More than 90% of the former species-rich mesic meadows remained grasslands, even though a large proportion was transformed to species-poor, intensively managed grassland (37%). Another 40% of the study area referred to newly established wet meadows. Habitat fragmentation The various investigated measures of landscape structure indicated BKM120 manufacturer similarly find protocol large changes over the 50-year period for wet and species-rich mesic meadows, except for the protected
Havel area where only very small changes occurred (Table 4). The remaining wet meadows of the unprotected floodplains experienced increasing fragmentation, as indicated by the patch size (area-weighted mean, AM) which decreased from 33.6 ha in the first census period to 2.8 ha in 2008 (difference significant at p ≤ 0.05). However, trends in the number of patches per study area were not consistent. Effective mesh size (MESH), which gives the degree BIIB057 ic50 of fragmentation, dramatically decreased in the wet meadow area from a mean of 24.14 to 0.25 ha (p ≤ 0.05). In contrast, in the protected Havel area, AM and MESH remained more or less constant, indicating constancy in
the degree of habitat fragmentation during the past decades. Table 4 Landscape metrics for wet meadows, species-rich mesic meadows and their combined areas in the seven floodplain study areas Study area Year of first inventory Number Thymidine kinase of patches 1950/1960s Number of patches 2008 Remaining number of patches (%) Patch density 1950/1960s (n 100 ha−1) Patch density 2008 (n 100 ha−1) Mean patch size 1950/1960s (ha) Mean patch size 2008 (ha) Effective mesh size 1950/1960s (ha) Effective mesh size 2008 (ha) Wet meadows Ems 1956 231 111
48.1 59.2 28.5 60.1 1.6 37.36 0.12 Weser 1954 48 13 27.1 30.9 8.4 17.9 0.8 11.54 0.02 Aue 1946 26 40 153.8 9.8 15.2 3.3 1.0 0.36 0.03 Helme 1969 203 32 15.8 18.8 3.0 30.2 9.3 16.08 0.86 Luppe 1967 10 8 80.0 5.4 4.3 3.8 0.9 0.45 0.01 Nuthe 1958 29 45 155.2 7.7 12.0 86.3 3.3 79.04 0.43 Mean (±SD) 91.2 (±90.0) 41.5 (±33.8) 80.0 (±56.3) 22.0 (±18.7) 11.9 (±8.5) 33.6* (±30.4) 2.8* (±3.0) 24.1* (±27.5) 0.25* (±0.3) Havel 1953 18 37 205.6 6.2 12.6 11.5 12.3 4.29 4.22 Species-rich mesic meadows Ems 1956 230 19 8.3 59.0 4.9 4.2 2.4 1.19 0.05 Weser 1954 61 11 18.0 39.3 7.1 2.0 2.4 0.57 0.11 Aue 1946 88 6 6.8 33.3 2.3 6.5 2.2 3.89 0.04 Helme 1969 86 16 18.6 8.0 1.5 1.6 2.2 0.05 0.02 Luppe 1967 16 16 100.0 8.6 8.6 16.2 1.1 8.08 0.04 Nuthe 1958 51 14 27.5 13.6 3.7 1.2 1.0.