Assessing biotope vulnerability to landscape changes Largescale patterns of global land use change are very frequently accompanied by natural habitat loss. To assess the consequences of habitat loss for the remaining natural and semi natural biotopes inclusion of cumulative effects at the landscape level is required. The interdisciplinary concept of vulnerability constitutes an appropriate assessment framework at the landscape level though with few examples of its application for ecological assessments. A comprehensive biotope vulnerability analysis allows identification of areas most affected by landscape change and at the same time with the lowest chances of regeneration. To this end a series of ecological indicators were reviewed and developed. They measured spatial attributes of individual biotopes as well as some ecological and conservation characteristics of the respective resident species community. The final vulnerability index combined seven largely independent indicators which covered exposure sensitivity and adaptive capacity of biotopes to landscape changes. Results for biotope vulnerability were provided at the regional level. This seems to be an appropriate extent with relevance for spatial planning and designing the distribution of nature reserves. [...]