标题：Interactions between ecosystem properties and land use clarify spatial strategies to optimize trade-offs between agriculture and species conservation
摘要：Species conservation and forage production are both important, yet conflicting componentsof sustainable grassland management. We modeled forage production and conservationvalue as dependents in a chain of responses and effects, starting with abiotic environmentalconditions that affect the spatial distribution of land uses and biotic ecosystem properties. Weasked which relationships in this causal chain determine trade-offs between forage production and conservation value. Abiotic and biotic ecosystem properties were recorded on 46plots in the coastal marshes of Northwest Germany. Plant and bird conservation values werecalculated using Red Lists, and sales of forage-based agricultural products were assessed byinterviewing farmers. We used a structural equation model to determine responses andeffects. Groundwater depth and salinity represent the ultimate causes for the spatial variationin sales and conservation value. The water gradient translated into more proximate causes,such as land-use intensity affecting aboveground net primary productivity, forage quality, andspecies richness. Plant species conservation and forage production were segregated alongthe water gradient, and both bird conservation and forage production depended on grassland management, albeit at different fertilization levels. Our study points to segregation andintegration as two spatial strategies to react to trade-offs between services.
