Agricultural practices and biodiversity: Conservation policies for semi-natural grasslands in Europe

作者：J. Ryan Shipley, Esther R. Frei, Ariel Bergamini, Steffen Boch, Tobias Schulz, Christian Ginzler, Marco Barandun, Peter Bebi, Janine Bolliger, Kurt Bollmann, Noémie Delpouve, Martin M. Goßner, Catherine H. Graham, Frank Krumm, Mauro Marty, Noémie A. Pichon, Andreas Rigling, Christian Rixen · 发表于：Current Biology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.cub.2024.06.062 · 被引用次数：64 · 研究领域：Forest Management and Policy、Botany and Plant Ecology Studies、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Europe's semi-natural grasslands support notably high levels of temperate biodiversity across multiple taxonomic groups. However, these ecosystems face unique conservation challenges. Contemporary agricultural practices have replaced historical traditional low-intensity agriculture in many regions, resulting in a spectrum of management intensities within these ecosystems, ranging from highly intensive methods to complete abandonment. Paradoxically, both extremes along this spectrum of management intensity can be detrimental to biodiversity of semi-natural grasslands. Moreover, while anthropogenic climate change is an overarching threat to these ecosystems, rapid changes in land use and its intensity often present more immediate pressures. Often occurring at a faster rate than climate change itself, these land-use changes have the potential to rapidly impact the biodiversity of these grasslands. Here, we divide the ecological processes, threats, and developments to semi-natural grasslands into three sections. First, we examine the different impacts of agricultural intensification and abandonment on these ecosystems, considering their different consequences for biodiversity. Second, we review seminal works on various evidence-based management practices and offer a concise summary that provides support for various conservation and management strategies. However, the socio-economic factors that drive both abandonment and intensification in semi-natural grasslands can also be used...