Water Channels - The traditional irrigation culture using water channels as model for sustainable water management: Effects on local biodiversity (NFP 61)Bruno Baur Open water channels have been used for centuries in the arid mountain regions of the world for the transportation and distribution of scarce water for use as drinking water and, in particular, process water in agriculture (irrigation water). In the past decades, however, this traditional irrigation culture has been replaced by modern sprinkler irrigation systems, which may affect the local biodiversity. In the framework of NFP 61 (Sustainable water use) we compare the biodiversity of traditionally irrigated and sprinkler irrigated hay meadows in the canton Valais. As biodiversity indictors we consider the diversity of vascular plants and terrestrial gastropods. Keywords: biodiversity - land use - irrigation - grassland PublicationsRiedener E, Melliger RL, Rusterholz H-P & Baur B (2015) — Changes in landscape composition of differently irrigated hay meadows in an arid mountain region — Applied Vegetation Science 18: 242–251 Riedener E, Rusterholz H-P & Baur B (2014) — Land-use abandonment owing to irrigation cessation affects the biodiversity of hay meadows in an arid mountain region — Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 185: 144–152 Melliger RL, Riedener E, Rusterholz H-P & Baur B (2014) — Do different irrigation techniques affect the small-scale patterns of plant diversity and soil characteristics in mountain hay meadows? — Plant Ecology 215: 1037–1046 Riedener E, Rusterholz H-P & Baur B (2013) — Effects of different irrigation systems on the biodiversity of species-rich hay meadows — Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 164: 62–69
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