Due to the increasing management intensity and mechanization of agricultural production, these landscapes belong to the areas which are most severely affected by the decline of biodiversity in central Europe. Considerable efforts have been made during the past decades to maintain and to increase biodiversity in agricultural regions by corresponding agro-environmental schemes. However, most of these programs were badly integrated into the production process and therefore often had no long-lasting effect.
Consequently, an important aim of the research carried out at the Chair of Restoration Ecology is to develop management strategies which provide both significant species conservation effects and economically attractive options for the farmers. Two projects are currently prepared: The first one shall provide methodological tools to preserve rare arable weeds by transferring them to fields under organic management regime. The aim of the second project is to analyse and to develop arable farming systems which enable highly endangered species to survive in seasonally wet field depressions.
Restoration and agriculture: Re-introduction of rare arable weeds on organic farms (Dipl. Ing. Julia Wegele)