Conservation and herding co-benefit from traditional extensive wetland grazing.

• Wetland habitat quality indicators of conservationists and herders were compared. • Key indicators were tested along a gradient of ungrazed to heavily grazed sites. • There were no key indicators where the two groups had opposing preferred trends. • Vegetation height, shrub and litter cover decreased with grazing intensity. • Forage grasses and frequency of rare mud species increased with grazing intensity. Wetland grazing by livestock, once widespread throughout Europe, is increasingly used in conservation management. To avoid conflicts and enable cooperation between wetland users and conservationists, habitat quality indicators relevant to both stakeholder groups would be useful. We aimed to identify which indicators of grazed wetland habitat quality are important to the two groups, and which are the preferred trends for these indicators along a grazing intensity gradient. We conducted free listing interviews with 15 conservationists and 15 herders to identify the key indicators of well managed, extensively grazed wetland habitats. To check the practical ecological relevance of these indicators, vegetation surveys were performed along a gradient from ungrazed to heavily grazed stands (45 sites) in three countries: Hungary, Romania and Serbia. Positive trends for herders included increases in useful forage grasses and decreases in tall-growing marsh species; for conservationists, increases in wetland birds, protected and threatened plant species, habitat heterogeneity, and patches of open vegetation were all positive. Grazed marshes had lower vegetation cover and height, less litter cover and fewer shrubs. The proportion of open surfaces and the frequency of rare mud species and protected species increased along the grazing intensity gradient. As grazing intensified, 73% of the 15 vegetation attributes assigned to the indicators changed in a 'positive' direction, half of them significantly, showing the benefits of extensive but patchy heavy grazing. Despite differences in perceived benefits, there were no opposing preferred trends for any of the studied indicators, so patchy, occasionally and locally intense or heavy wetland grazing by livestock in these landscapes was beneficial for herding and conservation alike. In the situation of mosaic-like, carefully herded extensive grazing, there was no trade-off between conservation management and utilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]