Human Impacts on Ecosystem Functioning and Species Diversity in Cultural Landscapes: Empirical Analyses for an Austrain Transect

We empirically analyzed the relations between land-use induced changes in production ecology and species diversity. The analysis was performed in a transect covering 38 squares (600 x 600 m) within cultural landscapes of eastern Austria. As indicators for land-use induced changes in the functioning of the investigated ecosystems we calculated actual NPP, harvest, NPPt (=actual NPP minus harvest), the "Human Appropriation of NPP" (HANPP = potential NPP minus NPPt), potential and actual biomass turnover and potential and actual standing crop (only aboveground processes considered). In order to assess the heterogeneity within squares we calculated standard deviation of these parameters. Species diversity was positively correlated with NPPt, standing crop and turnover time [years], and negatively correlated with actual NPP, harvest, HANPP and human-induced acceleration of turnover.