Highlights•Trajectories in the global land system call for improvements in our understanding
of land-use intensity.•A comprehensive conceptual framework and a system of measurement …

In the light of daunting global sustainability challenges such as climate change, biodiversity
loss and food security, improving our understanding of the complex dynamics of the Earth …

Assessing changes in the extent and management intensity of land use is crucial to
understanding land-system dynamics and their environmental and social outcomes. Yet …

Land use is increasingly recognized as a major driver of biodiversity and ecosystem
functioning in many current research projects. In grasslands, land use is often classified by …

In soil, Acidobacteria constitute on average 20% of all bacteria, are highly diverse, and are
physiologically active in situ. However, their individual functions and interactions with higher …

Fungi play vital roles in the decomposition of deadwood due to their secretion of various
enzymes that break down plant cell-wall complexes. The compositions of wood-inhabiting …

Forests provide humankind with essential raw materials and the demand for these materials
is increasing. Further expanding forestry into unmanaged forests is environmentally costly …

Background and aims Fine root decomposition contributes significantly to element cycling in
terrestrial ecosystems. However, studies on root decomposition rates and on the factors that …

There is a wealth of smaller-scale studies on the effects of forest management on plant
diversity. However, studies comparing plant species diversity in forests with different …

Existing approaches for the assessment of forest management intensity lack a widely
accepted, purely quantitative measure for ranking a set of forest stands along a gradient of …