Dietmar Moser - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dietmar Moser

NATUR UND LANDSCHAFT, Apr 30, 2015

ABSTRACT Due to their legal competences, the Austrian Federal States have the duty to compile and... more ABSTRACT Due to their legal competences, the Austrian Federal States have the duty to compile and submit the report pursuant to Article 17 of the European Union’s Habitats Directive. The Environment Agency of Austria was assigned to prepare the Article 17 report on behalf of the Austrian Federal States. The project was accompanied by a steering committee of the Federal States, with participation by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. With input from a number of experts and institutions who delivered expertise and data, the report was compiled for 74 habitat types and 209 species in the two biogeographical regions of Austria: the Alpine region and the Continental region. Habitat types and species occuring in Austria that were added to the Habitats Directive Annexes as a result of accession to the EU by Eastern European countries in 2004 and 2007 were reported for the first time. The article summarises the Austrian national report and provides additional analyses based on Article 17 data.

World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, 2019

Biological Conservation, 2018

The spatial patterns of vascular plant diversity in cultivated landscapes can be seen as the resu... more The spatial patterns of vascular plant diversity in cultivated landscapes can be seen as the result of different land-use systems which interfere with the given natural conditions. The degree to which human impact can explain these biodiversity patterns differs widely between different landscapes. For the case of Austria – a small but very heterogeneous country – the correlation between land management, landscape structure and vascular plant diversity has been studied systematically in a nationwide survey, carried out during the last four years. In the course of this investigation, field data on vegetation and patch attributes have been collected in about 200 sample landscapes, following a stratified random sampling design. Using GIS and multivariate statistics, twelve landscape types could be detected which are characterised by a distinct spatial configuration of landscape elements. For these so-called FUNLANDs or functional landscape types it could be shown, that the relationship ...

Global Change Biology, 2015

Trade plays a key role in the spread of alien species and has arguably contributed to the recent ... more Trade plays a key role in the spread of alien species and has arguably contributed to the recent enormous acceleration of biological invasions, thus homogenizing biotas worldwide. Combining data on 60-year trends of bilateral trade, as well as on biodiversity and climate, we modeled the global spread of plant species among 147 countries. The model results were compared with a recently compiled unique global data set on numbers of naturalized alien vascular plant species representing the most comprehensive collection of naturalized plant distributions currently available. The model identifies major source regions, introduction routes, and hot spots of plant invasions that agree well with observed naturalized plant numbers. In contrast to common knowledge, we show that the 'imperialist dogma,' stating that Europe has been a net exporter of naturalized plants since colonial times, does not hold for the past 60 years, when more naturalized plants were being imported to than exported from Europe. Our results highlight that the current distribution of naturalized plants is best predicted by socioeconomic activities 20 years ago. We took advantage of the observed time lag and used trade developments until recent times to predict naturalized plant trajectories for the next two decades. This shows that particularly strong increases in naturalized plant numbers are expected in the next 20 years for emerging economies in megadiverse regions. The interaction with predicted future climate change will increase invasions in northern temperate countries and reduce them in tropical and (sub)tropical regions, yet not by enough to cancel out the trade-related increase.

Biodiversität und Klimawandel, 2013

Das Konzept der Okosystemleistungen wurde in den 1990er-Jahren entwickelt (Myers 1996, Costanza e... more Das Konzept der Okosystemleistungen wurde in den 1990er-Jahren entwickelt (Myers 1996, Costanza et al. 1997, Daily 1997), wobei Westman (1977) mit seinem Konzept der Nature’s services einen Grundstein dafur legte. Mit der breiten Nutzung dieses methodischen Zugangs im Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005, Abb. 6-1) wurde die Diskussion uber Biodiversitatsverluste neu ausgerichtet: Seither ist der Verlust von Biodiversitat nicht mehr nur Inhalt von Naturschutzdebatten, sondern wird als Einfl ussfaktor mit zentraler Bedeutung fur das menschliche Wohlergehen gesehen, woraus sich das Erfordernis eines nachhaltigen Lebensstils begrunden und allgemein verstandlich aufzeigen lasst.

Environmental Sciences Europe, 2011

Background, aim and scope: According to the Directive 2001/18/EC, genetically modified plants [GM... more Background, aim and scope: According to the Directive 2001/18/EC, genetically modified plants [GMPs] have to be monitored for unintended ecological impacts during their release. Detrimental effects on the biodiversity of agro-ecosystems represent a prime focus of such a monitoring. Although cropping of GMPs has already been permitted in the European Union, the establishment of appropriate monitoring networks lags behind. Here, we provide an overview on Biodiversity-Nature-Safety [BINATS], one of the first national monitoring programs specifically designed and implemented to accompany and survey GMP effects on the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes.

Landscape Ecology, 2002

The application of landscape patch shape complexity as a predictor ofvascularplant and bryophyte ... more The application of landscape patch shape complexity as a predictor ofvascularplant and bryophyte species richness is analysed. Several common complexityindices (shape index, fractal dimension, comparison to the area of the minimumbounding rectangle) are tested for their predictive power for plant speciesrichness. One new robust measure for shape complexity is presented whichovercomes some disadvantages of common complexity measures applied to highresolution

Biodiversität und Klimawandel, 2013

Nature Climate Change, 2012

Biodiversity and Conservation - BIODIVERS CONSERV, 2001

This study is a quantitative approach to the estimation of bryophyte species richness in relation... more This study is a quantitative approach to the estimation of bryophyte species richness in relation to land-use intensity at three spatial scales in highly cultivated areas. A total of 460 randomly selected habitats and their various substrates within 29 study sites were investigated with regard to their land-use intensity and their bryophyte species richness in an agricultural region of eastern Austria. On bare soils (substrate-scale), low but regular disturbance increases bryophyte diversity in comparison to lower land-use intensity. However, more frequent disturbance (e.g. ploughing more than two times a year) dramatically reduces species richness at these sites, with more than 50% of these sites showing no bryophytes. The production of reproductive units (sporophytes and vegetative units) is highest at an intermediate disturbance regime. On the habitat, as well as on the landscape-scale, there is a significant increase in total bryophyte species number as well as in the number of ...

Journal of Biogeography, 2005

Aim To test predictions of different large-scale biodiversity hypotheses by analysing species ric... more Aim To test predictions of different large-scale biodiversity hypotheses by analysing species richness patterns of vascular plants in the Austrian Alps. Location The Austrian part of the Alps (c. 53,500 km 2). Methods Within the floristic inventory of Central Europe the Austrian part of the Alps were systematically mapped for vascular plants. Data collection was based on a rectangular grid of 5 • 3 arc minutes (34-35 km 2). Emerging species richness patterns were correlated with several environmental factors using generalized linear models. Primary environmental variables like temperature, precipitation and evapotranspiration were used to test climate-related hypotheses of species richness. Additionally, spatial and temporal variations in climatic conditions were considered. Bedrock geology, particularly the amount of calcareous substrates, the proximity to rivers and lakes and secondary variables like topographic, edaphic and land-use heterogeneity were used as additional predictors. Model results were evaluated by correlating modelled and observed species numbers. Results Our final multiple regression model explains c. 50% of the variance in species richness patterns. Model evaluation results in a correlation coefficient of 0.64 between modelled and observed species numbers in an independent test data set. Climatic variables like temperature and potential evapotranspiration (PET) proved to be by far the most important predictors. In general, variables indicating climatic favourableness like the maxima of temperature and PET performed better than those indicating stress, like the respective minima. Bedrock mineralogy, especially the amount of calcareous substrate, had some additional explanatory power but was less influential than suggested by comparable studies. The amount of precipitation does not have any effect on species richness regionally. Among the descriptors of heterogeneity, edaphic and land-use heterogeneity are more closely correlated with species numbers than topographic heterogeneity. Main conclusions The results support energy-driven processes as primary determinants of vascular plant species richness in temperate mountains. Stressful conditions obviously decrease species numbers, but presence of favourable habitats has higher predictive power in the context of species richness modelling. The importance of precipitation for driving global species diversity patterns is not necessarily reflected regionally. Annual range of temperature, an indicator of shortterm climatic stability, proved to be of minor importance for the determination of regional species richness patterns. In general, our study suggests environmental heterogeneity to be of rather low predictive value for species richness patterns regionally. However, it may gain importance at more local scales.

Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2012

ABSTRACT Aim To analyse if the historical species description process in 10 animal groups differe... more ABSTRACT Aim To analyse if the historical species description process in 10 animal groups differed among widespread and endemic species and to evaluate whether our current knowledge about the diversity of these groups is complete. Location Sixty-nine terrestrial regions (countries, large islands, archipelagos) covering all of Europe. Methods Based on data from the Fauna Europaea project, we reconstructed the description histories of four vertebrate groups (amphibians, fish, mammals, reptiles) and six well-studied invertebrate groups (butterflies, grasshoppers, ground beetles, snails, spiders, true bugs) living in terrestrial and freshwater environments. We used accelerated failure time models to test for a possible delay of endemic species detection and to provide conservative estimates of the as yet undescribed proportions of the existing diversity. Results Our data set includes 24,092 species, of which 7202 (30%) are endemic to one Fauna Europaea region. Species descriptions over time follow different trajectories for endemic and widespread species,with endemic species being described 79 years later than widespread ones, on average. Rates of widespread species descriptions have been low throughout the 20th century despite increasing numbers of active taxonomists, and models indicate that only a minor fraction of extant species is unknown (0.4–3%). By contrast, endemic species accumulation curves do not seem to have levelled off yet. Conservative model predictions suggest that up to 19% of the existing endemic diversity still awaits description in some taxonomic groups. Conclusions Our results suggest that even for well-studied groups in the world’s biogeographically best-known continent, scientific knowledge of species richness is far from complete and is biased towards widespread species. Research and conservation priorities may thus be misdirected, as, for example, regions with high numbers of as yet unrecognized endemics may not be adequately considered when setting conservation priorities. This is particularly problematic as their mostly small populations make endemic species especially vulnerable to human-induced pressures.

Ecography, 2008

Spiders are an abundant and diverse group of generalist predators in arable fields. Knowledge on ... more Spiders are an abundant and diverse group of generalist predators in arable fields. Knowledge on what landscape and site factors affect this group can be valuable for efforts to reduce biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes and can have implications for natural ...

Biomass and Bioenergy, 2013

Like other EU Member States, Austria will meet the substitution target of the EU European Renewab... more Like other EU Member States, Austria will meet the substitution target of the EU European Renewable Energy Directive for transportation almost exclusively by first generation biofuels, primarily biodiesel from oilseed rape (OSR). Genetically modified (GM) plants have been promoted as a new option for biofuel production as they promise higher yield or higher quality feedstock. We tested implications of GM OSR application for biodiesel production in Austria by means of high resolution spatially explicit simulation of 140 different coexistence scenarios within six main OSR cropping regions in Austria (2400 km 2). We identified structural land use characteristics such as field size, land use diversity, land holding patterns and the proportion of the target crop as the predominant factors which influence overall production of OSR in a coexistence scenario. Assuming isolation distances of 800 m and non-GM-OSR proportions of at least 10% resulted in a loss of area for cultivation of OSR in all study areas ranging from À4.5% to more than À25%, depending on the percentage of GM farmers and on the region. We could show that particularly the current primary OSR cropping regions are largely unsuitable for coexistence and would suffer from a net loss of OSR area even at isolation distances of 400 or 800 m. Coexistence constraints associated with application of GM OSR are likely to offset possible GM gains by substantially reducing farmland for OSR cultivation, thus contradicting the political aim to increase domestic OSR area to meet the combined demands of food, feed and biofuel production.

Biological Invasions, 2013

Biological Invasions, 2011

Temperate forests are relatively little affected by invasions globally. However, it remains uncle... more Temperate forests are relatively little affected by invasions globally. However, it remains unclear if these low invasion levels can be attributed to high invasion resistance, or if particularly long time lags in forests have lead to widespread invasion debt at the landscape and habitat scales, thus masking the invasibility of forests. Using linear and generalized linear mixed-effects models, we tested which factors determine the level of invasion of old (archaeophytes, pre-1500 alien species) and new (neophytes, post-1500 alien species) invaders across 30 study sites (5 ha size) and 16 transects in lowland forests in eastern Austria, Central Europe. We analysed the importance of different forest types, adjacent habitats, introduction pathways, species' local residence time and Keywords Archaeophytes Á Forests Á Habitats Á Invasion debt Á Neophytes Á Propagule pressure Á Residence time Á Settlements Á Time lag Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Biological Conservation, 2013

While species diversity patterns at large scales (continental to global) have been increasingly s... more While species diversity patterns at large scales (continental to global) have been increasingly studied recently for a few well-known taxa, only a few studies have included less well-known groups, and analysed congruence patterns between taxa. By using data from nine taxonomic groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, mammals, birds, reptiles, freshwater fish, amphibians, butterflies, dragonflies) from 38 European countries and Israel, we analysed the diversity of five diversity subsets (numbers of native, endemic, threatened, extinct, alien species) and their cross-taxon species diversity congruency. Native species numbers, and particularly, endemic species numbers are highest in large south European countries (Spain, Italy, Greece). The highest numbers of species being currently nationally threatened are located in industrialized Central European countries, whereas the highest numbers of nationally extinct species are found in Israel, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Established alien species numbers are highest in large western and (south)western European countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France). Across all taxonomic groups, the average proportion of endemic species of total native species numbers is 3%, of threatened species it is 27%, of extinct species it is 2%, whereas established alien species make up on average 11% of native species numbers. Highest proportions of endemic species were found in fish, grasshoppers, and reptiles, of threatened species in reptiles, amphibians and dragonflies, of extinct species in fish, dragonflies and grasshoppers, and of established alien species in fish, mammals and amphibians. Pairwise cross-taxon correlations of species diversity were pronounced for native species and endemic species, whereas correlations are much weaker for threatened, extinct and alien species numbers. Species-area relationships were significant but relatively weak for numbers of native and established alien species, whereas not significant for the other diversity subsets. This study provides an important baseline assessment for a better understanding of European species diversity patterns. Future research avenues should aim at identifying causal relationships, and test for the effects of scale, life history and ecology of different taxa. Such an extended causal analysis should include historical effects, i.e. regional differences in rates of speciation, dispersal and extinction but also shortterm fluctuations in human impact on species diversity, which are notoriously difficult to quantify, but frequently shape current diversity patterns.

Biological Conservation, 2004

In an agricultural landscape in eastern Austria eight terrestrial organism groups were investigat... more In an agricultural landscape in eastern Austria eight terrestrial organism groups were investigated as potential biodiversity indicators. We present a cross-taxon congruence assessment obtained at the landscape scale using two groups of plants (bryophytes and vascular plants), five groups of invertebrates (gastropods, spiders, orthopterans, carabid beetles and ants) and one vertebrate taxon (birds). We tested four different approaches: correlated species counts, surrogate measures of the overall species richness that was assessed, a multi-taxa (or shopping basket) approach and a simple complementarity algorithm. With few exceptions, pairwise correlations between taxa, correlations between one taxon and the species richness of the remaining groups, and correlations between a combination of the richness of two taxa and the remaining species richness were highly positive. Complementarityderived priority sets of sampling sites using one taxon as a surrogate for the pooled species richness of all other taxa captured significantly more species than selecting areas randomly. As an essential first step in selecting useful biodiversity indicators, we demonstrate that species richness of vascular plants and birds showed the highest correlations with the overall species richness. In a multi-taxa approach and in complementarity site selection, each of the eight investigated taxa had the capability to capture a high percentage of the overall species richness.

Biological Conservation, 2002

In Austrian agricultural landscapes, 1936 sampling plots within 72 study sites selected by a rand... more In Austrian agricultural landscapes, 1936 sampling plots within 72 study sites selected by a random procedure were investigated with regard to their bryophyte vegetation. Out of a total of 506 species, 135 endangered species were recorded. Thirty-eight percent of all ...

NATUR UND LANDSCHAFT, Apr 30, 2015

ABSTRACT Due to their legal competences, the Austrian Federal States have the duty to compile and... more ABSTRACT Due to their legal competences, the Austrian Federal States have the duty to compile and submit the report pursuant to Article 17 of the European Union’s Habitats Directive. The Environment Agency of Austria was assigned to prepare the Article 17 report on behalf of the Austrian Federal States. The project was accompanied by a steering committee of the Federal States, with participation by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. With input from a number of experts and institutions who delivered expertise and data, the report was compiled for 74 habitat types and 209 species in the two biogeographical regions of Austria: the Alpine region and the Continental region. Habitat types and species occuring in Austria that were added to the Habitats Directive Annexes as a result of accession to the EU by Eastern European countries in 2004 and 2007 were reported for the first time. The article summarises the Austrian national report and provides additional analyses based on Article 17 data.

World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, 2019

Biological Conservation, 2018

The spatial patterns of vascular plant diversity in cultivated landscapes can be seen as the resu... more The spatial patterns of vascular plant diversity in cultivated landscapes can be seen as the result of different land-use systems which interfere with the given natural conditions. The degree to which human impact can explain these biodiversity patterns differs widely between different landscapes. For the case of Austria – a small but very heterogeneous country – the correlation between land management, landscape structure and vascular plant diversity has been studied systematically in a nationwide survey, carried out during the last four years. In the course of this investigation, field data on vegetation and patch attributes have been collected in about 200 sample landscapes, following a stratified random sampling design. Using GIS and multivariate statistics, twelve landscape types could be detected which are characterised by a distinct spatial configuration of landscape elements. For these so-called FUNLANDs or functional landscape types it could be shown, that the relationship ...

Global Change Biology, 2015

Trade plays a key role in the spread of alien species and has arguably contributed to the recent ... more Trade plays a key role in the spread of alien species and has arguably contributed to the recent enormous acceleration of biological invasions, thus homogenizing biotas worldwide. Combining data on 60-year trends of bilateral trade, as well as on biodiversity and climate, we modeled the global spread of plant species among 147 countries. The model results were compared with a recently compiled unique global data set on numbers of naturalized alien vascular plant species representing the most comprehensive collection of naturalized plant distributions currently available. The model identifies major source regions, introduction routes, and hot spots of plant invasions that agree well with observed naturalized plant numbers. In contrast to common knowledge, we show that the 'imperialist dogma,' stating that Europe has been a net exporter of naturalized plants since colonial times, does not hold for the past 60 years, when more naturalized plants were being imported to than exported from Europe. Our results highlight that the current distribution of naturalized plants is best predicted by socioeconomic activities 20 years ago. We took advantage of the observed time lag and used trade developments until recent times to predict naturalized plant trajectories for the next two decades. This shows that particularly strong increases in naturalized plant numbers are expected in the next 20 years for emerging economies in megadiverse regions. The interaction with predicted future climate change will increase invasions in northern temperate countries and reduce them in tropical and (sub)tropical regions, yet not by enough to cancel out the trade-related increase.

Biodiversität und Klimawandel, 2013

Das Konzept der Okosystemleistungen wurde in den 1990er-Jahren entwickelt (Myers 1996, Costanza e... more Das Konzept der Okosystemleistungen wurde in den 1990er-Jahren entwickelt (Myers 1996, Costanza et al. 1997, Daily 1997), wobei Westman (1977) mit seinem Konzept der Nature’s services einen Grundstein dafur legte. Mit der breiten Nutzung dieses methodischen Zugangs im Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005, Abb. 6-1) wurde die Diskussion uber Biodiversitatsverluste neu ausgerichtet: Seither ist der Verlust von Biodiversitat nicht mehr nur Inhalt von Naturschutzdebatten, sondern wird als Einfl ussfaktor mit zentraler Bedeutung fur das menschliche Wohlergehen gesehen, woraus sich das Erfordernis eines nachhaltigen Lebensstils begrunden und allgemein verstandlich aufzeigen lasst.

Environmental Sciences Europe, 2011

Background, aim and scope: According to the Directive 2001/18/EC, genetically modified plants [GM... more Background, aim and scope: According to the Directive 2001/18/EC, genetically modified plants [GMPs] have to be monitored for unintended ecological impacts during their release. Detrimental effects on the biodiversity of agro-ecosystems represent a prime focus of such a monitoring. Although cropping of GMPs has already been permitted in the European Union, the establishment of appropriate monitoring networks lags behind. Here, we provide an overview on Biodiversity-Nature-Safety [BINATS], one of the first national monitoring programs specifically designed and implemented to accompany and survey GMP effects on the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes.

Landscape Ecology, 2002

The application of landscape patch shape complexity as a predictor ofvascularplant and bryophyte ... more The application of landscape patch shape complexity as a predictor ofvascularplant and bryophyte species richness is analysed. Several common complexityindices (shape index, fractal dimension, comparison to the area of the minimumbounding rectangle) are tested for their predictive power for plant speciesrichness. One new robust measure for shape complexity is presented whichovercomes some disadvantages of common complexity measures applied to highresolution

Biodiversität und Klimawandel, 2013

Nature Climate Change, 2012

Biodiversity and Conservation - BIODIVERS CONSERV, 2001

This study is a quantitative approach to the estimation of bryophyte species richness in relation... more This study is a quantitative approach to the estimation of bryophyte species richness in relation to land-use intensity at three spatial scales in highly cultivated areas. A total of 460 randomly selected habitats and their various substrates within 29 study sites were investigated with regard to their land-use intensity and their bryophyte species richness in an agricultural region of eastern Austria. On bare soils (substrate-scale), low but regular disturbance increases bryophyte diversity in comparison to lower land-use intensity. However, more frequent disturbance (e.g. ploughing more than two times a year) dramatically reduces species richness at these sites, with more than 50% of these sites showing no bryophytes. The production of reproductive units (sporophytes and vegetative units) is highest at an intermediate disturbance regime. On the habitat, as well as on the landscape-scale, there is a significant increase in total bryophyte species number as well as in the number of ...

Journal of Biogeography, 2005

Aim To test predictions of different large-scale biodiversity hypotheses by analysing species ric... more Aim To test predictions of different large-scale biodiversity hypotheses by analysing species richness patterns of vascular plants in the Austrian Alps. Location The Austrian part of the Alps (c. 53,500 km 2). Methods Within the floristic inventory of Central Europe the Austrian part of the Alps were systematically mapped for vascular plants. Data collection was based on a rectangular grid of 5 • 3 arc minutes (34-35 km 2). Emerging species richness patterns were correlated with several environmental factors using generalized linear models. Primary environmental variables like temperature, precipitation and evapotranspiration were used to test climate-related hypotheses of species richness. Additionally, spatial and temporal variations in climatic conditions were considered. Bedrock geology, particularly the amount of calcareous substrates, the proximity to rivers and lakes and secondary variables like topographic, edaphic and land-use heterogeneity were used as additional predictors. Model results were evaluated by correlating modelled and observed species numbers. Results Our final multiple regression model explains c. 50% of the variance in species richness patterns. Model evaluation results in a correlation coefficient of 0.64 between modelled and observed species numbers in an independent test data set. Climatic variables like temperature and potential evapotranspiration (PET) proved to be by far the most important predictors. In general, variables indicating climatic favourableness like the maxima of temperature and PET performed better than those indicating stress, like the respective minima. Bedrock mineralogy, especially the amount of calcareous substrate, had some additional explanatory power but was less influential than suggested by comparable studies. The amount of precipitation does not have any effect on species richness regionally. Among the descriptors of heterogeneity, edaphic and land-use heterogeneity are more closely correlated with species numbers than topographic heterogeneity. Main conclusions The results support energy-driven processes as primary determinants of vascular plant species richness in temperate mountains. Stressful conditions obviously decrease species numbers, but presence of favourable habitats has higher predictive power in the context of species richness modelling. The importance of precipitation for driving global species diversity patterns is not necessarily reflected regionally. Annual range of temperature, an indicator of shortterm climatic stability, proved to be of minor importance for the determination of regional species richness patterns. In general, our study suggests environmental heterogeneity to be of rather low predictive value for species richness patterns regionally. However, it may gain importance at more local scales.

Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2012

ABSTRACT Aim To analyse if the historical species description process in 10 animal groups differe... more ABSTRACT Aim To analyse if the historical species description process in 10 animal groups differed among widespread and endemic species and to evaluate whether our current knowledge about the diversity of these groups is complete. Location Sixty-nine terrestrial regions (countries, large islands, archipelagos) covering all of Europe. Methods Based on data from the Fauna Europaea project, we reconstructed the description histories of four vertebrate groups (amphibians, fish, mammals, reptiles) and six well-studied invertebrate groups (butterflies, grasshoppers, ground beetles, snails, spiders, true bugs) living in terrestrial and freshwater environments. We used accelerated failure time models to test for a possible delay of endemic species detection and to provide conservative estimates of the as yet undescribed proportions of the existing diversity. Results Our data set includes 24,092 species, of which 7202 (30%) are endemic to one Fauna Europaea region. Species descriptions over time follow different trajectories for endemic and widespread species,with endemic species being described 79 years later than widespread ones, on average. Rates of widespread species descriptions have been low throughout the 20th century despite increasing numbers of active taxonomists, and models indicate that only a minor fraction of extant species is unknown (0.4–3%). By contrast, endemic species accumulation curves do not seem to have levelled off yet. Conservative model predictions suggest that up to 19% of the existing endemic diversity still awaits description in some taxonomic groups. Conclusions Our results suggest that even for well-studied groups in the world’s biogeographically best-known continent, scientific knowledge of species richness is far from complete and is biased towards widespread species. Research and conservation priorities may thus be misdirected, as, for example, regions with high numbers of as yet unrecognized endemics may not be adequately considered when setting conservation priorities. This is particularly problematic as their mostly small populations make endemic species especially vulnerable to human-induced pressures.

Ecography, 2008

Spiders are an abundant and diverse group of generalist predators in arable fields. Knowledge on ... more Spiders are an abundant and diverse group of generalist predators in arable fields. Knowledge on what landscape and site factors affect this group can be valuable for efforts to reduce biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes and can have implications for natural ...

Biomass and Bioenergy, 2013

Like other EU Member States, Austria will meet the substitution target of the EU European Renewab... more Like other EU Member States, Austria will meet the substitution target of the EU European Renewable Energy Directive for transportation almost exclusively by first generation biofuels, primarily biodiesel from oilseed rape (OSR). Genetically modified (GM) plants have been promoted as a new option for biofuel production as they promise higher yield or higher quality feedstock. We tested implications of GM OSR application for biodiesel production in Austria by means of high resolution spatially explicit simulation of 140 different coexistence scenarios within six main OSR cropping regions in Austria (2400 km 2). We identified structural land use characteristics such as field size, land use diversity, land holding patterns and the proportion of the target crop as the predominant factors which influence overall production of OSR in a coexistence scenario. Assuming isolation distances of 800 m and non-GM-OSR proportions of at least 10% resulted in a loss of area for cultivation of OSR in all study areas ranging from À4.5% to more than À25%, depending on the percentage of GM farmers and on the region. We could show that particularly the current primary OSR cropping regions are largely unsuitable for coexistence and would suffer from a net loss of OSR area even at isolation distances of 400 or 800 m. Coexistence constraints associated with application of GM OSR are likely to offset possible GM gains by substantially reducing farmland for OSR cultivation, thus contradicting the political aim to increase domestic OSR area to meet the combined demands of food, feed and biofuel production.

Biological Invasions, 2013

Biological Invasions, 2011

Temperate forests are relatively little affected by invasions globally. However, it remains uncle... more Temperate forests are relatively little affected by invasions globally. However, it remains unclear if these low invasion levels can be attributed to high invasion resistance, or if particularly long time lags in forests have lead to widespread invasion debt at the landscape and habitat scales, thus masking the invasibility of forests. Using linear and generalized linear mixed-effects models, we tested which factors determine the level of invasion of old (archaeophytes, pre-1500 alien species) and new (neophytes, post-1500 alien species) invaders across 30 study sites (5 ha size) and 16 transects in lowland forests in eastern Austria, Central Europe. We analysed the importance of different forest types, adjacent habitats, introduction pathways, species' local residence time and Keywords Archaeophytes Á Forests Á Habitats Á Invasion debt Á Neophytes Á Propagule pressure Á Residence time Á Settlements Á Time lag Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Biological Conservation, 2013

While species diversity patterns at large scales (continental to global) have been increasingly s... more While species diversity patterns at large scales (continental to global) have been increasingly studied recently for a few well-known taxa, only a few studies have included less well-known groups, and analysed congruence patterns between taxa. By using data from nine taxonomic groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, mammals, birds, reptiles, freshwater fish, amphibians, butterflies, dragonflies) from 38 European countries and Israel, we analysed the diversity of five diversity subsets (numbers of native, endemic, threatened, extinct, alien species) and their cross-taxon species diversity congruency. Native species numbers, and particularly, endemic species numbers are highest in large south European countries (Spain, Italy, Greece). The highest numbers of species being currently nationally threatened are located in industrialized Central European countries, whereas the highest numbers of nationally extinct species are found in Israel, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Established alien species numbers are highest in large western and (south)western European countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France). Across all taxonomic groups, the average proportion of endemic species of total native species numbers is 3%, of threatened species it is 27%, of extinct species it is 2%, whereas established alien species make up on average 11% of native species numbers. Highest proportions of endemic species were found in fish, grasshoppers, and reptiles, of threatened species in reptiles, amphibians and dragonflies, of extinct species in fish, dragonflies and grasshoppers, and of established alien species in fish, mammals and amphibians. Pairwise cross-taxon correlations of species diversity were pronounced for native species and endemic species, whereas correlations are much weaker for threatened, extinct and alien species numbers. Species-area relationships were significant but relatively weak for numbers of native and established alien species, whereas not significant for the other diversity subsets. This study provides an important baseline assessment for a better understanding of European species diversity patterns. Future research avenues should aim at identifying causal relationships, and test for the effects of scale, life history and ecology of different taxa. Such an extended causal analysis should include historical effects, i.e. regional differences in rates of speciation, dispersal and extinction but also shortterm fluctuations in human impact on species diversity, which are notoriously difficult to quantify, but frequently shape current diversity patterns.

Biological Conservation, 2004

In an agricultural landscape in eastern Austria eight terrestrial organism groups were investigat... more In an agricultural landscape in eastern Austria eight terrestrial organism groups were investigated as potential biodiversity indicators. We present a cross-taxon congruence assessment obtained at the landscape scale using two groups of plants (bryophytes and vascular plants), five groups of invertebrates (gastropods, spiders, orthopterans, carabid beetles and ants) and one vertebrate taxon (birds). We tested four different approaches: correlated species counts, surrogate measures of the overall species richness that was assessed, a multi-taxa (or shopping basket) approach and a simple complementarity algorithm. With few exceptions, pairwise correlations between taxa, correlations between one taxon and the species richness of the remaining groups, and correlations between a combination of the richness of two taxa and the remaining species richness were highly positive. Complementarityderived priority sets of sampling sites using one taxon as a surrogate for the pooled species richness of all other taxa captured significantly more species than selecting areas randomly. As an essential first step in selecting useful biodiversity indicators, we demonstrate that species richness of vascular plants and birds showed the highest correlations with the overall species richness. In a multi-taxa approach and in complementarity site selection, each of the eight investigated taxa had the capability to capture a high percentage of the overall species richness.

Biological Conservation, 2002

In Austrian agricultural landscapes, 1936 sampling plots within 72 study sites selected by a rand... more In Austrian agricultural landscapes, 1936 sampling plots within 72 study sites selected by a random procedure were investigated with regard to their bryophyte vegetation. Out of a total of 506 species, 135 endangered species were recorded. Thirty-eight percent of all ...