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.