Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands

Abstract Understanding whether land use intensification causes regime shifts (i.e. persistent, large changes in ecosystem states) is of key importance for management, particularly if these shifts occur abruptly as thresholds in land use intensity are crossed. Further, these threshold responses can show hysteretic dynamics, where the transition between states cannot simply be undone by reducing land use intensity to its initial level, and instead larger changes are required. However, quantitative evidence for threshold responses and their dynamics remain scarce. Here we use a unique, long‐term grassland database in Germany to identify threshold responses to land use intensity. We include data on the response of 16 ecosystem functions (including plant biomass, herbivory, litter decomposition, pathogen infection, water recharge, C and N fluxes and retention and enzymatic activity) and the diversity of 21 taxa (including above‐ground and below‐ground taxa such as vascular plants, lichens, bryophytes, arthropods, vertebrates, fungi, protists and bacteria). Then, we use increased variance as an early warning signal to evaluate if threshold responses are indicative of critical transitions between states. Finally, we use temporal data to identify hysteretic dynamics associated with those transitions. We show that 5 out of 10 above‐ground taxa, fungal diversity, shoot biomass and soil N retention showed threshold responses to land use intensity, that is abrupt changes between extensively and intensively managed grasslands. Some of the thresholds were associated with increased variance in the response variables, suggesting a potential critical transition between ecosystem states. Time‐series analysis indicated that ecosystem functions showed a hysteretic response to land use intensity, but diversity measures did not. Our results suggest threshold responses to land use intensity are relatively common in the grasslands we studied. These thresholds show abrupt changes in the ecosystem when highly diverse extensively managed grasslands are managed slightly more intensively. Further, shifting back to the functioning seen in extensively managed grasslands may be challenging, as it requires larger reductions in land use intensity than those required to shift to the high intensity state. Identifying thresholds along land use gradients is critical to prevent ecosystem degradation and conserve biodiversity and ecosystem functions in semi‐natural grasslands. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Publication Details

Journal
Functional Ecology
Published
2026-10-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70413
Primary Topic
Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
Type
article
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article

Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands

Norbert Hölzel, Kezia Goldmann, Ellen Kandeler, Anna Maria Fiore‐Donno et al.
Functional Ecology
Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
article

Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands

Norbert Hölzel, Kezia Goldmann, Ellen Kandeler, Anna Maria Fiore‐Donno, Johannes Sikorski, François Buscot, Hugo Sáiz, Steffen Boch, Óscar Godoy, Sophia Leimer, Yvonne Oelmann, Klaus Birkhofer, Markus Fischer, María R. Felipe‐Lucia, Eric Allan, Emily F. Solly, Valentin H. Klaus, Susanne Wurst, Michael Bonkowski, Jörg Overmann, Daniel Prati, Martin M. Goßner, Martin Freitag, Till Kleinebecker, Caterina Penone, Ingo Schoening, Ingolf Steffan‐Dewenter, Stephanie A. Socher, Barbara Stempfhuber, Lena Neuenkamp, Tesfaye Wubet, Kirsten Jung, Matthias C. Rillig, Catrin Westphal, Sven Marhan, Ute Hamer, Sebastian Seibold, Wolfgang Wilcke, Swen C. Renner, Nico Blüthgen, Michael Schloter
article en

Abstract

Abstract Understanding whether land use intensification causes regime shifts (i.e. persistent, large changes in ecosystem states) is of key importance for management, particularly if these shifts occur abruptly as thresholds in land use intensity are crossed. Further, these threshold responses can show hysteretic dynamics, where the transition between states cannot simply be undone by reducing land use intensity to its initial level, and instead larger changes are required. However, quantitative evidence for threshold responses and their dynamics remain scarce. Here we use a unique, long‐term grassland database in Germany to identify threshold responses to land use intensity. We include data on the response of 16 ecosystem functions (including plant biomass, herbivory, litter decomposition, pathogen infection, water recharge, C and N fluxes and retention and enzymatic activity) and the diversity of 21 taxa (including above‐ground and below‐ground taxa such as vascular plants, lichens, bryophytes, arthropods, vertebrates, fungi, protists and bacteria). Then, we use increased variance as an early warning signal to evaluate if threshold responses are indicative of critical transitions between states. Finally, we use temporal data to identify hysteretic dynamics associated with those transitions. We show that 5 out of 10 above‐ground taxa, fungal diversity, shoot biomass and soil N retention showed threshold responses to land use intensity, that is abrupt changes between extensively and intensively managed grasslands. Some of the thresholds were associated with increased variance in the response variables, suggesting a potential critical transition between ecosystem states. Time‐series analysis indicated that ecosystem functions showed a hysteretic response to land use intensity, but diversity measures did not. Our results suggest threshold responses to land use intensity are relatively common in the grasslands we studied. These thresholds show abrupt changes in the ecosystem when highly diverse extensively managed grasslands are managed slightly more intensively. Further, shifting back to the functioning seen in extensively managed grasslands may be challenging, as it requires larger reductions in land use intensity than those required to shift to the high intensity state. Identifying thresholds along land use gradients is critical to prevent ecosystem degradation and conserve biodiversity and ecosystem functions in semi‐natural grasslands. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Functional Ecology
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE), University of Hohenheim (DE), University of Bern (CH), Natural History Museum Vienna (AT), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), University of Cologne (DE), University of Salzburg (AT), Universität Ulm (DE), Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE), University of Münster (DE), Universidad de Zaragoza (ES), University of Würzburg (DE), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Helmholtz Zentrum München (DE), Technische Universität Darmstadt (DE), ETH Zurich (CH), Universidad de Cádiz (ES), Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (DE), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE), Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems (CH), Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (DE), University of Duisburg-Essen (DE), Technical University of Munich (DE), University of Göttingen (DE), Freie Universität Berlin (DE), Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DE), University of Tübingen (DE), Ruhr University Bochum (DE), Technische Universität Braunschweig (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
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