For the annual Stadt-Land-Plus Status Conference, where all funded projects report on their activities, progress and challenges, we were not too shy to give a first video pitch about our project. Here you can see the result:

Since May 2021, the TU Dresden has been running measurement campaigns on the watercourses and in the agricultural wood structures in Peickwitz, Klingenberg-Colmnitz and on the Mortelbach near Waldheim. In two rounds (vegetation period 2021 and 2022), different parameters will be investigated that describe the functions and services of agricultural wood structures for the flowing water ecosystem.

At the Peickwitz site near Senftenberg, an agricultural wood plantation with the poplar species Fritzi Pauley was planted along the Peickwitz millrace to reduce wind erosion. Directly adjacent to the Wiesengrundbach in Klingenberg-Colmnitz is a 0.8 ha agrowood plantation (a so-called variety garden with poplar and willow trees), which is used as the second pilot area in the measurement campaign.

The following parameters are included in the analyses:

• Water level h [m].
• Flow velocity v [m/s]
• Flow rate Q [m³/s]
• Water temperature T [°C]
• Terrain [m a.s.l.]
• Location of woody plants
• Air temperature and humidity
• Soil water content
• Radiant heat of the sun
• Circumference of tree trunks
• Leaf sprouting and leaf fall
• Rainfall
• Leaf area index
• Tree structure (laser scan 2x per year)
• Vegetation development
• Soil properties
• Wind speed
• Solar radiation
• Air pressure

In addition, the team from the Department of Hydraulic Engineering at the TU Dresden is conducting macrozoobenthos (microorganisms in flowing water) sampling on the Mortelbach in the district of Mittelsachen in order to be able to make statements about water quality and temperature development. 

As soon as the first results and series of measurements are available, we will publish them on this website.

Within the framework of OLGA, Marie Herzig and Lena Schwarz, students of TU Dresden, determined the potential for agrowood to improve the ecological condition of smaller waterstreams in the City of Dresden and the surrounding districts. 

In order to achieve the goals of the European Water Framework Directive, the significant reduction of substance inputs into watercourses is imperative. For the most part, such substance inputs are caused by erosion from intensively farmed areas. The establishment of agroforestry plantations as buffer strips between fields or grassland and watercourses can relieve the watercourses of substances and enhance the ecological value of the riparian zone. In addition, agroforestry plantations contribute to agricultural value creation.

The presented work serves as a first assessment of the area potentials for agricultural wood on arable land, grassland and brownfields in the Dresden region. After carrying out the analysis, 3,302 areas within the study area come into question for the establishment of agrowood plantations. These have a total area of 13,296 ha, which corresponds to a share of 9.6 % of the total grassland, arable land and fallow land in the study area. It is noticeable that most of the areas have the minimum size, i.e. they are rather small. On average, the area size is 4 ha, with the largest potential area being 33 ha.

Optimally, plantations should be established on special agricultural sites or fallow land so as not to compete with land used for food production. Moreover, agroforestry structures are a valuable climate adaptation measure to reduce increasing extreme events in the the Dresden region.

Download link (German)

On 10 June 2021, the German Bundestag decided, based on an amendment, to include woody plantations on arable land AND on grassland in the funding. This is a decisive step that will make it easier for farmers to integrate more biodiversity-promoting and climate-adapted measures on their land. And the animals can look forward to more shade and less wind! We are also pleased about this decision.

More information