Core Project 10 - Exploratories for large-scale and long-term functional biodiversity research - Vertebrate diversity and ecosystem functioning

陆生脊椎动物作为捕食者、种子传播者和生物扰动者影响着它们的环境。生物多样性探索站的框架提供了一个独特的机会，研究脊椎动物多样性和多样性模式的其他类群在人类改造的环境之间的功能反馈回路。通过将长期的物种丰富度和丰度评估与实验方法相结合，我们评估了鸟类、蝙蝠和大型哺乳动物沿着不同土地利用类型和强度的森林和草原的种群动态和物种更替，并将它们与重要的生态系统过程联系起来。我们的研究结果形成了核心和进一步项目的基线数据，并为生态综合方法做出了重要贡献。从头两年（2008-2009年）的数据收集强调的必要性，长期的洞察力的动态鸟类，蝙蝠和大型哺乳动物，允许识别的主要驱动程序，影响其多样性和丰富的地方和区域规模，并得出可能的后果功能关系。我们计划继续对3个生物多样性探索中心的300块试验田（EP）采用标准化监测方法，以测试a）观察到的多样性模式和丰度的年度差异是否更有可能反映短期波动或长期趋势，以及B）确定这些模式的主要驱动因素。进一步扩展我们的方法，我们希望c）使用LiDAR数据将蝙蝠多样性和活动与森林的结构参数联系起来，d）解决与土地利用强度和宿主多样性有关的选定鸟类物种的寄生率，e）解开野猪的耕作活动（生物扰动）与植物多样性以及土壤结构之间的功能关系。

Terrestrial vertebrates impact their environment as predators, seed dispersers, and bioperturbators. The framework of the Biodiversity Exploratories provides a unique opportunity to study the functional feed back loops between vertebrate diversity and diversity patterns of other taxa in human-modified environments. By combining long-term assessment of species richness and abundances with experimental approaches we assess population dynamics and species turn-over of birds, bats, and large mammals along different land-use types and intensities in forests and grasslands and link them to important ecosystem processes. The results of our study form base-line data for core and further projects and make an important contribution to the ecological synthesis approach. Data collection from the first two years (2008-2009) underline the necessity of long-term insights into the dynamics of birds, bats, and large mammals to permit identification of the main drivers that influence their diversity and abundance on local and regional scales and to derive possible consequences for functional relationships. We plan to continue our standardized monitoring approach on the 300 experimental plots (EPs) of the 3 Biodiversity Exploratories in order to test a) whether the observed year-to-year differences in diversity patterns and abundances are more likely to reflect short-term fluctuations or long-term trends and b) to determine the main drivers of these patterns. Expanding our approach further, we want to c) link bat diversity and activity to structural parameters of the forest using LiDAR data, d) address parasitation rates of selected bird species in relation to land-use intensity and host diversity and e) unravel the functional relationships between plowing activity of wild boar (bioperturbation) and plant diversity as well as soil structure.