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Known as the "roof of the world", the Tibetan Plateau hosts the largest pastoral alpine ecosystem in the world. Nevertheless, there is currently no consensus on how soil organic carbon (SOC) stock changes after livestock grazing on the grassland of this region. Here, a meta-analysis was performed based on 55 published studies to quantify the livestock grazing-induced changes in SOC stock (0–30 cm) in grassland on the Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that livestock grazing significantly increased bulk density by an average of 11.5%, indicating that significant soil compaction was caused by livestock grazing. In contrast, SOC content and stock significantly decreased by 14.4% and 11.9% after livestock grazing, respectively. The decline rate of SOC stock was higher in alpine meadow (−12.4%) than that in alpine steppe (−8.8%), but there was no significant difference between the two rates. The SOC stocks decreased by 10.1%, 6.2% and 20.1% under light grazing, moderate grazing and heavy grazing, respectively. The decline rate of SOC stock under moderate grazing was significantly lower than that under heavy grazing. For different livestock types, it was observed that yak grazing significantly decreased SOC stock by 15.3%. Although the decline rate induced by yak grazing was higher than those induced by Tibetan sheep grazing and mixed grazing, no significant difference was detected among them. Similarly, the grazing-induced SOC declines also did not differ significantly among subgroups of grazing season. The positive relationships between SOC stock and plant biomass indicated that the decreased plant biomass was a likely reason for the declined SOC stock under grazing condition. The findings suggested that moderate grazing with Tibetan sheep in the warm season may minimize SOC losses from grazing activities in alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive species management is key to conserving critically threatened native prairie ecosystems. While prescribed burning is widely demonstrated to increase native diversity and suppress invasive species, elucidating the conditions under which burning is most effective remains an ongoing focus of applied prairie ecology research. Understanding how conservation management interacts with climate is increasingly pressing, because climate change is altering weather conditions and seasonal timing around the world. Increasingly early growing seasons due to climate change are shifting the timing and availability of resources and niche space, which may disproportionately advantage invasive species and influence the outcome of burning. We estimated the effects of burning, start time of the growing season, and their interaction on invasive species relative cover and frequency, two metrics for species abundance and dominance. We used 25 observed prairie sites and 853 observations of 267 transects spread throughout Minnesota, USA from 2010 to 2019 to conduct our analysis. Here, we show that burning reduced the abundance of invasive cool‐season grasses, leading to reduced abundance of invasive species as a whole. This reduction persisted over time for invasive cover but quickly waned for their frequency of occurrence. Additionally, and contrary to expectations that early growing season starts benefit invasive species, we found evidence that later growing season starts increased the abundance of some invasive species. However, the effects of burning on plant communities were largely unaltered by the timing of the growing season, although earlier growing season starts weakened the effectiveness of burning on Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and smooth brome (Bromus inermis), two of the most dominant invasive species in the region. Our results suggest that prescribed burning will likely continue to be a useful conservation tool in the context of earlier growing season starts, and that changes to growing season timing will not be a primary mechanism driving increased invasion due to climate change in these ecosystems. We propose that future research seek to better understand abiotic controls on invasive species phenology in managed systems and how burning intensity and timing interact with spring conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of soil carbon in grassland are partly determined by soil organic matter (SOM) composition. However, it remains unclear which role grassland management plays in the interplay between SOM composition and carbon dynamics. Using pyrolysis‐field ionization mass spectrometry (Py‐FIMS), we studied the effect of meadow, mown pasture and pasture on the molecular SOM composition in German topsoils. In sandy soils of the Schorfheide‐Chorin region, SOM composition and stability were strongly affected by clay contents and concentrations of crystalline Fe‐oxides. Here, the grassland management type influenced lipid proportions, which accounted for a maximum of 11.1% of the total ion intensity (TII) under mown pasture. In the Hainich‐Dün region, SOM composition was mainly related to the SOM decomposition stage (abundance of potentially recalcitrant compounds) but not to minerals. Compound classes of carbohydrates (4.3% TII), phenols and lignin monomers (8.5% TII), N‐containing compounds (2.2% TII) and peptides (4.6% TII) were highest under meadow, while compound classes of lignin dimers (3.4% TII) and lipids (8.1% TII) were highest under pasture. In the Schwäbische Alb region, the proportion of free fatty acids (1.6 to 2.3% TII) was positively related to the C/N ratio (r = 0.86); SOM stability was positively affected by poorly crystalline Fe‐oxide content (r = 0.85). The results suggest that grassland management is affecting SOM composition and stability and thus influence SOM dynamics in grasslands. However, the proportion and composition (Fe‐oxide content) of the soil clay fraction overrode grassland management effects if soil clay/OC ratios were <10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the largest threats to grassland plant species, which can be modified by land management. Although climate change and land management are expected to separately and interactively influence plant demography, this has been rarely considered in climate change experiments. We used a large-scale experiment in central Germany to quantify the effects of grassland management, climate change, and their joint effect on the demography and population growth rate of 11 plant species all native to this temperate grassland ecosystem. We parameterized integral projection models with five years of demographic data to project population growth rate. We hypothesized that plant populations perform better in the ambient than in the future climate treatment that creates hotter and drier summer conditions. Further, we hypothesized that plant performance interactively responds to climate and land management in a species-specific manner based on the drought, mowing, and grazing tolerances as well as the flowering phenology of each species. Due to extreme drought events, over half of our study species went quasi extinct, which highlights how extreme climate events can influence long-term experimental results. We found no consistent support for our expectation that plants perform better in ambient compared with future climate conditions. However, several species showed interactive responses to the treatments, indicating that optimal management strategies for plant performance are expected to shift with climate change. Changes in population growth rates of these species across treatments were mostly due to changes in plant reproduction. Experiments combined with measuring plant demographic responses provide a way to isolate the effects of different drivers on the long-term persistence of species and to identify the demographic vital rates that are critical to manage in the future. Our study suggests that it will become increasingly difficult to maintain species with preferences for moister soil conditions, and that climate and land use can interactively alter demographic responses of the remaining grassland species., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

Grasslands provide important livestock products such as beef and milk, the main source of daily nutrients for human beings. However, ecological degradation has occurred in nearly 50% of global grasslands, which seriously restricts livestock product supply and impairs human well-beings. Sustainable management measures are explored both in developed and developing regions to curb grassland degradation trend and achieve economic-ecological coordination. We focused on the differences of grassland management measures and their economic-ecological effects between developed regions (US, New Zealand and Western Europe) and developing regions (Inner Mongolia, China) along the “global gold pastures” in middle-latitude zone, by analyzing human-induced grassland productivity changes based on satellite remote sensing, and livestock carrying pressure based on forage-livestock relationship. The results showed the human-induced GPP on grasslands were higher in those developed regions than Inner Mongolia, while the livestock carrying pressures of grasslands were lower, which indicated that the ecological effect of grassland management measures was more positive in the developed regions. Although strict grassland-livestock balance policies had effectively altered the degradation trends in Inner Mongolia grassland, the economic growth still strongly relies on increasing livestock quantity within the grazing limitation, while those developed regions increased the economic benefits and also reduce the ecological pressure caused by livestock grazing in the meantime. Artificial pastures construction together with improved production efficiency effectively mitigated the ecological pressure on grasslands and also brought more economic benefits in those developed regions, which could also enlighten other developing regions to promoting sustainable utilization of grasslands and development of animal husbandry.

Grassland ecosystems can be found on every continent, except Antarctica thanks to their high tolerance and adaptability. Moreover the grassland based animal husbandry is an ancient and easy way for food production even in regions where other agricultural sectors cannot be effective. On the other hand these ecosystems are not only valuable because of their role in food production. Grasslands take their share in carbon sequestration, erosion controlling and the conservation of biodiversity and that is why the European Union made strict rules about grassland management. In our experiment we tested two different types of compost - what are officially allowed in organic farming - on natural grassland in Hungary. Three rates of compost (10 t/ha, 20 t/ha, 30 t/ha) were tested on 3m X 10m experimental plots in four replication. Both type had four control plots too, this way we had 32 experimental plots. We measured the botanical composition in May and September, what was followed by harvesting and the measurement of the yield. Samples for laboratory analysis were also taken. Dry matter yield of the pasture showed positive responses to the rates of compost but the protein yield per unit area only grows until a certain point and then it drops down. Our results indicate that the application of these composts is a sustainable method of increasing the productivity of natural grasslands.

The Grain for Green Project (GGP), which was implemented in China since 1999, has achieved remarkable achievements, but some new issues have gradually emerged, and it is necessary to carry out scientific evaluation and systematic sorting. In order to provide scientific basis for the ecological construction and high-quality development of the Loess Plateau in the new period, this paper comprehensively evaluated and analyzed the achievements and problems of afforestation and grassland construction in Yan' an City after the implementation of GGP, and put forward specific countermeasures and suggestions based on the field investigation and remote sensing image interpretation of typical years from 1990 to 2020. The achievements obtained by the implementation of GGP in Yan' an City are as follows: ecological quality has been improved obviously, land use structure has been adjusted rapidly, agricultural industrial structure has been adjusted, fanners have been lifted out of poverty and become rich, forest and grassland area has been rapidly enlarged and vegetation recovered well. The problems in vegetation construction that Yan' an City currently faced are: vegetation restoration on a large scale has changed surface hydrological processes ( limited precipitation is expended through evapotranspiration, and is not conducive to subsequent stable growth of established vegetation and the ecological service function of continuous play), forest types are single during afforestation, artificial grassland construction scale has limitations, and large area of natural grassland needs to be reasonably explored. Suggestions for vegetation construction in Yan' an City in the future: to carry out comprehensive evaluation and planning of regional agriculture, to strengthen ecological effect monitoring and evaluation of GGP, to optimize forest stand and tree species step by step, to strengthen tending management and rational utilization of natural grassland, and to support and build animal husbandry sustainable development system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the management of dry grasslands in favor of grassland avifauna and biodiversity in the department of Ain, France. Topics include the dry lawns of the military bases of Valbonne and Ambérieu in Bugey specializing in open herbaceous habitats; and Dry grasslands of anthropogenic origin form an ecosystem whose persistence is often threatened by the regression of pastoralism.

The 'soils of the anthropocene' are predominately agricultural. To understand them, we analysed agri- and silvicultural intensification of Uruguayan grasslands in a country wide survey on fertility proxies, pH and trace metals in topsoils originating from different land uses. We observed a loss of nutrients, trace metals and organic matter from grassland, crops and timber plantations, and its accumulation in the topsoils of riverine forests. The translocation of nutrients and organic matter across the landscape to the erosion base depends on local land use trajectories. Increasing soil acidification is driving a positive feedback loop, and land use intensification is leading to degradation of local black soils within a few decades. Our data raises questions about the resilience and carrying capacity of Uruguayan soils with regard to currently implemented highly productive management forms, including the use of timber plantation for carbon sequestration, and supports more conservative forms of extensive management on the grassland biome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Beneficial insect numbers have sharply declined in recent years, and these declines negatively impact (1) food crops due to reduced pollination services, and (2) wildlife and birds due to reduced food sources. In part, agricultural intensification and habitat fragmentation have led to these declines. In the United States, one conservation effort is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which provides financial assistance for replanting agricultural land to restored habitat to improve environmental health and quality. Common CRP grassland restorations are CP2 ("native grass" seed mix) and CP25 ("rare and declining habitat" seed mix). We examined the response of ground beetles, a group that is important for wildlife, to CRP restoration and management across three grassland habitats, and 108 sites. We examined two restoration types (CP2, CP25), and the grazing or absence of grazing by cattle. Our findings indicate that ground beetle communities are not negatively impacted by moderate levels of cattle grazing. Additionally, we found that cattle grazing might have positive effects on ground beetle abundance, biomass, and diversity in tallgrass habitats. The positive impact of cattle grazing may provide an additional incentive for CRP restorations that would enhance beneficial insect populations. Grasslands in North America have declined by over 70% since industrialization of settlements due to the conversion of natural habitats to cropland and urban centers. In the United States, the federally supported Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was created to improve water quality, reduce soil erosion, and increase native habitats for wildlife. Within these restored grasslands, ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are a keystone invertebrate group that fill several crucial niches and may serve as bioindicators of successful land management strategies. To understand the impact of land management on ground beetles, we examined carabid beetle community responses to a grazing treatment and two plant restoration treatments with low and relatively high initial plant diversity over two field seasons. We used pitfall traps at 108 CRP sites across a 63.5 cm precipitation gradient, encompassing three grassland types. Overall, grazing and restoration treatment did not have detectable effects on carabid abundance, biomass, or diversity. Carabid communities, however, responded differently to grazing within grassland types—all three community measures increased in response to grazing in tallgrass sites only. Our short-term study suggests that moderate levels of cattle grazing do not negatively affect carabid communities and might have positive effects on abundance, biomass, and diversity in tallgrass regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Grassland corridors are set aside for biodiversity conservation within the commercial timber plantation landscape of South Africa, potentially connecting high value conservation areas together. However, the impact of the production landscape on functional connectivity within these corridors has not been investigated. Objectives: We combine stacked species distribution modelling, functional connectivity analysis, species turnover calculations, and community analysis, to improve our understanding of how grassland corridors contribute to functional connectivity and biodiversity conservation within plantation landscapes. Methods: Grasshoppers, which are reliable indicators of grassland quality, were used as model organisms and sampled within grassland corridors. Remote sensing and machine learning was used to predict functional connectivity and its influence on grasshoppers. Results: Wide corridors along an elevation gradient with different aspects support different grasshopper assemblages and promote species turnover. Sensitive species occur at high elevations with a north-west facing slope in wide corridors that are functionally connected to large high-quality remnant patches. Maintenance of functional connectivity is dependent on the availability of high-quality habitat, which is shaped by prescribed burning, and has a significant effect on range restricted species. Not all high-quality habitat is functionally connected, attributed to exclusion of fire and/or invasive plants, requiring conservation intervention. Conclusions: Prescribed burning should be used to maintain functional connectivity. We recommend less frequent fires, burning every 2–3 years, guided by NDVI. Large corridors at high elevation are priority. In estates with narrow corridors and low functional connectivity, stepping-stone habitats and grassland buffers next to roads should be considered for improved functional connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot moments of soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emission contribute to large fractions of total annual emissions. Magnitudes of N2O emission during hot moments to increasing water and nitrogen (N) availabilities in different steppe types were not well understood. Based on soil monoliths collected from three steppes (meadow, typical, and desert steppes) in northern China, we found that the typical steppe held the lowest N2O emission among the three steppes. Water and N co‐addition could increase soil N2O emission by up to 245‐fold. Water addition significantly enhanced soil N2O emission in all the three steppes, but the sensitivity of soil N2O emission to water addition decreased from desert steppe (r2 = 0.83) to typical (r2 = 0.73) and meadow (r2 = 0.66) steppes. Nitrogen addition significantly promoted soil N2O emission only in the meadow steppe where soil C:N was relatively higher than the other two steppes. Water and N addition displayed strong positive interaction on soil N2O emission in the meadow steppe while negative interaction in the typical steppe. Different responses of plants, microorganisms and soil NO3− concentration drove the variation in magnitude of soil N2O emission between the two steppes. Our results illustrate different interactions of water and N addition on hot moments of soil N2O emission in the three steppes. We suggest that the pulsed feature of N2O emission should be taken into account in prediction of greenhouse gas emission in the global arid and semiarid grasslands. Plain Language Summary: Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the third most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. The emission of soil N2O is characterized by transient hot moments. These short periods of high N2O emissions contribute to great fractions of total annual emissions. Different magnitudes of soil N2O emissions and the underlying mechanisms during large rainfall events and nitrogen (N) addition in different steppe types (meadow, typical, and desert steppes) were not well understood. To examine differences in soil N2O emission among these steppes and to identify potential drivers, we measured soil N2O emission under water and N management in intact soil monoliths from the three steppes. We found that the typical steppe held the lowest N2O emission among the three steppes. The water effect on soil N2O emission was the strongest in desert steppe, while the N effect was significant in meadow steppe where the soil C:N was relatively higher than the other two steppes. Opposite interactive effects of water and N addition on soil N2O emission between meadow and typical steppes were due to different responses of microbial biomass carbon and plant aboveground biomass. These findings provided new knowledge for reducing soil N2O emission via management of hot moments in steppe ecosystems. Key Points: Hot moments of nitrous oxide (N2O)‐nitrogen (N) accounted for 0.84% of added N within 45 days under water and N addition in meadow steppeWater addition markedly enhanced soil N2O emission in the three steppes, synergistic effect of water and N was observed in meadow steppeSoil moisture dominantly controlled soil N2O emission in the three steppes, site differences were regulated by plants and microorganisms [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems with high natural value (HNV) have generally been maintained by agricultural practices and are increasingly important for the ecosystem services that they provide and for their socio-economic impact in the ever-changing context. Biodiversity conservation is one of the main objectives of the European Green Deal, which aims to address biodiversity loss, including the potential extinction of one million species. The aim of this research was to trace the effects of organic and mineral fertilizers on the floristic composition, but also on the number of species, of the grasslands with high biodiversity (HNV) from the Transylvanian Plain, Romania. The experiments were established in 2018 on the nemoral area and analyzed the effect of a gradient of five organic and mineral treatments. Fertilization with 10 t ha−1 manure or N50 P25K25 ensures an increase in yield and has a small influence on diversity, and it could be a potential strategy for the maintenance and sustainable use of HNV grasslands. Each fertilization treatment determined species with indicator value that are very useful in the identification and management of HNV grasslands. The dry matter biomass increases proportionally as the amounts of fertilizer applied increase and the number of species decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological degradation has occurred in global grasslands and has impaired their ecosystem services severely, so ecological conservation of grasslands should be focused more on the effectiveness of management measures. The green-up process decides the year-round forage yield and ecological conditions of grasslands. Adopting rest-grazing during the green-up process can guarantee a successful green-up, thus realizing more economic benefits without grassland degradation. Therefore, studies should pay more attention to whether the green-up process is really covered by the rest-grazing period or not. We analyze the spatiotemporal variations and the stability of the annual green-up date in Xilin Gol Grassland from 2000 to 2018 based on MODIS time series images and compare the green-up date with the rest-grazing period to assess the effectiveness of the rest-grazing policy. The results show that the green-up date of Xilin Gol Grassland had advanced 15 days on average because of the increasing trend of both temperature and precipitation during 2000~2018. The green-up date is mostly 120~130 d in the east, about 10 days earlier than the west (130~140 d) and 20 days earlier than in the central areas (140~150 d), also because of the spatial variations of temperature and precipitation. The coefficient of variation (CV) of the green-up date showed a significant negative correlation with precipitation, so the green-up date is more unstable in the arid areas. The rest-grazing period started more than 45 days earlier than the green-up date and failed to cover it in several years, which occurred more frequently in southern counties. The average green-up date appeared after rest-grazing started in over 98% of areas, and the time gap is 15~45 days in 88% of areas, which not only could not avoid grassland degradation effectively but also increased herdsmen's life burden. This study aims to accurately grasp the temporal and spatial variations of the green-up date in order to provide references for adjusting a more proper rest-grazing period, thus promoting ecological conservation and sustainable development of animal husbandry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European temperate forest zone has great importance, in terms of maintaining the habitats of not only forests but also anthropogenous grasslands, which were formed as a result of habitat reconstruction. These habitats have great importance, by means of nature conservation, landscape use, economy, and forest and grassland use. The mosaic-like habitat complexes that consist of these grasslands and forest patches help to increase biodiversity and supply the habitat for forest game. In this survey, changes in the vegetation of the temperate forests (Fagetum) of the Mátra Mountains of Hungary were investigated after reconstruction. In 2012, shrub cutting was carried out in the area of Parádóhuta, and then three different management methods (abandoning, mowing, and grazing) were utilized. Our goals were the following: to perform a vegetation survey of the sample areas (i); surveying the natural regeneration of the grassland and analyzing its biodiversity, nature conservation, and economical value (ii); and analyzing the vegetation in terms of nature conservation and valuing its life form spectrum, economy values, and livestock-feeding ability (iii). According to our results, systematic mowing and a less-intensive grazing had a significantly positive effect on biodiversity and the coverage of species, thus increasing the naturalness of the studied grassland habitats, while wild game were able to act as ecological engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Grassland management intensity influences nutrient cycling both directly, by changing nutrient inputs and outputs from the ecosystem, and indirectly, by altering the nutrient content, and the diversity and functional composition of plant and microbial communities. However, the relative importance of these direct and indirect processes for the leaching of multiple nutrients is poorly studied. We measured the annual leaching of nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and sulphate at a depth of 10 cm in 150 temperate managed grasslands using a resin method. Using Structural Equation Modeling, we distinguished between various direct and indirect effects of management intensity (i.e. grazing and fertilization) on nutrient leaching. We found that management intensity was positively associated with nitrate, ammonium and phosphate leaching risk both directly (i.e. via increased nutrient inputs) and indirectly, by changing the stoichiometry of soils, plants and microbes. In contrast, sulphate leaching risk was negatively associated with management intensity, presumably due to increased outputs with mowing and grazing. In addition, management intensification shifted plant communities towards an exploitative functional composition (characterized by high tissue turnover rates) and, thus, further promoted the leaching risk of inorganic nitrogen. Plant species richness was associated with lower inorganic nitrogen leaching risk, but most of its effects were mediated by stoichiometry and plant community functional traits. Maintaining and restoring diverse plant communities may therefore mitigate the increased leaching risk that management intensity imposes upon grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eurasian Curlew populations are declining in Europe despite conservation efforts. Mowing practices may attract Curlews to areas with a higher chance of survival, but this potential cannot be assessed due to limited documentation on mowing dates. This study developed a remote sensing method for mowing event detection by applying cloud masking, outlier detection via Isolation Forest, and data smoothing on satellite images to create a Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series. GPS data from the LBV Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature in Bavaria was used to examine changes in Curlews' field use under mown and unmown conditions in their breeding areas. The developed approach detected 80 % of mowing events in trained data and 84 % in validation data with a ± three-day precision. Curlews visited fields significantly less often under unmown conditions and their field use increased substantially shortly after mowing events. Their reaction was stronger later in the season and is likely related to non-territorial behaviour. Fields under regulated mowing contracts showed more intensive Curlew activity than those conventionally managed. The workflow introduced for identifying mowing events through optical satellite imagery was designed with an emphasis on model robustness and on being accessible and reproducible for conservation practitioners and researchers. This simplified method successfully provided insights into factors influencing Curlews' use of grassland during their stay in their breeding areas. Mowing practices significantly impact their habitat choices, suggesting their use as an innovative conservation approach to recover Curlew populations. • Focus on mowing detection in agricultural grasslands and on field use of Eurasian Curlews. • An open-access mowing detection algorithm was developed focusing on practical use, based on remote sensing and ground truth data. • Curlews visited unmown fields significantly less and increased their field use shortly after mowing events. • Grasslands mown later in the season and fields under regulated mowing contracts showed more intensive Curlew activity. • We propose mowing regimes as active management tools to support the recovery of Curlew populations by guiding Curlews to more favourable regions in their breeding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Grassland biomass allocation is sensitive to natural conditions and grazing practices. • Differences in grassland biomass allocation existed among continents. • Grazing practice affected aboveground part and the ratio of it to below-ground part. • Climate has a stronger role in regulating grassland biomass allocation than altitude. • Warming may exert a more detrimental effect on grazed grasslands than non-grazed ones. Biomass allocation in grasslands is key to understanding plant response to environmental changes and grazing management. Yet, global studies on how this split between above-ground and below-ground biomass varies across continents and grazing practices are notably scarce. We employ a comprehensive field-oriented grassland database to examine differences in total net primary productivity (TNPP), above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP), below-ground net primary productivity (BNPP), and the BNPP to ANPP ratio across continents and between grazed and non-grazed grasslands. Oceania showed the greatest ANPP (916 g·m−2·a−1), while Asia had the lowest (192 g·m−2·a−1). BNPP values were similar among Oceania, Africa, and Asia (∼600 g·m−2·a−1), significantly exceeding those in Europe (289 g·m−2·a−1) and North America (408 g·m−2·a−1). South America, Africa, and Oceania had the highest TNPP (around 1418 g·m−2·a−1 to 1466 g·m−2·a−1), while Europe had the lowest TNPP (344 g·m−2·a−1). The BNPP to ANPP ratio was highest in South America (4.17) and Asia (3.46). Global differences in TNPP and BNPP between grazed and non-grazed grasslands were minimal, but ANPP (169 g·m−2·a−1 and 198 g·m−2·a−1, respectively) and the BNPP to ANPP ratio (4.87 and 2.40, respectively) differed significantly. Across continents and grazing practices, climate had a greater role in regulating grassland biomass allocation than altitude, and warming may have a more detrimental impact on grazed grasslands than non-grazed grasslands. Distinct biomass allocation trends under various continental and grazing conditions exert effects on the economic and ecological functions of grasslands. Our study underscores the need for balanced grassland utilization strategies at a global scale. This involves optimizing grazing in high ANPP grasslands and protecting those with significant BNPP, thereby contributing to a sustainable and ecologically sound use of grasslands in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic management of lignocellulosic biomass from semi-natural grasslands is now a challenge across Europe. The abandonment of mowing these grasslands leads to the gradual degradation of these ecosystems. This study investigates how chemical and biological factors affect the suitability of biomass from abandoned grasslands for biogas production. We sampled 30 mown and 30 abandoned grassland sites in the Sudetes Mountains (Poland and Czechia). The cover contribution of short herbs was found to be significantly higher in mown grasslands (p < 0.001), while that of tall herbs was more prevalent in abandoned grasslands (p < 0.01). The specific biogas yield (SBY, NL kg−1 volatile solids) is negatively affected by an increased percentage of herbs in the biomass of mown and abandoned grasslands. This is due to the inhibitory effect of herbs on biodegradation, the increase in lignin content and the decrease in cellulose. This study highlights the importance of individual plant species in assessing grassland biomass for area biogas yield (ABY, m3 ha−1) and provides new insights into a field that has not yet been extensively investigated. In mown grasslands, ABY was most positively correlated with grass species (Arrhenatherum elatius , Trisetum flavescens and Festuca pratensis). In abandoned grasslands, the ABY was most correlated with herbaceous species (Galium aparine , Urtica dioica and Chaerophyllum aromaticum) and grasses (A. elatius and Elymus repens). Mown grasslands had significantly higher species richness (p < 0.001) compared to abandoned grasslands, but the number of species sampled did not correlate with SBY and ABY. This study contributes to the development of a sustainable bio-economy by highlighting the need for efficient use of grassland biomass. This approach helps protect semi-natural ecosystems and facilitates sustainable management of renewable resources. • Certain grassland plant species significantly impact area biogas yield. • Species richness has no negative effect on specific and area biogas yield. • Grassland management maintains an appropriate ratio of herbs to grasses. • Biogas production from hay can help restore abandoned grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increase in the population in pastoral regions and an improvement in living standards have increased livestock production; however, this has led, at least in part, to global grassland degradation. Consequently, the optimal pathway to mitigate trade-offs between livestock production and ecological functions of grassland is the key to achieve sustainable development in pastoral regions. Transformative adaptation is the recommended and feasible approach. However, most studies are not designed to determine which grassland management system addresses transformative adaptation and, therefore, do not provide options that can resolve the trade-offs. To fill this gap, we compared three grassland management systems, namely single, joint and cooperative. The grassland health index (GHI), data envelopment analysis (DEA), life cycle assessment (LCA), TOPSIS model and the multi-objective optimization model were employed to assess the productive and ecological benefits of the three systems. Cooperative management had the greatest comprehensive benefits when considering ecological functions, livestock production, carbon efficiency utilization and grassland area utilization efficiency, and had the greatest potential to achieve a balance between livestock production and ecological functions in the future. • The single management grassland system had the highest grassland health index. • The cooperative management system had the highest production efficiency and income. • The cooperative management grassland system emitted the most greenhouse gasses. • The cooperative management grassland system required the least grassland area. • The cooperative management grassland system had the highest comprehensive benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Alps, grasslands have been the basis for European mountain farming systems for centuries, but nowadays agro-pastoral abandonment is among the major threats to their conservation. Grazing and mowing interruption favours the spread of coarse plants, such as the tall grass Brachypodium rupestre , which negatively impacts grassland agroecosystem functions and ultimately leads to grassland degradation. Practices such as nutrient addition (i.e. fertilisation) and biomass removal (i.e. mowing) have been successfully applied in several mountain environments to reverse the degradation process and restore the original species composition. However, in the Alps, experiments combining both practices have been scarce so far. We hypothesised that the benefits of fertilisation and mowing on the species composition of a B. rupestre encroached grassland could be maximised by coupling fertilisation (120 kg ha−1 N – 80 kg ha−1 P 2 O 5 – 80 kg ha−1 K 2 O) and mowing. Treatments were carried out yearly over ten years and data were collected throughout the entire period to study the changes in agronomic performances (i.e. pastoral value and abundance of meso-eutrophic grassland species cover), plant diversity (i.e. species richness and effective number of species), and botanical composition. Fertiliser addition effectively enhanced meso-eutrophic grassland species after five years but did not affect either B. rupestre cover or the sward pastoral value. Instead, it slightly reduced the dry grassland species cover, which is considered of conservation interest, and the plant diversity. Mowing successfully reduced B. rupestre presence after five years while maintaining the initial dry grassland species cover and overall species diversity as well. However, it did not improve either meso-eutrophic grassland species cover or the pastoral value. The combination of fertilisation and mowing showed the most promising results. It was able to decrease B. rupestre cover (- 80 %) in the short term while increasing meso-eutrophic grassland species cover (+ 300 %) and the pastoral value (+ 6.5), without negatively impacting dry grassland species cover and plant diversity. According to our long-term study, combining biomass removal by mowing and nutrient addition by fertilisation can be a suitable strategy to achieve agronomic performances and habitat conservation targets, and successfully restore degraded mountain grasslands in the Alps. • We studied a pasture of Alps encroached by the coarse grass Brachypodium rupestre. • Fertilisation, mowing, and their combination were applied for ten years. • Fertilisation enhanced good quality plants but did not alleviate the encroachment. • Mowing reduced B. rupestre cover but did not enhance grassland pastoral value. • The combined treatment fostered the agronomic value while preserving biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the functional genes of microorganisms involved in carbon cycling processes can link microbial community structure to potential ecological functions. However, the effects of grazing on the relationship between carbon cycling functional genes and soil environment need to be further investigated as a global land use activity. A replicated sheep grazing platform was established in Northern China in 2004 with four different stocking rates: no grazing (0 sheep ha−1 month−1), light grazing (0.15 sheep ha−1 month−1), moderate grazing (0.30 sheep ha−1 month−1), and heavy grazing (0.45 sheep ha−1 month−1). To examine the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on microbial species and functional gene abundance, we collected soil samples after 17 years of grazing analyzed for the abundance of microbial communities, the abundance of carbon function genes, plant carbon input and soil environmental factors. We found that light grazing reduced carbon cycling functional genes compared to no grazing (fencing). With increasing grazing intensity, the absolute abundance of functional genes increased. Changes in microbial species abundance were mainly responsible for the changes in the structure of carbon cycling functional genes. Our results emphasize that elucidating how grazing affects the carbon cycling functional genes through the effects of plant carbon inputs and the environment, and the interactions between them, will provide important information for understanding carbon cycling processes in grassland ecosystems. • Light grazing reduced carbon cycling functional genes. • With increasing grazing intensity, the abundance of functional genes increased. • Light grazing maintained a balanced carbon cycle/total gene ratio. • Heavy grazing increased the abundance of oligotrophs bacteria. • Lower carbon sources and poor environments caused by grazing affect functional genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land abandonment is a multifaceted, nonlinear, worldwide phenomenon that is influenced by a variety of factors and opinions. The goal of this study was to understand the significance of land abandonment for true bugs and syrphids in three grassland management regimes that includes abandoned, intensive, and extensive alpine organic grasslands. In 2021 and 2022, we sampled true bugs and syrphids by applying observation plot and sweep netting sampling methods. Extensive grasslands had significantly higher true bug and syrphid abundance compared to abandoned grasslands. However, no difference of species richness was found in studied grassland regimes. Large numbers of unique species (25.5% true bugs and 21.5% syrphids) only occurred in the abandoned grasslands but not in intensive and extensive grasslands. Similarly, true bug assemblages in abandoned grasslands differed significantly from assemblages in intensive and extensive grasslands. We found that extensive grassland can manage to increase true bugs and syrphid abundance. Likewise, undisturbed abandoned grassland is not a threat to insect diversity, and supports the survival of more unique true bug and syrphid species. A mosaic landscape consisting of abandoned grassland along with grassland having different, mainly extensive, management intensity could be an ideal arrangement for alpine biodiversity conservation.

Quantifying the relationships between plant functional traits and ecosystem services has been promoted as an approach to achieving multifunctional grassland systems that balance productivity with other regulating, supporting and cultural services. Establishing trade-offs and synergies between traits and services has largely relied on meta-analyses of studies from different systems and environments. This study demonstrated the value of focused studies of long-term experiments in grassland systems that measure traits and services in the same space and time to better understand the ecological constraints underlying these trade-offs and synergies. An analysis is presented that uses data from the Park Grass Experiment at Rothamsted Research on aboveground productivity, species richness and soil organic carbon stocks to quantify the relationships between these three outcomes and the power of variance in plant functional traits in explaining them. There was a trade-off between plots with high productivity, nitrogen inputs and soil organic carbon and plots with high species richness that was explained by a functional gradient of traits that are indicative of contrasting strategies of resource acquisition of resource conservation. Examples were identified of using functional traits to identify opportunities for mitigating these trade-offs and moving toward more multifunctional systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These projects intended to reverse grassland degradation by returning rangeland to grassland, fencing, grassland remediation, and managing the "black soil beach" (i.e., a severely degraded alpine meadow on the QTP), to mention some. Effects of Grassland Degradation It is widely acknowledged that the QTP's grassland ecosystems have been severely degraded over the last half-century (Dong and Sherman, [7]; Liu et al., [19]). Keywords: grassland degradation; ecological restoration; protected areas; grassland management; grazing; Qinghai-Tibetan plateau EN grassland degradation ecological restoration protected areas grassland management grazing Qinghai-Tibetan plateau 1 7 7 04/28/22 20220426 NES 220426 Introduction The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), also called the Third Pole, is the largest high-elevation region with an area of 2.5 million km SP 2 sp and an average elevation of about 4000 m, mainly including Tibet, Qinghai, and the north-west of Sichuan. (A) influence pathway of grassland degradation on human well-being and SDGs, (B) distribution and timeline of grassland ecological protection and construction schemes, and (C) potential implications for grassland ecosystem restoration. [Extracted from the article]

Questions: Although bryophytes play an important role in grassland ecosystems, environmental factors that drive bryophyte assemblages were rarely studied, especially in low-intensity traditional grasslands. Therefore, using fine-scale data on bryophyte assemblages in traditionally managed secondary grasslands, we studied the relative importance of several sets of environmental drivers (related to topography, soil properties, landscape, and management) of: (i) taxonomic and functional compositions; and (ii) cover and species richness of bryophyte communities. Location: Central and Eastern Europe, Carpathian Mountains, 15 sites with preserved traditional management practices distributed in Romania (six sites), Ukraine (four), Slovakia (two), Austria (one), Hungary (one) and Poland (one). Methods: Fine-scale data on soil, topography, and vegetation structure as well as on bryophyte assemblages (taxonomic and functional composition, cover, species richness) were collected in 10-m2 plots. We used stratified random sampling to select six 10-m2plots of traditionally managed grasslands in each of the 15 sites (n = 90). Climatic and landscape variables were extracted from online databases and available maps. Detailed data on present and historical land use were obtained from parcel owners. To assess the effect of drivers on bryophyte taxonomic and functional composition we applied canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and redundancy analysis (RDA), respectively; for bryophyte species richness and bryophyte cover we used GLMMs. Forward stepwise variable selection procedure was used to find best set of drivers for each of the analyses. Results: Topographic (microrelief and solar radiation) and soil-related factors (cover of stones and rocks, soil depth, moisture), as well as the cover of the herb layer and bare soil were the strongest drivers of bryophyte taxonomic composition. Among the management- and landscape-related variables only mean size of grassland parcels within 1-km² plot surroundings and grazing by horse were included in the CCA model explaining in total 25.9% of variation in species composition. Bryophyte functional composition was explained by a similar set of variables (RDA explained 27.3% of variation in functional composition) including additionally cover of gravel and burning. Solar radiation (negative effect) and management stability (positive effect) were the strongest drivers of bryophyte cover. Management stability had the strongest effect (positive) on bryophyte species richness, followed by grassland age (negative) and microrelief (positive). Conclusions: Taxonomic and functional composition of bryophyte assemblages as well as bryophyte cover in traditional grasslands were determined mainly by variables related to moisture and light availability. Management-related factors seem to be at least as equally important as abiotic factors for bryophyte species richness and cover. Our results suggest that for maintaining bryophyte-rich grasslands one should also consider stability of grassland management, that is, temporal continuity and regularity of management practices applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human appropriation of net primary productivity (HANPP) is an important indicator for assessing ecological sustainability. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of HANPP in the Qinghai grasslands remain unclear. In this study, we used the spatially explicit Biome-BGCMuSo model to quantify and map HANPP in the Qinghai grasslands from 1979 to 2018. Generally, the actual net primary productivity (NPPact) was slightly lower than the potential net primary productivity (NPPpot), and the difference between the NPPpot and NPPact increased slightly over time. From 1979 to 2001, the NPPpot and NPPact were relatively stable; however, from 2001 to 2018, both showed significant fluctuating upward trends. From 1979 to 2018, HANPP showed a fluctuating upward trend from 6.36 to 31.85 gC/m2/yr, with an average increase of 2.14 gC/m2/yr. The average HANPP was 16.90 gC/m2/yr, which represented 18.80% of the NPPpot of Qinghai grasslands. High HANPP mainly occurred in eastern Qinghai, whereas it was low in central and western Qinghai. Conversely, from 1979 to 2018, the HANPP efficiency decreased in a fluctuating way from 98.28% to 72.05%, with an average annual decrease of 0.66%. The interannual variations in the HANPP efficiency and harvest were negatively correlated, with a correlation coefficient of −0.46 (p < 0.01). The average HANPP efficiency was 85.33%, and the values in most grids were between 80% and 100%, being relatively low in southern and eastern Qinghai. In rare cases, the HANPP efficiency was greater than 1. This study clarifies the details of spatiotemporal dynamics of HANPP in the Qinghai grasslands and indicates the need to optimize local management of grassland resources to ensure future ecological sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoration of degraded grasslands through improved management is among the possible sustainable solutions to compensate for anthropogenic soil carbon (C) emissions. While several studies have shown a positive effect of rehabilitation on soil C, the impact on soil CO2 emissions is still uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed at quantifying the impact of grassland rehabilitation on soil CO2 emissions in a degraded grassland, South Africa. Commonly used rehabilitation practices were considered, that is rotational grazing (RG), livestock exclosure with fertilizer application (EF) and annual burning (AB), all being compared with traditional free grazing (FG). A total of 2880 in situ measurements of CO2 emissions were performed over 2.5 years under field conditions simultaneously with aboveground biomass, soil temperature, water content and soil organic C (SOC) to understand the changes in C fluxes. The RG performed the best under degraded grasslands by decreasing net CO2 emissions (per g of C) by 17% compared to FG, while EF increased emissions by 76% and AB had similar emissions to FG. The lower net emission under RG is associated with an increase in SOC stocks by 50% and aboveground biomass by 93%, after three years of implementation. Soil CO2 emissions were correlated positively to aboveground biomass and topsoil temperature (r = 0.91 and 0.60, respectively), implying a high effect of grass cover on soil microclimate and microbial activity. These results suggested RG as a potential cost‐effective nature‐based soil management strategy to increase SOC stocks into degraded grassland. However, long‐term trials replicated in different environments are still required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weed control is one of the biggest challenges in organic farms or nature reserve areas where mass spraying is prohibited. Recent advancements in remote sensing and airborne technologies provide a fast and efficient means to support environmental monitoring and management, allowing early detection of invasive species. However, in order to perform weed classification, current studies mostly relied on object-based image analysis (OBIA) and proprietary software which required substantial human inputs. This paper proposes an open-source workflow for automated weed mapping using a commercially available unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV was flown at a low altitude between 10 m and 20 m, and collected true-colour RGB imagery over a weed-infested nature reserve. The aim of this study is to develop a repeatable and robust system for early weed detection, with minimum human intervention, for classification of Rumex obtusifolius (R. obtusifolius). Preliminary results of the proposed workflow achieved an overall accuracy of 92.1% with an F1 score of 78.7%. The approach also demonstrated the capability to map R. obtusifolius in datasets collected at various flight altitudes, camera settings and light conditions. This shows the potential to perform semi- or fully automated early weed detection system in grasslands using UAV-imagery.

Microbial communities display biogeographical patterns that are driven by local environmental conditions and dispersal limitation, but the relative importance of underlying dispersal mechanisms and their consequences on community structure are not well described. High dispersal rates can cause soil microbial communities to become more homogenous across space and therefore it is important to identify factors that promote dispersal. This study experimentally manipulated microbial dispersal within different land management treatments at a native tallgrass prairie site, by changing the relative openness of soil to dispersal and by simulating vector dispersal via bison dung addition. We deployed experimental soil bags with mesh open or closed to dispersal, and placed bison dung over a subset of these bags, to areas with three different land managements: active bison grazing and annual fire, annual fire but no bison grazing, and no bison grazing with infrequent fire. We expected microbial dispersal to be highest in grazed and burned environments, and that the addition of dung would consistently increase overall microbial richness and lead to homogenization of communities over time. Results show that dispersal rates, as the accumulation of taxa over the course of the 3-month experiment, increase taxonomic richness similarly in all land management treatments. Additionally, bison dung seems to be serving as a dispersal and homogenization vector, based on the consistently higher taxon richness and increased community similarity across contrasting grazing and fire treatments when dung is added. This finding also points to microbial dispersal as an important function that herbivores perform in grassland ecosystems, and in turn, as a function that was lost at a continental scale following bison extermination across the Great Plains of North America in the nineteenth century. This study is the first to detect that dispersal and vector dispersal by grazing mammals promote grassland soil microbial diversity and affect microbial community composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining or restoring landscape multifunctionality is essential to ensuring that landscapes provide a broad array of services. Increased multifunctionality means that there are more diverse land uses bordering each other. The areas in which land uses interact are transition zones; those between grasslands and forests could fulfill multiple purposes due to their special ecological characteristics that support the needs of diverse species. However, with their management practices, local land users often shape the characteristics of land-use transition zones, with implications for ecological processes that build the base for service provision. Local ecological knowledge of land users could give important insights into the basis of their decisions. Here, we explore how land users' and farmers' local knowledge shapes their management that contributes to the maintenance and restoration of multifunctional landscapes. We conducted 21 semistructured qualitative interviews with livestock farmers and local experts for agriculture and nature conservation using grassland-forest transition zones as a specific example for interdependent components of multifunctional landscapes. We found that local knowledge of the interviewed farmers can contribute to the maintenance or restoration of multifunctional landscapes in several ways: it provides insight into landscape functions in grassland-forest transition zones, it enables land users to use landscape function-grassland production synergies, and it provides insight into the perceived negative and positive contributions of forests to grassland production. The perceived negative contributions of forests to grassland production were an important driver for farmers' management decisions. Farmers have a holistic view of both the field and the landscape. Managing landscapes for multifunctionality is dependent on this kind of holistic knowledge to identify synergies and trade-offs in landscape functions and how they contribute to agricultural production. However, current regulations such as the institutional separation of grassland and forest and grassland areadependent direct payments prevent farmers from acting according to their local knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassland ecosystems have declined in their extent globally, driving declines in wild ungulate populations. Even within the remnant grasslands, ungulate distribution is highly heterogeneous for reasons that are not well understood. This in turn undermines both local and landscape level conservation efforts for these oftenneglected ecosystems and the herbivores they support. We investigated grasslandungulate relationships in the Terai region of North India, where wild ungulates are patchily distributed across alluvial grasslands, a besieged ecosystem. Specifically, we posited that spatial variation in grassland habitat use by swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii), hog deer (Axis porcinus) and spotted deer (Axis axis) would be explained by community composition, palatability of key grasses, and fire and flooding regimes in grasslands. Hierarchical clustering and multivariate ordination revealed that three dominant tall-grass communities and the narrowly distributed and more palatable short grass Cynodon-Oryza community were only marginally influenced by fire and flood histories. Ungulate habitat use, assessed using occupancy models for spatially correlated data, indicated that hog deer were ubiquitously distributed across the grasslands in the park (habitat use probability, ᴪ = 0.92, SE = 0.05) utilizing a diverse range of grassland types, while spotted deer (ᴪ = 0.80, SE = 0.17) and swamp deer (ᴪ = 0.45, SE = 0.10) occurrence within grasslands was relatively lower. Grass height and grassland extent positively influenced habitat use of swamp deer and spotted deer, respectively. However, grassland community composition, fire history, flood history and palatability were relatively uninformative predictors of fine-scale habitat use. Our study provides a robust baseline for future monitoring of grasslands and ungulates as well as insights for the design and implementation of grassland management interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective species conservation requires understanding environmental effects on stage-specific demographics driving population change. Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is an early-successional shrub-obligate species that has experienced long-term, range-wide declines due to fire suppression, agricultural intensification, and sprawling development. Local habitat features and landscape context may interactively influence vital rates. Management affects food, cover, and other resources available locally, while surrounding landscapes often determine degree of isolation and predator communities. We evaluated relationships between juvenile bobwhite survival and local (50 m) and landscape (1 km) scale cover type composition and grassland management (i.e. conservation grazing, prescribed burns, mowing/ haying) on 3 native grasslands and 2 traditionally managed conservation areas in southwest Missouri, USA, 2016-2018. We radio-tracked brood-attending adults and young from hatch to a maximum of 114 days and estimated juvenile survival with a Bayesian known-fate logistic exposure model. Juvenile survival was greatest on native grasslands that were burned and grazed at least once in the previous 2 years. Percent shrub cover was positively related to survival. Survival was relatively high in local agriculture, but these relationships were sensitive to surrounding landscape composition. For example, small patches of cropland surrounded by nonagriculture such as strip crops surrounded by grassland units on traditionally managed sites had low survival. Relationships between survival and agricultural landscape cover were dependent on local cover types; survival was high within crop fields but low in non-native grasslands surrounded by crop fields such as agricultural field borders. Patch-burn grazing practices on native grasslands provided the best habitat for bobwhite juvenile survival. Agricultural landscapes can support the recruitment of bobwhite if appropriately managed native grasslands are also available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in soil carbon (C) sequestration in grassland ecosystems have important impacts on the global C cycle. As such, it is important that researchers better understand the underlying mechanisms affecting soil C. Increasing evidence has shown that atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition can cause dramatic changes in grassland soil C. It remains unclear whether herbivore grazing, a primary means to manage and utilize grassland resources, can regulate the effects of N deposition on soil C, and whether these effects are dependent on plant community diversity.Here, we examined the joint effects of herbivore grazing and N‐addition on soil organic C (SOC) stocks in two types of communities with low and high plant diversity respectively.Our results showed that the effects of N‐addition and its combination with herbivore grazing on grassland SOC were inconsistent in the two types of communities. In the low‐diversity community, N‐addition greatly decreased SOC stocks, while grazing significantly increased it. Additionally, the grazing‐induced increase in soil C stocks in the presence of N‐addition was so great that it completely counteracted the significant decline in SOC induced by N‐addition. However, in the high‐diversity community, we observed no effects of N‐addition on SOC and grazing increased SOC only in the absence of N‐addition and had no significant effect in the presence of N‐addition.Synthesis and applications. Our study suggests that increased N deposition can trigger a remarkable reduction in soil C sequestration in grasslands with low plant diversity, but that herbivore grazing can offset this decline, which may help to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions caused by atmospheric N deposition. As a result, we suggest that moderate herbivore grazing should be considered as an effective grassland management measure for maintaining and improving grassland soil C sequestration as the increasing global changes such as elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide, N deposition and biodiversity losses threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After naming Anacamptis morio as Plant of the year 2021 we decided to verify 37 previously reported localities of the species in the southern part of Bohemia. We did not confirm the presence of A. morio at twelve sites. Seven localities with presence of the species were in bad condition (not managed or unsuitably managed). At 18 sites A. morio was present and management seemed to meet the main ecological demands of the species. Populations of A. morio decrease rapidly in abandoned grasslands after cessation of mowing or grazing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 60 yr Irish grassland production has increased substantially in no small part due to high-quality fundamental grassland research. Increased production from grassland has arisen from improved understanding (research and practice) of soil and plant nutrition, plant physiology and variety improvement, while improved understanding of feed evaluation, ruminant nutrition, grazing management and silage technology has contributed to increased utilisation of grassland. Annual grass DM production varies from 12.7 to 15.0 t DM/ha based on Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine grass variety trials. More recent data from PastureBase Ireland indicate that average annual grass production (2020) on efficient dairy and dry stock farms is 13.5 and 10.0 t DM/ha, respectively. Ireland is now one of the world leaders in grassland research, particularly in the area of grazing utilisation, the development and use of grassland databases, decision support systems and grass selection indices for grass varieties. Future pasture-based systems must extend beyond food production to deliver additional benefits to farmers, to consumers and the wider society. Future systems will require more robust grazing animals with healthier functional traits, more diverse swards supporting improved animal performance and require fewer fertiliser and chemical inputs, and will support more biodiversity and enhanced carbon storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassland restoration is gaining momentum worldwide to tackle the loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Restoration methods and their effects on ecological community reassembly have been extensively studied across various grassland types, while the importance of post‐restoration management has so far received less attention. Grassland management is an important surrogate for natural disturbances, with which most ancient grasslands have coevolved. Thus, without the reintroduction of management‐related disturbance, restoration targets are unlikely to be achieved in restored grasslands. In this study, we aimed to explore how 20 yr of management by mowing once a year or light cattle grazing affects restoration success in Palearctic meadow‐steppe grasslands restored by either sowing native grasses (sown sites), applying Medicago sativa as a nurse plant (Medicago sites), or allowing spontaneous succession (spontaneous sites). We found that, following mowing, sown sites maintained long‐lasting establishment limitation, while Medicago sites experienced a delay in succession. These limitations resulted in low total and target species richness, low functional redundancy, and distinct species and functional composition compared to reference data from ancient grasslands. Spontaneous sites that were mowed reached a more advanced successional stage, although they did not reach reference levels regarding most vegetation descriptors. Sown and Medicago sites that were grazed had higher total and target species richness than those that were mowed, and showed restoration success similar to that of spontaneous sites, on which grazing had only moderate further positive effects. Grazed sites, irrespective of the restoration method, were uniformly species rich, functionally diverse, and functionally redundant, and thus became important biodiverse habitats with considerable resilience. We conclude that an optimally chosen post‐restoration management may have an impact on long‐term community reassembly comparable to the choice of restoration method. Restoration planners may, therefore, need to put more emphasis on future management than on the initial restoration method. However, our findings also imply that if local constraints, such as potentially high invasive propagule pressure, necessitate the application of restoration methods that could also hinder the establishment of target species, the long‐term recovery of the grassland can still be ensured by wisely chosen post‐restoration management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-sufficient agriculture is a corner stone in national economy. Sustainability, low external-input technology and nature reservation are all parts of Agro-SMEs' (small and medium enterprises) activities. Building decision support database, introducing heat tolerant cultivars and breeds, directing farm products straight to the consumers and taking all the opportunities what space industry offers are all parts of secure food production. Hungarian Grassland Management Database is being built with national cooperation. Remote sensing and on farm data collection are used. Survey data set and decision support system help to evade forage- and supplement shortages, also protect short food chains from halting. Heat tolerant and low water-consuming animals could be a natural response to climate change and droughts. European small and medium stakeholders have serious concerns about MERCOSUR and Green Deal. Direct trade allows farmers to negotiate better prices with consumers and processors. Locally processed meat, milk and wool need to be integrated into national commercial activity. CubeSat technology is an economical solution to test new plant cultivars, materials or life support systems. Mini space labs are available for every farmers or small enterprises, therefore custom products can be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]