Symposium

Restoration of Rare Arable Plants

Freising Weihenstephan

20 - 22 June 2013

Organization:

Cooperation:

Restoration of Rare Arable Plants - Introduction

Harald Albrecht 1), Julia Prestele 1,2), Sara Altenfelder 1), Thomas van Elsen 3),

Stefan Meyer 4), Klaus Wiesinger 2) & Johannes Kollmann 1)

Key subject of the symposium:

Changes and conservation of threatened arable plants

Content of Presentation:

1. Changes of the (local) arable plant species diversity

2. Development of arable plant conservation in Germany

3. Introduction to the program

Affiliation of authors:

1 Restoration Ecology, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Freising

2 Institute for Agricultural Ecology, Soil Cultivation and Resource Protection, Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture, Freising

3 Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen

4 Department of Plant Ecology and Ecosystems Research, University of Göttingen

Weihenstephan:

- Benedictine Monastery founded in 833

- Secularisation in 1803

- Conversion into an agricultural school

- Today: center of „green“ sciences of Bavaria in education and research

Weihenstephan monestary by Michael Wening (1700)

Weihenstephan, 19th century:

- Various field studies to improve

arable farming practices

Map of Weihenstephan

by Max Schönleutner (1810)

Symposium venue

Change of the local arable

plant species diversity

Entwicklung der

Landwirtschaft

Threatened arable plants occurring

on arable fileds around Freising (HOFMANN, 1877):

- Adonis aestivalis

- Agrostemma githago

- Anagallis minima

- Bromus arvensis

- Bromus secalinus

- Camelina alyssum

- Centaurea cyanus

- Gypsophila muralis

- Legousia speculum-veneris

- Linaria arvensis

- Lolium temulentum

- Neslia paniculata

- Papaver argemone

- Ranunculus arvensis

- Silene noctiflora

- Valerianella dentata

- Valerianella rimosa

17 species of the ‚list of rare or

threatened European arable plants’

(35%) (Storkey et al. 2012)

Region not particularly species rich

Plant community of a winter wheat field in 1951

2 km west of symposium venue (SCHRAMM, 1954)

43 plant species in one sample

- 4 species ‚list of rare or threatened European

arable plants’ (Storkey et al. 2012):

- Agrostemma githago

- Ranunculus arvensis

- Neslia paniculata

- Valerianella dentata

- ‚Vulnerable‘ species, regional level:

- Lithospermum arvense

- Euphorbia exigua

- Lathyrus tuberosus

high species diversity

rare species were still common

Change of the local arable plant species diversity

Development of the percentage of arable crops treated with herbicides

(%) in Germany between 1950 and 1984 (from HANF 1985)

Beets

Spring Cereals

Winter Cereals

Potatoes

Maize

Rape

Field spraying in 1958 (Photo: Bundesarchiv)

Reasons for the decline of arable species diversity

Arable fields close to Allershausen (12 km west of Freising)

Reasons for the decline of arable species diversity:

- chemical and mechanical weed control

- increased fertilization

- modified choice of crops

- narrowing crop rotations

- increased tillage intensity

- seed cleaning

- land consolidation, marketing structures

Decline of arable plant diversity determined by various factors

Publications on the arable plant decline (incomplete list):

Austria: - RIES (1992)

Czech Republic - KROPAC (1988)

- LOSOSOVÁ (2003)

Danmark: - ANDREASEN et al. (1996)

England - SUTCLIFFE & KAY (2000)

- POTTS et al. (2010)

Finland - ERVIÖ & SALONEN (1987)

France: - FRIED (2009)

Germany: - ALBRECHT (1995, meta-study)

- MEYER et al. (2010)

Hungary - TÓTH et al. (1999)

Spain - NEZADAL W. (1994)

Decline all over Europe

More actual information is presented during the symposium

Development of arable plant conservation in Germany

Arable field preserves:

- 1970 Beutenlay (FRG) (Klein, 1979)

- 1981 Luckau Freesdorf (GDR) (Illig, 1994)

Field Margin Strip Program

- 1978 North Rhine-Westphalia (Schumacher, 1980)

Similar programs in other federal states:

- Upper Bavaria 1985:

- 885 field margin strips, 335 ha area

- 23 Red Data Book species (Mattheis, 1993)

Sign indicating a field margin strip

(Upper Bavaria, 1992)

Adonis flammea Gagea pratensis Muscari comosum

Agrostemma githago Galium spurium ssp. spurium Nonea pulla

Ajuga chamaepytis Galium spurium ssp. Vaillantii Onobrychis arenaria

Anthriscus caucalis Galium tricornutum Papaver hybridum

Anthemis cotula Gypsophila muralis Phleum paniculatum

Arabis recta Hypochoeris glabra Ranunculus arvensis

Arnoseris minima Lathyrus aphaca Ranunculus sardous

Bromus grossus Legousia hybrida Sagina micropetala

Bromus secalinus Legousia speculum-veneris Silene conica

Caucalis platycarpos Linum tenuifolium Stachys annua

Centunculus minimus Lythrum hyssopifolia Stachys arvensis

Chrysanthemum segetum Medicago minima Valerianella dentata

Consolida regalis Mibora minima Valerianella rimosa

Euphorbia falcata Minuartia hybrida Vicia lathyroides

Euphorbia platyphyllos Misopates orontium

Species of the Red Data Book recorded in field margin strips in

Rheinland-Pfalz (1985-1991; OESAU 1992)

47 Species of the Red Data Book of Rheinand-Pfalz

Field margins highly successful

Field margin strip in Rheinland-Pfalz

initiated by Albert Oesau

During the 2nd half of the 1990s, the number protected field strips in Germany

severely declined (WICKE, 1998)

Mayor reasons:

- Weed infestation problems in the adjacent parts of the fields

- Difficulties to control the observance of the contracts

- Inflexible management agreements

- Insufficient financial support

- Difficulties to integrate the strips into the operational process of the farm

- Increasing numbers of competing agro-environmental schemes

(Flower strips, renewable resources etc.)

In Bavaria 1997 10 - 20 % of the initial number left (ERCHINGER & SCHMID, 1998)

Development of arable plant conservation in Germany

Survey of arable plant conservation sites

in Germany in 2007 (MEYER et al., 2008)

Only 170 sites with main focus

on arable plant conservation of left

Mainly based on local activities

2009 nationwide project

‘100 Fields for Biodiversity‘

- Long term contracts

(management, financial support)

- State of the art in Bavaria:

Bernd Blümlein on Friday

Development of arable plant

conservation in Germany

This session is originally the annual meeting of the German working group

on conservation of arable plants

Platform for an international exchange of ideas and experiences on how

threatened plants and their habitats can be conserved and restored

Broad spectrum of corresponding presentations

Meeting of the German

Working Group on Arable

Plant Conservation 2009 at

Witzenhausen

Program on Thursday morning (20 June)

09.30–10.20 Henri Darmeny (INRA, France)

Behind the French National Action Plan in favour of messicoles, the rare arable weeds

10.20–10.50 Poster presentations and coffee

10.50–11.10 Nina Richner (Agroscope, Switzerland)

Changes in the arable weed communities in Switzerland

11.10–11.30 Stefan Meyer (Uni Göttingen, Germany)

Recent development of the arable plant communities and rare species in Germany

11.30–11.50 Simone Schneider (Luxembourg)

Conservation of the field flora in southwestern Luxembourg

11.50–12.10 Denise Dostatny (IHAR, Poland)

Preservation of rare weed species in Poland

12.10–13.10 Lunch break

Establishment of a conservation plot in

Luxembourg in March 2012 (Photo: F. Schaul)

Program on Thursday afternoon

12.10–13.10 Lunch break

13.10–14.00 Phil Wilson (The Species Recovery Trust, England)

Development and conservation of rare arable plants in Britain

14.10–14.30 Birgit Lind (Stiftung Rheinische Kulturlandschaft, Germany)

Conservation project for endangered field weeds: ‘Bad weeds grow tall? Not at all!’

14.30–14.50 Lilith Epperlein (TUM, Germany)

Impact of rare arable plants on crop yields

15.00–20.00 Excursion to Munich Plain

15.15–16.00 Field reserve Kastner Grube

17.00–18.30 Field experiment Gräfelfing

19.15–20.00 Fa. Krimmer a seed producer

Excursion site at Gräfelfing:

Left: Overview of the experimental site

Right: Julia Prestele is sowing rare plants

Program on Friday 21 June

08.30–08.45 Rudolf Rippel (LfL, Germany)

Welcome address

08.45–09.00 Wolfgang Haber (TUM, Germany)

Restoration of arable plants in multifunctional landscapes

09.00–09.20 Thomas van Elsen (Uni Kassel, Germany)

Re-establishing arable field plants on organic fields

09.20–09.40 Bernd Blümlein & Marie Kaerlein (DVL, Germany)

Arable plant conservation in Bavaria – the ‘100 Fields for Biodiversity-Project’

and the role of the Landcare Associations

09.40–10.00 Sara Altenfelder (TUM, Germany)

Conservation management of rare species in seasonally wet fields

10.00–10.30 Poster presentations and coffee

10.30–11.30 Johannes Kollmann (TUM, Germany)

Introduction to the excursions

11.30–16.30 Excursion to Sandharlanden (Lunch break included)

Seasonally wet fields in Brandenburg

with high number of threatened species

Presentation by Sara Altenfelder

Program on Saturday 22 June

08.30–13.00 Excursion to Titting

Suggestion:

Arable plant enthusiasts should meet again on an international scale

If you have corresponding ideas or suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact me

I could forward the information to the participants of this meeting

Thank you for your attention