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**Regional Biodiversity** 

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**8** 

**An Agenda for Austrian Biodiversity** 

**Research Network (LTER)** 

Stefan Schindler1,5, Thomas Dirnböck2,

Thomas Wrbka1 and Michael Mirtl2

*1Dptm. of Conservation Biology,* 

*2Environment Agency Austria* 

*Universidade do Porto* 

*1,2,3,4Austria 5Portugal* 

*3Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology* 

Franz Essl2, Richard Zink3, Stefan Dullinger1,4,

*Vegetation & Landscape Ecology, University of Vienna* 

*4Vienna Institute for Nature Conservation & Analyses* 

*5Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos,* 

Natural ecosystems provide a wealth of services that are useful, or even critical to humans (Daily, 1997; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [MEA], 2003). Biodiversity, while being of intrinsic value per se, is meant to be a system property crucial to the provision of many of these services (Kremen, 2005; Luck et al., 2003). However, the link between diversity, ecosystem function and ecosystem services is still poorly understood (Hooper et al., 2005). Given the many threats to the future of biodiversity (Ehrlich & Pringle 2008), our limited knowledge of how human uses depend on and influence biodiversity is particularly alarming. Developing an agenda that links biodiversity research to socio-ecology in general, and to the study of ecosystem service provision and resource management in particular is

In this book chapter, we present a research framework for Austrian biodiversity research under the umbrella of the Long-term Ecosystem Research (LTER) network (Mirtl, 2010; Mirtl et al., 2010). We elaborate research recommendations for the topics natural resources, resource use, energy production, climate change and pollutants, structural abiotic and biotic change, and the development of new methodological approaches. We further discuss institutional requirements for achieving a successful, efficient and competitive biodiversity research in Austria. We address the products of such research and their users as well as interlinks with the other thematic areas of LTER, namely process-oriented ecosystem

**1. Introduction** 

hence an urgent issue.

research and socio-ecological research.

**Research at the Long-Term Ecosystem** 
