TERENO - Siptenfelde - Germany

The sites Friedeburg, Greifenhagen, Harsleben, Schafstädt, Siptenfelde and Wanzleben are part of the TERENO Harz / Central German Lowland Observatory in Saxony-Anhalt run by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ. These sites have a focus on biodiversity monitoring in the “normal landscape” which is characterized by agricultural use (about 60 % coverage of Saxony-Anhalt). Each site is a 4x4 km landscape of mainly arable land and semi-natural habitats like e.g. hedges and forests. The site Siptenfelde is in the eastern part of the Harz mountains and characterized by a distinct topography. The mean elevation is 423 m asl and besides meadows and agricultural fields the village Siptenfelde is surrounded by forest. Thus the area covered by forest amounts to 61 %, crop fields 18 % and all semi-natural habitats sum up to 15 %.