Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e13008 |
| Journal | Conservation Science and Practice |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Publication status | Published - 9 Oct 2023 |
Abstract
Grasslands are globally distributed and naturally occurring; however, in Europe, most grasslands are anthropogenically created or altered by livestock grazing or mowing. Low-intensity use and management have led to species-rich communities in European grasslands. The intensification of crop production and livestock farming with stabling throughout the year has led to an abandonment of grasslands that are no longer economically profitable. In this study, we looked at the influence of grassland abandonment on biodiversity. We hypothesized that abandonment of grasslands decreases the overall biodiversity, but has different effects depending on the focal taxonomic group (i.e., vascular plants, insects, or birds). We also hypothesized that the type of management before abandonment, the type of grassland, and the time after abandonment would influence grassland biodiversity. We conducted a Web of Science search, with pre-defined terms, to find articles that compared biodiversity of managed and abandoned grasslands in Europe. We screened the articles and included 39 studies in a subsequent meta-analysis. We found that overall biodiversity was reduced after abandonment; however, the biodiversity reduction in the grasslands differed among taxonomic groups. Plant species diversity was significantly lower after abandonment (plant summary effect size: −0.25 [−0.34; −0.16]), whereas the diversity of insects and birds showed no significant trend, but a visual trend toward an increase. None of the other environmental variables (type of management, type of grassland, or the time after abandonment) had a significant influence on the biodiversity of the grasslands. We conclude that maintaining grassland management is crucial to support biodiversity conservation in European grasslands.
Keywords
- bird, insect, meadow, meta-analysis, pasture, plant, species-richness
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)
- Global and Planetary Change
- Environmental Science(all)
- Ecology
- Environmental Science(all)
- Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
- Environmental Science(all)
- Nature and Landscape Conservation
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In: Conservation Science and Practice, Vol. 5, No. 10, e13008, 09.10.2023.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Abandoning grassland management negatively influences plant but not bird or insect biodiversity in Europe
AU - Elliott, Tessa
AU - Thompson, Amibeth
AU - Klein, Alexandra Maria
AU - Albert, Christian
AU - Eisenhauer, Nico
AU - Jansen, Florian
AU - Schneider, Andrea
AU - Sommer, Martin
AU - Straka, Tanja
AU - Settele, Josef
AU - Sporbert, Maria
AU - Tanneberger, Franziska
AU - Mupepele, Anne Christine
N1 - Funding Information: This project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA) under the funding code 16LC2001B. The responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. Nico Eisenhauer acknowledges support of iDiv funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG–FZT 118, 202548816). Anne‐Christine Mupepele was supported by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden‐Wurttemberg, Germany.
PY - 2023/10/9
Y1 - 2023/10/9
N2 - Grasslands are globally distributed and naturally occurring; however, in Europe, most grasslands are anthropogenically created or altered by livestock grazing or mowing. Low-intensity use and management have led to species-rich communities in European grasslands. The intensification of crop production and livestock farming with stabling throughout the year has led to an abandonment of grasslands that are no longer economically profitable. In this study, we looked at the influence of grassland abandonment on biodiversity. We hypothesized that abandonment of grasslands decreases the overall biodiversity, but has different effects depending on the focal taxonomic group (i.e., vascular plants, insects, or birds). We also hypothesized that the type of management before abandonment, the type of grassland, and the time after abandonment would influence grassland biodiversity. We conducted a Web of Science search, with pre-defined terms, to find articles that compared biodiversity of managed and abandoned grasslands in Europe. We screened the articles and included 39 studies in a subsequent meta-analysis. We found that overall biodiversity was reduced after abandonment; however, the biodiversity reduction in the grasslands differed among taxonomic groups. Plant species diversity was significantly lower after abandonment (plant summary effect size: −0.25 [−0.34; −0.16]), whereas the diversity of insects and birds showed no significant trend, but a visual trend toward an increase. None of the other environmental variables (type of management, type of grassland, or the time after abandonment) had a significant influence on the biodiversity of the grasslands. We conclude that maintaining grassland management is crucial to support biodiversity conservation in European grasslands.
AB - Grasslands are globally distributed and naturally occurring; however, in Europe, most grasslands are anthropogenically created or altered by livestock grazing or mowing. Low-intensity use and management have led to species-rich communities in European grasslands. The intensification of crop production and livestock farming with stabling throughout the year has led to an abandonment of grasslands that are no longer economically profitable. In this study, we looked at the influence of grassland abandonment on biodiversity. We hypothesized that abandonment of grasslands decreases the overall biodiversity, but has different effects depending on the focal taxonomic group (i.e., vascular plants, insects, or birds). We also hypothesized that the type of management before abandonment, the type of grassland, and the time after abandonment would influence grassland biodiversity. We conducted a Web of Science search, with pre-defined terms, to find articles that compared biodiversity of managed and abandoned grasslands in Europe. We screened the articles and included 39 studies in a subsequent meta-analysis. We found that overall biodiversity was reduced after abandonment; however, the biodiversity reduction in the grasslands differed among taxonomic groups. Plant species diversity was significantly lower after abandonment (plant summary effect size: −0.25 [−0.34; −0.16]), whereas the diversity of insects and birds showed no significant trend, but a visual trend toward an increase. None of the other environmental variables (type of management, type of grassland, or the time after abandonment) had a significant influence on the biodiversity of the grasslands. We conclude that maintaining grassland management is crucial to support biodiversity conservation in European grasslands.
KW - bird
KW - insect
KW - meadow
KW - meta-analysis
KW - pasture
KW - plant
KW - species-richness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85168137403&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/csp2.13008
DO - 10.1111/csp2.13008
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85168137403
VL - 5
JO - Conservation Science and Practice
JF - Conservation Science and Practice
IS - 10
M1 - e13008
ER -