BioDivKultur
Biodiversity cultures in urban and rural areas
BioDivKultur - That's us
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News from the project:
Simply the green: Urban refuges
The interdisciplinary paper on environmental ethics and biology by the three doctoral students Johanna Berger, Sonja Daum and Margarita Hartlieb has been published!
Highlights:
- Refugia or refugial spaces are a concept that can contribute to the understanding of survival in the Anthropocene at different levels of abstraction.
- Urban green spaces are areas where interactions between human and non-human nature can take place. They serve as refuges in the city and can be beneficial for both biodiversity and human well-being.
- Over 70 % of the studies examined reported positive effects of unmown retreats on the abundance and richness of arthropods in meadows or grasslands.
- Unmown refugia provide habitat heterogeneity, protection for surviving arthropods from mowing, an opportunity for larval development and a place to overwinter.
Assessing mowing intensity: a new index incorporating frequency, machinery, and technique
The study“Assessing mowing intensity: a new index incorporating frequency, machinery, and technique.” by our biology PhD student Margarita Hartlieb has now been published!
In her work, she developed a mowing index based on detailed literature research and long-term data from the Biodiversity Exploratories of 150 grassland areas over 12 years.
The index shows how harmful different mowing methods are for plants, birds, amphibians, insects, spiders and mammals. The higher the index, the more damaging it is for biodiversity on the land.
This was also shown by an example analysis: The number of plant and arthropod species decreased sharply with a higher index.
When it comes to mowing methods, it is not only the number of cuts per year that counts, but factors such as mower type and cutting height also influence biodiversity. The bar mower, for example, has the lowest mortality rate among animals and a mowing height of 8 cm or more is gentler. On agricultural land, the question also arises as to whether a conditioner is used to further crush the mown material so that it dries more quickly. As conditioners also crush insects, it is best to avoid them.
Green space management - making it more sustainable
In the BioDivKultur project, numerous findings and experiences on insect-friendly mowing in communal areas were gathered through cooperation between science and practice.
Together with the FEdA (BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity), we have now produced a document that clearly summarizes our most important findings.
In this way, we would also like to show other local authorities ways to achieve more sustainable green space management.
The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods
In collaboration with the Biodiversity Exploratories, our biology doctoral student Johanna Berger has published her study “The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods”.
Data from 11 years on the influence of mowing on grasshoppers, beetles, bugs, cicadas and spiders were examined on a total of 111 green spaces.
The results:
All groups studied are greatly reduced after mowing, but increase again with the days after mowing.
The mulcher is the most damaging mowing device compared to bar and rotary mowers.
A higher mowing width has a positive effect on the abundance of grasshoppers, but not on that of other arthropods.
Insect pocket calculator
How many insects and spiders can actually be found on green spaces and what influence do factors such as:
Mowing height
Mower
Milling width
Size of the area
Surroundings
Mower
Location
Many researchers have also asked themselves these questions and examined a wide variety of surfaces.
We have compiled the results of these studies and used them to program our insect pocket calculator.
Based on the research data, it provides a forecast of how many insects and spiders there are per square meter on a surface.
If details on the maintenance of an area are known, these can be entered and adjusted in professional mode.
The insect pocket calculator can not only provide information on the current number of insects and spiders on an area, it can also calculate the potential of an area if maintenance is changed.
But even without specific information, the insect pocket calculator can provide an estimate of the observed area via the walk mode.
Points of Insects
Cities are actually built by people for people and yet they share them with numerous other living creatures.
The demands placed on urban areas often differ greatly depending on who is being asked.
How do insects and spiders perceive a city, what does their urban life look like?
The Stadtnaturpunkt exhibition invites you to see our habitat with different eyes.
Numerous Points of Insects in Darmstadt draw attention to important habitats for insects and spiders and explain what life is like in these areas.
The Points of Insects can be explored in the city of Darmstadt from March 22, 2024.
An exciting accompanying program complements the exhibition, for example with guided tours by experts.
Detailed information on the locations of the Points of Insects and the dates of the accompanying program can be found here:
Wiesion
The bioversum Jagdschloss Kranichstein has developed an outdoor exhibition on the subject of insects, spiders, meadows and mowing.
What exactly are insects and spiders? What is meant by meadows and how were they formed? What does haymaking have to do with insects and why does the issue of mowing affect more than just people with their own lawns?
The exhibition “Wiesion” is dedicated to all these questions and many more.
BioDivKultur Impulse Events
In exciting lectures, seminars and meditative journeys of discovery we would like to give impulses to the value of biodiversity and the topic of man and nature together with our speakers.
The BioDivKultur project is funded by the Research Initiative for Biodiversity Conservation of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
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