Skip to main content

SEBAS: Sensing Biodiversity Across Scales

Sebas Logo
Photo: biodiversity exploratories

SEBAS is a project funded within the DFG Priority Programme 1374 „Biodiversity Exploratories“ (runtime: 03/2020–02/2023) investigating the effect of land-use on the biodiversity of grasslands. As an initiative to advance biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research in Germany, three large-scale and long-term research sites have been established as so-called “Biodiversity Exploratories” in the Biosphere Reserve Schorfheide-Chorin (Brandenburg), the National Park Hainich-Dün plus its surroundings (Thuringia) and the Biosphere Reserve Schwäbische Alb (Baden-Württemberg). Altogether these exploratories represent an open research and data exchange platform for comparative scientific studies along different land-use gradients.

Sebas Logo
Photo: biodiversity exploratories

 

Official website: biodiversity exploratories

 

Mission

  • Improve the mechanistic understanding of the effects of land use on the interplay between biodiversity – ecosystem functions – and ecosystem services

  • Analyze the relationships between functional and structural diversity and the ecosystem service of forage production, and their temporal variation for three spatial scales (plot, farm and landscape)

  • Combine plot-based ecological and remote sensing research on land use intensity and 5 Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs): Above Ground Biomass (AGB), Above Net Primary Productivity (ANPP), Leaf Area Index (LAI), plant phenology and functional diversity

We are participating in this project with providing the plot-based ecological research, combining non-destrucitve and destructive sampling methods, and relating land-use intensity to EBVs on different spatial scales.

 

Opportunities

You are welcome to inquire about possibilities for PhD or post-doctoral positions. Please check vacant positions or contact Prof. A. Linstädter (linstaedteruni-potsdamde) directly. Should you seek opportunities for a Bachelor or Master thesis, please check our institutional list of topics for theses.

Vegetation surveying and sampling
Photo: M. Klimke
Vegetation surveying and sampling in the Hainich-Dün National Park

 

 

Vegetation surveying and sampling
Photo: M. Klimke
Vegetation surveying and sampling in the Hainich-Dün National Park
Unmanned aerial vehicle
Photo: L. Schwarz
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) collecting remote sensing data

 

 

Unmanned aerial vehicle
Photo: L. Schwarz
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) collecting remote sensing data

 

SEBAS – Ecological Research

Relating land-use intensity to EBVs on different spatial scales

 

Aims

In addition to providing structured plot-level ecological data, we want to explore direct and indirect effects of land-use intensity on the supply and temporal stability of forage production on different spatial scales.

Approach

We use various non-destructive and destructive methods of field data collection to quantify ground cover, grazing pressure, above ground biomass (AGB), leaf area index (LAI), leaf traits, forage quality, phenology, and plant diversity. The direct and indirect effects of land-use and climate will be formalized through a social-ecological systems approach, and direct and indirect (biodiversity-mediated) effects will be quantified via structural equation modeling.

Expected Outcome

Land-use effects on the biodiversity – ecosystem functions – and ecosystem services relationship will vary across spatial scales; with functional and structural diversity playing a critical role for the supply and temporal stability of ecosystem services.

Persons involved

 

PI

Prof. Dr. Anja Linstädter 

PhD

Sophia Meyer

Cooperation partners

Center for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, University of Bonn, Germany

Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, University of Bonn, Germany

 

Non-destructive measurement of above ground biomass
Photo: A. Linstädter
Non-destructive measurement of above ground biomass (AGB) with a Rising Plate Meter

 

 

Non-destructive measurement of above ground biomass
Photo: A. Linstädter
Non-destructive measurement of above ground biomass (AGB) with a Rising Plate Meter
Vegetation surveying and plant sampling
Photo: A. Linstädter
Vegetation surveying and plant sampling in sub-plots along a transect in the field site

 

 

Vegetation surveying and plant sampling
Photo: A. Linstädter
Vegetation surveying and plant sampling in sub-plots along a transect in the field site
Non-destructive measuring forage quality using a field spectrophotometer
Photo: L. Schwarz
Hyperspectral reading of the vegetation canopy using a field spectrophotometer
Non-destructive measuring forage quality using a field spectrophotometer
Photo: L. Schwarz
Hyperspectral reading of the vegetation canopy using a field spectrophotometer
Grassland research site
Photo: A. Linstädter
Grassland research site in the Hainich-Dün National Park

 

 

Grassland research site
Photo: A. Linstädter
Grassland research site in the Hainich-Dün National Park