Katrin Rudmann-Maurer

Agricultural Land Use and Biodiversity in the Alps How Cultural Tradition and Socioeconomically Motivated Changes Are Shaping Grassland Biodiversity in the Swiss Alps

Abstract 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. Pervillage 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.

New Indicator Values for Central Caucasus Flora

In this study we have aimed to extend the concept of indicator values of Ellenberg (1974) and Landolt (1977) for vascular plants of the Caucaus (Sakhokia and Khutsishvili 1975a, b, c), taking account those species which also occur in the Alps (more than 400 species). The resulting Nakhutsrishvili Indicator Values for the Caucasus (see Annex) were compared with those of Elias Landolt for the Alps (Landolt 1977). The results show a high overlap of both sets of indicator values, indicating both, a high overlap of the ecological niche of the species of the Alps and the Caucasus, and also an agreement of both experts for many species and indicator value classes (30–50% congruence). The results show that an extension of Landolt indicator values to the Caucasus is possible, and that the Nakhutsrishvili Indicator Value dataset can now be used for vegetation analysis of the Caucasus.