To use or not to use: Lessons from biodiversity responses to 20 years of land-use changes across Norway

To use or not to use: Lessons from biodiversity responses to 30 years of land-use changes across Norway Beatrice Maria Trascau(1), Ivar Herfindal(2), Gunnar Austreheim(1), James D.M. Speed(1) (1)Department of Natural History, NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway (2)Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway Abstract The impact of land-use changes on biodiversity has been studied extensively and a growing body of evidence suggests land-use changes represent a threat which cannot be ignored. Prominent land-use changes across Norway such as urbanisation, abandonment, and intensification have been linked to significant shifts in assemblages, such as increased colonisation by non-native and generalist species, declines in turnover and homogenisation of communities. Most studies investigating the impacts of land-use changes on Norwegian biodiversity tend to examine responses only over several years, in restricted geographic ranges and considering a narrow taxonomic view. However, adapting to future challenges is likely to require continued and expanded land-use, which will likely impact a variety of ecosystems across the entirety of Norway. Accounting for the variation of responses between ecosystems and taxonomic groups, and their interaction with different land-use changes, is likely to hold the key to the development of effective conservation measures, which bridge the gap between increasing resource needs and the duty to protect and conserve Norwegian nature. Therefore, our study aims to 1) quantify the extent and impact of different land-use changes since 1992 across different ecosystems in Norway, 2) assess changes in species richness associated with land-use change, and 3) examine changes in beta diversity promoted by land-use change. The study will combine detailed land-cover and land-use data with existing records of biodiversity across the same period. Here, we will quantify changes in species richness and temporal beta diversity across land-use changes since 1992 at a national level. We expect that land-use changes will lead to increased species richness but decreased beta diversity and turnover of species between assemblages. The results of the study will be used to draw conclusions about the impacts of approximately 30 years of land-use changes on biodiversity across Norway.