A novel modeling approach to evaluate the ecological effects of timing and location of grassland conservation measures

摘要: Abstract Several billion euros are spent in Europe every year on agri-environment schemes to compensate farmers for (costly) conservation measures such as specific mowing and grazing regimes. These can impact grassland species during their reproductive period. Therefore, it is particularly important when (and not only where) they applied. However, contrast the spatial allocation of measures, temporal has rarely been taken into consideration. Existing modeling approaches suffer from two major limitations: They consume too much computing time optimization procedures at landscape scale, be applicable a wide variety measures. We overcome these limitations by developing spatially temporally explicit general approach that quantify species-specific habitat quality function timing location straightforward way. apply our example German Federal State Saxony, demonstrate its usefulness, identify effects find considerable heterogeneity necessary multi-species conservation. This type quantitative analysis assist decision makers improving schemes.