Artenvielfalt in Thüringen Zustand, Ursachen, Funktion und Zukunft

The connections between climate, soil, vegetation, biodiversity and their functions have meanwhile been widely understood from a scientific point of view. Both in the forest and in the open countryside biodiversity largely depends on the cultivation methods, the latter nowadays mainly being determined by socio-economic circumstances and political standards rather than by natural conditions. Against this background the political framework conditions of land use could provide the most effective tool to safeguard biodiversity. In times of increasing climate change the functionality of nature has to be kept in the best possible state which is mainly possible by a diversity of species. The general principles for the putection of the biological diversity (e.g. by declaring protection areas) include a diversity of land use systems and structures. Referring to the Federal State of Thuringia this would mean the establishment and extension of a representative network of protected sites out of cultivation, the establishment and extension of a representative system of nature conservation sites as core areas for a prospective wildlife corridor network, and the cultivation of the largest part of the state area according to "best practices" which have to be redefined and should integrate the protection of biodiversity as criterion for sustainability. Facing the dynamic changes of the vegetation in the context of global warming the integration of species protection into cultivation methods on large parts of the country is of overriding importance. Otherwise the existing protection sites will turn into increasingly isolated islands in a "hostile" surrounding.