@article {4404,
	title = {Disturbance-grazer-vegetation interactions maintain habitat diversity in mountain pasture-woodlands},
	journal = {Ecological Modelling},
	volume = {359},
	year = {2017},
	month = {Jan-09-2017},
	pages = {301 - 310},
	abstract = {<p>Low-intensity livestock grazing is a widespread management tool in order to maintain habitat diversity in mountain pasture-woodlands for nature conservation purposes. Historical photographs indicate that forest disturbance significantly contributed to forest-grassland mosaic pattern formation. Disturbance-grazer interactions are however poorly understood and the effects of logging or windthrow are rarely considered in management plans. Moreover, disturbance-grazer interactions are crucial for the maintenance of open habitats in the upcoming \&ldquo;rewilding\&rdquo; approach of nature conservation. We aimed to understand the effects of forest gap creation by the breakdown of senile trees or by single-tree cutting and of large forest openings by windthrow or logging on mosaic pattern formation in pasture-woodlands that were grazed by cattle and dominated by tree species with distinct regeneration ecology (Picea abies vs. Fagus sylvatica). We used the process-based model of pasture-woodland vegetation dynamics WoodPaM and newly implemented a forest disturbance routine. We simulated disturbance and grazing scenarios in an artificial mountain landscape and analyzed mosaic patterns with landscape metrics. We found that grazing in absence of disturbance promoted simply structured mosaics that were preconditioned by topography. Only large-scale forest disturbance disrupted this pattern and maintained the historical heterogeneous distribution of grassland communities across all habitat conditions (especially species-rich mountain grasslands on poor soil). This prerequisite is stronger in pasture-woodlands where the ecology of the dominant tree species promotes forest-grassland segregation (F. sylvatica in our case) and less in naturally thin-canopy mountain forest close to the tree line (P. abies). In wilderness areas, the very low density of grazers may limit the maintenance of open habitats regardless disturbance.</p>
},
	issn = {03043800},
	doi = {10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.06.012},
	url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S030438001730100Xhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S030438001730100X?httpAccept=text/xmlhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S030438001730100X?httpAccept=text/plain},
	author = {Peringer, Alexander and Buttler, Alexandre and Gillet, Fran{\c c}ois and P{\u a}tru-Stupariu, Ileana and Schulze, Kiowa A. and Stupariu, Mihai-Sorin and Rosenthal, Gert}
}
@article {4406,
	title = {Multi-scale feedbacks between tree regeneration traits and herbivore behavior explain the structure of pasture-woodland mosaics},
	journal = {Landscape Ecology},
	volume = {31},
	year = {2016},
	month = {Jan-05-2016},
	pages = {913 - 927},
	abstract = {<p>The pasture-woodlands of Central Europe are low-intensity grazing systems in which the structural richness of dynamic forest-grassland mosaics is causal for their high biodiversity. Distinct mosaic patterns in Picea abies- and Fagus sylvatica-dominated pasture-woodlands in the Swiss Jura Mountains suggest a strong influence of tree species regeneration ecology on landscape structural properties. At the landscape scale, however, cause-effect relationships are complicated by habitat selectivity of livestock.</p>
},
	issn = {0921-2973},
	doi = {10.1007/s10980-015-0308-z},
	url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10980-015-0308-z},
	author = {Peringer, Alexander and Schulze, Kiowa A. and Stupariu, Ileana and Stupariu, Mihai-Sorin and Rosenthal, Gert and Buttler, Alexandre and Gillet, Fran{\c c}ois}
}
