{ "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.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias y Medio Natural, Escuela Politécnica Superior Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón (IUCA), Universidad de Zaragoza Huesca Spain", "Institute of Plant Sciences University of Bern Bern Switzerland", "Department of Ecology Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus‐Senftenberg Cottbus Germany", "Ecological Networks, Department of Biology Technical University of Darmstadt Darmstadt Germany", "Biodiversity and Conservation Biology Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) Birmensdorf Switzerland", "Terrestrial Ecology, Institute of Zoology University of Cologne Cologne Germany", "German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig Leipzig Germany", "Soil Ecology Department Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Halle (Saale) Germany", "Department of Ecosystem Services Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig Germany", "Institute of Landscape Ecology University of Münster Münster Germany", "Departament of Biology Marine Research Universitary Institute (INMAR), University of Cádiz Puerto Real Spain", "Department of Environmental Systems Science Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland", "Forest Entomology Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) Birmensdorf Switzerland", "Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics Ulm University Ulm Germany", "Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Soil Biology Department University of Hohenheim Stuttgart Germany", "Institute of Geography Ruhr University Bochum Bochum Germany", "Department of Landscape Ecology and Resources Management Justus Liebig University Giessen Giessen Germany", "Institute of Geography and Geoecology Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Karlsruhe Germany", "Research Data Services, University Library University of Duisburg‐Essen Duisburg Germany", "Department of Geosciences University of Tübingen Tübingen Germany", "Faculty of Life Sciences Technical University Braunschweig Braunschweig Germany", "Leibniz Institute, DSMZ‐German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH Braunschweig Germany", "Ornithology Natural History Museum Vienna Vienna Austria", "Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany", "Institut für Biologie, Ecology of Plants Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany", "Berchtesgaden National Park Berchtesgaden Germany", "Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management Technical University of Munich Freising Germany", "Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis Helmholtz Center for Environmental Health Neuherberg Germany", "Department for Biogeochemical Processes Max Planck‐Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena Germany", "Department of Biosciences, Plant Ecology, Botanical Garden University of Salzburg Salzburg Austria", "Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, Department of Environmental Systems Science ETH Zürich Zurich Switzerland", "Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany", "Department of Crop Sciences, Functional Agrobiodiversity Georg‐August‐Universität Göttingen Göttingen Germany", "Community Ecology Department Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Halle (Saale) Germany", "Institut für Biologie, Funktionelle Biodiversität Freie Universität Berlin Germany" ], "article_type": null, "arxiv": null, "author_total": 41, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Hugo Sáiz", "orcid": "0000-0002-7568-2996" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Lena Neuenkamp", "orcid": "0000-0001-6108-5720" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Caterina Penone", "orcid": "0000-0002-8170-6659" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Klaus Birkhofer", "orcid": "0000-0002-9301-2443" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Nico Blüthgen", "orcid": "0000-0001-6349-4528" }, { "affs": [ 4 ], "name": "Steffen Boch", "orcid": "0000-0003-2814-5343" }, { "affs": [ 5 ], "name": "Michael Bonkowski", "orcid": "0000-0003-2656-1183" }, { "affs": [ 6, 7 ], "name": "François Buscot", "orcid": "0000-0002-2364-0006" }, { "affs": [ 8, 6 ], "name": "María R. Felipe‐Lucia", "orcid": "0000-0003-1915-8169" }, { "affs": [ 5 ], "name": "Anna Maria Fiore‐Donno", "orcid": "0000-0001-6265-1907" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Markus Fischer", "orcid": "0000-0002-5589-5900" }, { "affs": [ 9 ], "name": "Martin Freitag", "orcid": "0000-0002-3280-5941" }, { "affs": [ 10 ], "name": "Óscar Godoy", "orcid": "0000-0003-4988-6626" }, { "affs": [ 7 ], "name": "Kezia Goldmann", "orcid": "0000-0003-2954-5517" }, { "affs": [ 11, 12 ], "name": "Martin M. Goßner", "orcid": "0000-0003-1516-6364" }, { "affs": [ 9 ], "name": "Ute Hamer", "orcid": "0000-0002-3845-3983" }, { "affs": [ 9 ], "name": "Norbert Hölzel", "orcid": "0000-0002-6367-3400" }, { "affs": [ 13 ], "name": "Kirsten Jung", "orcid": "0000-0002-9449-2215" }, { "affs": [ 14 ], "name": "Ellen Kandeler", "orcid": "0000-0002-2854-0012" }, { "affs": [ 15 ], "name": "Valentin H. Klaus", "orcid": "0000-0002-7469-6800" }, { "affs": [ 16 ], "name": "Till Kleinebecker", "orcid": "0000-0003-1121-2861" }, { "affs": [ 17, 18 ], "name": "Sophia Leimer", "orcid": "0000-0001-6272-204X" }, { "affs": [ 14 ], "name": "Sven Marhan", "orcid": "0000-0002-8954-5968" }, { "affs": [ 19 ], "name": "Yvonne Oelmann", "orcid": "0000-0003-3513-6568" }, { "affs": [ 20, 21 ], "name": "Jörg Overmann", "orcid": "0000-0003-3909-7201" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Daniel Prati", "orcid": "0000-0002-5755-4763" }, { "affs": [ 22 ], "name": "Swen C. Renner", "orcid": "0000-0002-6893-4219" }, { "affs": [ 23, 24 ], "name": "Matthias C. Rillig", "orcid": "0000-0003-3541-7853" }, { "affs": [ 25, 26 ], "name": "Sebastian Seibold", "orcid": "0000-0002-7968-4489" }, { "affs": [ 27 ], "name": "Michael Schloter", "orcid": "0000-0003-1671-1125" }, { "affs": [ 28 ], "name": "Ingo Schöning", "orcid": "0000-0002-9830-5026" }, { "affs": [ 21 ], "name": "Johannes Sikorski", "orcid": "0000-0002-1890-5540" }, { "affs": [ 29 ], "name": "Stephanie A. Socher", "orcid": "0000-0002-0090-4005" }, { "affs": [ 30 ], "name": "Emily F. Solly", "orcid": "0000-0002-3157-1805" }, { "affs": [ 31 ], "name": "Ingolf D Steffan-Dewenter", "orcid": "0000-0003-1359-3944" }, { "affs": [ 27 ], "name": "Barbara Stempfhuber" }, { "affs": [ 32 ], "name": "Catrin Westphal", "orcid": "0000-0002-2615-1339" }, { "affs": [ 17 ], "name": "Wolfgang Wilcke", "orcid": "0000-0002-6031-4613" }, { "affs": [ 33, 6 ], "name": "Tesfaye Wubet", "orcid": "0000-0001-8572-4486" }, { "affs": [ 34 ], "name": "Susanne Wurst", "orcid": "0000-0001-5339-8284" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Eric Allan", "orcid": "0000-0001-9641-9436" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b8bhxpn0qd5jb.bib", "cited_by": 6, "doi": "10.1111/1365-2435.70413", "fulltext_url": null, "id": "b8bhxpn0qd5jb", "issns": [ "0269-8463", "1365-2435" ], "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05840464v1", "language": "en", "licence": "CC-BY", "licence_label": "CC BY", "licence_source": "journal", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "hal", "0.sde" ], [ "hal", "1.sde.be" ], [ "openalex", "2306|Ecosystem dynamics and resilience" ] ], "openalex": "W7220907661", "pdf_url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/1365-2435.70413", "pmcid": null, "pmid": null, "published": "2026-10-08", "publisher": "Wiley", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b8bhxpn0qd5jb.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z", "native_id": "hal-05840464", "source": "hal", "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05840464v1" }, { "first_seen": "2026-11-07T13:21:03Z", "native_id": "W7220907661", "source": "openalex", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70413" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "biology", "origin": "hal:1.sde.be", "subfield": "ecology" }, { "field": "earth", "origin": "hal:0.sde", "subfield": "environmental-science" } ], "title": "Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands", "title_text": "Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:21Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b8bhxpn0qd5jb", "venue": "Functional Ecology", "versions": [] }