investigation of Landcliffe began in April 2019, the researchers and project leader Professor Ingelf Stefan-Dwent around Sarah Redlich The design of their research was revised for several weeks

"For example, we are looking for landscapes that are close to nature, as well as agricultural landscapes and settlements that are intensively used under different climatic conditions," explained a biologist at JMU

In order to avoid drawing wrong conclusions when studying species loss, potential locations, such as fields or forests, must be analyzed very accurately in advance

“For example, you cannot simply compare fields with and without flower belts to find out how much flower belts affect insect diversity,” explains Sara Reddrich

The size of the field or forest, the distance from other habitats, the nature of the area for data recording and experimentation, and the distribution of different habitats in the landscape: all these are taken into account in the design

Learning design starts from the computer

Although field researchers develop their ideas and problems by observing nature, the planning and design of field research usually starts in the office

However, at the end of the computer-assisted selection, there was no way to bypass the inspection of all 179 locations

The biologist explained: “They must check the site, for example, whether these locations are easy to reach, whether they are too close to a river or stream

But this effort is worthwhile: the results of a preliminary study have been published in a high-level journal and have received widespread attention worldwide

Agriculture and surface closure are important drivers

According to Sarah Redlich, many measures can already be taken to offset the loss of plants and animals-even if research has not fully understood what is affecting the decline in biomass and diversity

However, according to JMU biologists, intensive agriculture and fiefs are clearly important drivers of this worrying development, as important plant and animal habitats are disappearing

In order to create habitats, more flowering areas should be created and a wide range of farming methods should be used

Climate change is also affecting biodiversity
.
Whether and how land use and climate interact, and how this affects Bavaria’s biodiversity, will be demonstrated by the results of field studies that are still awaiting
.

In short, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter emphasized: “Our research design is cross-scale and represents the entire Bavarian landscape area.
It can combine analysis of climate and land use
.
Therefore, we are trying to understand the cause and effect of the decline in biodiversity and Bavaria.
There is still a lack of standardized biodiversity monitoring to lay an important foundation"
.

Journal Reference :

1. Sarah Redlich, Jie Zhang, Caryl Benjamin, Maninder Singh Dhillon, Jana Englmeier, Jörg Ewald, Ute Fricke, Cristina Ganuza, Maria Haensel, Thomas Hovestadt, Johannes Kollmann, Thomas Koellner, Carina Kübert-Flock, Annette Harald Kunstmann, Annette Menzel, Christoph Moning, Wibke Peters, Rebekka Riebl, Thomas Rummler, Sandra Rojas-Botero, Cynthia Tobisch, Johannes Uhler, Lars Uphus, Jörg Müller, Ingolf Steffan- Dewenter .
   Disentangling effects of climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services—A multi-scale experimental design .
   Methods in Ecology and Evolution , 2021; DOI: 10.
   1111/2041-210X.
   13759 ber 25, 2021).