TITLE:
Change of Species and Habitat Diversity in the Pannonian Region of Eastern Lower Austria over 170 Years: Using Herbarium Records as a Witness
AUTHORS:
Alexandra Grass, Karin Tremetsberger, Reinhard Hössinger, Karl-Georg Bernhardt
KEYWORDS:
Danube Regulation, Fens, Grassland, Herbarium Analysis, Water Bodies
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.5 No.11,
August
19,
2014
ABSTRACT:
By dint of historical
herbarium specimens, we show how changes in species and habitat diversity can
be reviewed and correlated with historical events. Our work is based on a
digital database of specimens of the BOKU herbarium (WHB), which can be
assigned to the Pannonian region of eastern Lower Austria. The complete dataset
(n = 6655 specimens) was analyzed
with the aid of statistical methods allowing computational elimination of collectors' effects (i.e. unbalanced collecting
interests of collectors over time; multiple regression analysis, general linear
model), from the first herbarium specimens (dating back to 1830) to the
present. As a result, a significant decrease in the proportion of species of
some habitats (above all water bodies and closely associated habitats, humid
and wet meadows, fens and fen meadows, and nutrient poor grassland) was
detected. For water-influenced habitats, this decrease correlates with the time
of Danube regulation. Moreover, an increase in the proportion of species of
ruderal sites was asserted during the observation period. The analysis
procedure developed can be used for evaluation of major digitized herbaria in
order to trace historical changes in species and habitat diversity.