Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands
35 affiliations
- 1Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias y Medio Natural, Escuela Politécnica Superior Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón (IUCA), Universidad de Zaragoza Huesca Spain
- 2Institute of Plant Sciences University of Bern Bern Switzerland
- 3Department of Ecology Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus‐Senftenberg Cottbus Germany
- 4Ecological Networks, Department of Biology Technical University of Darmstadt Darmstadt Germany
- 5Biodiversity and Conservation Biology Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) Birmensdorf Switzerland
- 6Terrestrial Ecology, Institute of Zoology University of Cologne Cologne Germany
- 7German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig Leipzig Germany
- 8Soil Ecology Department Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Halle (Saale) Germany
- 9Department of Ecosystem Services Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig Germany
- 10Institute of Landscape Ecology University of Münster Münster Germany
- 11Departament of Biology Marine Research Universitary Institute (INMAR), University of Cádiz Puerto Real Spain
- 12Department of Environmental Systems Science Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland
- 13Forest Entomology Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) Birmensdorf Switzerland
- 14Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics Ulm University Ulm Germany
- 15Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Soil Biology Department University of Hohenheim Stuttgart Germany
- 16Institute of Geography Ruhr University Bochum Bochum Germany
- 17Department of Landscape Ecology and Resources Management Justus Liebig University Giessen Giessen Germany
- 18Institute of Geography and Geoecology Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Karlsruhe Germany
- 19Research Data Services, University Library University of Duisburg‐Essen Duisburg Germany
- 20Department of Geosciences University of Tübingen Tübingen Germany
- 21Faculty of Life Sciences Technical University Braunschweig Braunschweig Germany
- 22Leibniz Institute, DSMZ‐German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH Braunschweig Germany
- 23Ornithology Natural History Museum Vienna Vienna Austria
- 24Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
- 25Institut für Biologie, Ecology of Plants Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany
- 26Berchtesgaden National Park Berchtesgaden Germany
- 27Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management Technical University of Munich Freising Germany
- 28Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis Helmholtz Center for Environmental Health Neuherberg Germany
- 29Department for Biogeochemical Processes Max Planck‐Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena Germany
- 30Department of Biosciences, Plant Ecology, Botanical Garden University of Salzburg Salzburg Austria
- 31Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, Department of Environmental Systems Science ETH Zürich Zurich Switzerland
- 32Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
- 33Department of Crop Sciences, Functional Agrobiodiversity Georg‐August‐Universität Göttingen Göttingen Germany
- 34Community Ecology Department Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Halle (Saale) Germany
- 35Institut für Biologie, Funktionelle Biodiversität Freie Universität Berlin Germany
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.
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BibTeX
@article{saiz2026land,
title = {{Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands}},
author = {Hugo Sáiz and Lena Neuenkamp and Caterina Penone and Klaus Birkhofer and Nico Blüthgen and Steffen Boch and Michael Bonkowski and François Buscot and María R. Felipe‐Lucia and Anna Maria Fiore‐Donno and Markus Fischer and Martin Freitag and Óscar Godoy and Kezia Goldmann and Martin M. Goßner and Ute Hamer and Norbert Hölzel and Kirsten Jung and Ellen Kandeler and Valentin H. Klaus and Till Kleinebecker and Sophia Leimer and Sven Marhan and Yvonne Oelmann and Jörg Overmann and Daniel Prati and Swen C. Renner and Matthias C. Rillig and Sebastian Seibold and Michael Schloter and Ingo Schöning and Johannes Sikorski and Stephanie A. Socher and Emily F. Solly and Ingolf D Steffan-Dewenter and Barbara Stempfhuber and Catrin Westphal and Wolfgang Wilcke and Tesfaye Wubet and Susanne Wurst and Eric Allan},
journal = {Functional Ecology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/1365-2435.70413},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05840464v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands
AU - Hugo Sáiz
AU - Lena Neuenkamp
AU - Caterina Penone
AU - Klaus Birkhofer
AU - Nico Blüthgen
AU - Steffen Boch
AU - Michael Bonkowski
AU - François Buscot
AU - María R. Felipe‐Lucia
AU - Anna Maria Fiore‐Donno
AU - Markus Fischer
AU - Martin Freitag
AU - Óscar Godoy
AU - Kezia Goldmann
AU - Martin M. Goßner
AU - Ute Hamer
AU - Norbert Hölzel
AU - Kirsten Jung
AU - Ellen Kandeler
AU - Valentin H. Klaus
AU - Till Kleinebecker
AU - Sophia Leimer
AU - Sven Marhan
AU - Yvonne Oelmann
AU - Jörg Overmann
AU - Daniel Prati
AU - Swen C. Renner
AU - Matthias C. Rillig
AU - Sebastian Seibold
AU - Michael Schloter
AU - Ingo Schöning
AU - Johannes Sikorski
AU - Stephanie A. Socher
AU - Emily F. Solly
AU - Ingolf D Steffan-Dewenter
AU - Barbara Stempfhuber
AU - Catrin Westphal
AU - Wolfgang Wilcke
AU - Tesfaye Wubet
AU - Susanne Wurst
AU - Eric Allan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Functional Ecology
DO - 10.1111/1365-2435.70413
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05840464v1
AB - 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.
SN - 0269-8463
SN - 1365-2435
ER -