Study area
This study was conducted in the north-eastern part of the federal state
of Brandenburg in Germany (AgroScapeLab,
http://www.zalf.de/de/struktur/eip/Seiten/AgroScapeLab.aspx, 52°52’N –
53°23’N, 13°20’E – 14°12’E). The study area is located at the
transition zone of the west-European oceanic and the east-European
continental climate and is characterized by a temperate climate (8.6°C)
with an annual precipitation of 563 mm. The region is sparsely populated
and a typical Central European agricultural landscape, to a great extent
intensively used for agriculture (~ two thirds of the
area, Fig. 1). The dominant crop types are wheat, barley, maize and rape
seed. The remaining area is mainly covered by forests and (mostly
intensively managed) grassland. Dry grasslands are found mainly on hills
and slopes or former military areas and make less than one percentage of
the land cover. They are remnants of the former extensive farming system
of sheep grazing, and today sheep or cattle grazing and mowing is used
to preserve some of the remaining patches. The sampled dry grassland
plant communities belong to the class Festuco-Brometea with some
elements of the class Koelerio-Corynepheretea , which developed
under the constant land use of humans as pastures for several hundred
years. Dry grassland patch sizes vary between 270m² and 100.000m², with
a median of 5600m².