Biodiversity, land use and ecosystem services—An organismic and comparative approach to different geographical regions

Abstract Here, we introduce a concept that addresses the complex interrelations between land use and biodiversity by applying an organismic and comparative approach towards grassland ecosystems in southern Africa and temperate Europe. While the natural savannas of southern Africa evolved millions of years ago, cultural grasslands in Europe emerged as a result of intensifying agriculture only a few hundred years ago. A unique feature of recent African ecosystems is the high original megafaunal species diversity (taxa existing prior to Pleistocene extinctions). European ecosystems have been shaped by humans and the original megafaunal species diversity is clearly reduced. Similar to the situation in southern Africa today, large herbivores also created a cyclic habitat mosaic in Europe during the last interglacial. The depleted herbivore community in Europe during the early Holocene was no longer able to maintain this cyclic succession. This resulted in a more uniform and dense vegetation type – a process that can be currently witnessed in Africa in bush encroachment. The comparative approach considers further strong natural and cultural linkages between Europe and Africa, such as biogeographical relations between continents, faunistic similarities during the late Pleistocene, the Afro-Palearctic bird migration system or the domestication history of European and African cattle. Our approach is based on the assumption that comparative investigations of response patterns under different ecological conditions lead to a better understanding of the common interrelations between land use and biodiversity. It deals with the central question, whether ecosystems respond in a similar way to disturbances. Biodiversity response patterns in relatively undisturbed savanna ecosystems might be a valuable reference for Europe, e.g. in terms of increasing aridity in Europe in the future. The comparative approach requires a careful selection of primary taxa. Special focus is on the use of terrestrial small mammals as ecological indicators. The approach further focuses on human–wildlife interactions. The emergence of top predators in Europe reveals the value of the experience from Africa, where pastoralists manage to coexist with large predators since millennia. The investigation of African grasslands enables a critical reflection and a thorough understanding of processes, which have occurred a long time ago in Europe. Our approach leads to a revaluation of the significance of Africa in terms of a conservative, relict case scenario that can provide essential insights into the original situation of ecosystems, especially in view of “rewilding” approaches in Europe. Thereby, the approach leads to a careful consideration of the term “wilderness”.