Exploring land-freshwater dynamics under global change through the lenses of biodiversity
Agricultural landscapes are shaped not only by fields, grasslands and forests, but also by small water bodies, ditches, streams, wet depressions and riparian edges. These aquatic and semi-aquatic habitats may provide important resources and habitat complements for biodiversity in managed landscapes, but they have so far received comparatively little attention within terrestrial biodiversity research. In the Biodiversity Exploratories, WaterWeb provides a first exploratory assessment of how water-associated habitats are embedded in land-use gradients and how they may contribute to biodiversity patterns in agricultural landscapes.
WaterWeb aims to explore the biodiversity and environmental conditions of aquatic and semi-aquatic habitats associated with selected Biodiversity Exploratories plots. The project will assess 15–20 plots per Exploratory and will ask how local land use, landscape context and the proximity and type of water bodies relate to water-associated biodiversity and environmental conditions. As a first exploratory project, WaterWeb will establish a basis for future work on land–water linkages in the Biodiversity Exploratories.
We expect that small water bodies and riparian habitats differ in their biodiversity and environmental conditions depending on surrounding land use, nutrient inputs and landscape context. We further expect that plots closer to water bodies, or embedded in landscapes with more aquatic and riparian habitat, will show distinct biodiversity patterns compared with plots that are more isolated from these habitats. Because this is an exploratory project, the hypotheses are intentionally broad and will be used to identify promising gradients, candidate indicators and future research questions.
WaterWeb will sample 15–20 plots per Exploratory across gradients of land use and proximity to water. The project will combine field-based characterization of water bodies and riparian conditions with water sampling, eDNA-based biodiversity assessment and macroinvertebrate samplingw. Environmental measurements will include basic water properties and nutrient-related variables. These data will be linked to existing Biodiversity Exploratories information on plot-level land use, landscape structure, distance to water and habitat context.
As a new exploratory Phase 8 project, WaterWeb will generate the first systematic dataset on water-associated biodiversity and environmental conditions across selected Biodiversity Exploratories plots. The project will identify whether small water bodies, ditches, streams and riparian habitats represent important but underexplored components of biodiversity in managed landscapes. The results will provide a foundation for future, more targeted studies on land–water linkages, biodiversity monitoring and the role of aquatic habitats in agricultural landscapes.
Scientific assistants
