Dry Grasslands

Forage and grazing (FG) systems can store a substantial amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) under appropriate land use management and reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Increasing SOC levels along with many interlinked ecosystem services are essential for increased productivity and sustainability of FG lands (FGLs). Although adoption of improved management practices (MPs) that support SOC sequestration (SOCq) is necessary, clear understandings of challenges and opportunities which are sometimes unique to individual FGLs, are also important for implementation of MPs. The objective of this forum paper is to explore the latest scientific knowledge on opportunities to address major challenges for increasing SOCq in FGLs. In intensively managed FGLs where the goal is often to maximize yields, lands are heavily fertilized and thus, usually drive towards SOC loss. Diversifications of both forage and grazing species along with strategic grazing plans have been proven as effective MPs for increasing SOCq. However, challenge of maintaining productivity levels still remains. Implementing improved grazing for nutrient cycling and integrating forage diversification for increased biodiversity are found to improve soil health attributes, which are critical for SOCq. However, to achieve this, we also need to consider site- and soil- specific factors. Extreme climatic events which often lead to decline in soil fertility status, SOCq and overall productivity of FGL systems. To address these challenges, uses of models to simulate the FGL systems and have definite choices of suitable MPs are helpful. However, we must be able to have access of wide range of datasets to develop system-level adaption-strategies which are effective to mitigate these adverse effects. Ultimately, participatory researches with novel views and improved perceptions based on the value of SOCq and long-term benefits of implementation of best MPs, developing education and outreach materials to enrich the producers’ knowledge gaps are helpful for climate resilient FGL systems.

Fragmentation had been one of the major threats to grassland ecosystems of India. Studies find that grassland ecosystems across the country have been already displaying negative effects of loss of continuity and fragmentation. The present discussion note explores the possibilities of establishment of pastoralist-wildlife corridors over the grasslands of India for unrestricted movement of the pastoralists-livestock and wildlife and unhindered functions and ecosystem services of the grassland ecosystems in India.

This is a chapter from the book Grasslands of the Worlds: Diversity, Management and Conservation" CRC Press 2018.(edited by me and 3 others). Grasslands had a central role in human evolution. The fossil record lends weight to the idea that humans developed key traits, such as flexible diets, large brains, complex social structures and the ability to walk and run on two legs while adapting to the spread of open grasslands. Humans had to descend from the arboreal homes of our primate ancestors, develop the ability to move rapidly over open ground and evolve the social skills needed for survival. Today we live in an era of human dominance—but that dominance needs to make room for large and contiguous grasslands that connect us to our past and provide us sustenance, biodiversity, habitat, carbon sequestration, watershed and vast beauty. —Starrs, Huntsinger and Spiegal, 2018 Preamble Global change is upon us. It is affecting the economics (cash economy, trading relations), sociology (breakdown of traditional cultures, urbanization) and the ecology all of which are under great pressure from the rising human population and the increasing pollution load that humans impose. Add to this the inevitable consequences of changing climates and the grasslands will suffer more from land use change and land degradation. As was stated in the editors' Preface, the aim of this book is to provide readers with an up-to-date summary of the situation across the globe. To this end we have commissioned writing teams to explore and report on the current status of grasslands across the globe and to analyse the problems faced and prospects for situation betterment. This concluding chapter examines a set of themes arising from the chapters that make up the bulk of this book. The following provide a focus for the text that follows: • Recent history of grassland biomes—brief recap of current thinking and recent trends with special reference to dry grasslands in the Palearctic regions • The current status of grasslands and germplasm resources (biodiversity)—an overview • Management systems that ensure sustainability • How to recover degraded grasslands? • Socioeconomic issues and considerations in grassland management • The impact of environmental problems on grasslands, such as future climate change and intensification • The problems/prospects facing pastoralists and other grassland-based livestock producers.

Aims: We examined all available literature and some unpublished data on the We examined all available literature and some unpublished data on the grasslands dominated by Lygeum spartum from Southern Europe and North Africa to produce a for-malised classification of this vegetation and to identify the main factors determining its plant species composition. Location: Mediterranean Basin and Iberian Peninsula. Methods: We used a dataset of 728 relevés, which were resampled to reduce unbalanced sampling effort, resulting in a dataset of 568 relevés and 846 taxa. We classified the plots by TWINSPAN, interpreted the resulting pools, and used them to develop formal definitions of phytosociological alliances characterised by L. spartum vegetation. The definitions were included in an expert system to assist automatic vegetation classification. We related the alliances to climatic factors and described their biogeographical features and ecological preferences. The floristic relationships between these alliances were analysed and visualised using distance-based redundancy analysis. Results: We defined eleven alliances of L. spartum vegetation, including the newly described Launaeo laniferae-Lygeion sparti from SW Morocco and the Noaeo mucro-natae-Lygeion sparti from the Algerian highlands and NE Morocco. Biogeographical, climatic, and edaphic factors were revealed as putatively driving the differentiation between the alliances. Vegetations of clayey slopes and inland salt basins displayed higher variability in comparison with those of coastal salt marshes. Main conclusions: A comprehensive formal classification, accompanied by an expert system, of the grasslands from Southern Europe and North Africa dominated by Lygeum spartum vegetation was formulated. Eleven phytosociological alliances were recognised, whose plant species composition is influenced by biogeographic, climatic, and edaphic drivers. The expert system, containing formal definitions of the phytosociological alliances, will assist in identifying the syntaxonomic position of new datasets.

In mountains, current land-use changes are altering plant communities of semi-natural grasslands with potential cascading effects on associated herbivores. Besides vegetation changes, temperature is also a key driver of insect diversity, and in the European Alps is predicted to increase by 0.25 °C per decade. Understanding herbivore responses to temperature and plant composition changes in mountain environments is of increasing importance. Our study aims at investigating the response to temperature and plant diversity and composition of two key herbivore groups (orthopterans and leafhoppers) belonging to contrasting feeding guilds (chewers vs. sap-feeders). We hypothesized that orthopteran diversity would be driven by temperature while leafhoppers by plant community composition. We selected 15 dry calcareous grasslands ranging from 100 to 1330 m a.s.l. along two independent gradients of plant diversity and temperature. We sampled orthopteran and leafhop-per species richness and abundance by sweep-netting. Consistent with their low feeding specialisation, orthopteran species richness and community composition were only driven by temperature. By contrast, leafhopper species richness was not affected by temperature nor by plant diversity but leafhopper community composition was strongly influenced by plant species composition. This response can be explained by the higher host feeding specialisation of many leafhopper species. Species rarity and mobility did not change the response of the diversity of both groups, but orthopteran abundance increased with temperature only for highly mobile species. Altogether, our results suggest that future responses of grassland herbivores to vegetation changes and temperature warming are highly variable and depend on the feeding strategy and specialisation of the focal herbivore group. Implications for insect conservation Leafhoppers emerged to be particularly sensitive to potential management or climate-induced change in vegetation composition, while orthopterans are expected to respond directly to temperature warming due to their relaxed association with plant community diversity and composition.

This opening chapter  for the book "Grasslands of the World: Diversity, Management and Conservation" is a brief account of the extraordinary sequence of events that led to emergence of grasslands as major vegetation formations that now occupy some of the driest and hottest and the highest and coldest places on earth as well as vast steppes and prairies in more temperate climes.  It is the story of grass successfully competing with forests and woodlands, aided and abetted by grazing herbivores and by humans and their use of fire as a tool. It is a story of adaptation to extremely variable climates and the changing biophysical environments.

The Suwałki Landscape Park (NE Poland) is characterized by a great variety of geomorphological features and a climate different from other regions of Poland. Xerothermic vegetation occurs in the Park, but its physiognomy and species composition is considered specific and characteristic only for this region. Compared to the southern grasslands, the proportion of species characteristic of Festuco-Brometea is not large, in favour of mesophilic grassland species. Plant communities were classified into two associations: Anthyllidi-Trifolietum montani and Hieracio pilosellae-Thymetum pulegioidis. The most common grassland species are Achillea millefolium, Agrimonia eupatoria, Agrostis capillaris, Anthyllis vulneraria, Galium verum, Medicago falcata, Pilosella officinarum, Pimpinella saxifraga and Thymus pulegioides. The most important threats to these habitats are land-use change and habitat fragmentation. Grassland species decline through the forest succession, therefore encroachment of woody vegetation can also lead to the decline of these ecosystems. The knowledge on the species composition distinctiveness of Suwalki Landscape Park xerothermic vegetation is crucial for both assessing the state of conservation and designing site-specific management of these ecosystems. Therefore, monitoring and proper design of grassland conservation plans, accounting for their specificity, is necessary to maintain these ecosystems.

Für die Grossbaustelle Neue Eisenbahn Alpentraversale (NEAT) Sedrun wurden als Ersatzmassnahme verbrachte und eingewachsene Trockenwiesen neu beweidet. Ein Beweidungsspezialist definierte und optimierte das Beweidungsregime, zudem stellte er für die Bewirtschafter eine regelmässige Beratung sicher. Die Erfolgskontrolle über 12 Jahre ergab sowohl für die Pflanzen wie für die Tagfalter erfreulich positive Ergebnisse. Die Kriterien für das Inventar der Trockenwiesen und –weiden der Schweiz werden heute auf allen Flächen erfüllt.

The drivers of plant richness at fine spatial scales in steppe ecosystems are still not sufficiently understood. Our main research questions were: (i) How rich in plant species are the natural steppes of Southern Siberia compared to natural and semi-natural grasslands in other regions of the Palaearctic? (ii) What are the main environmental drivers of the diversity patterns in these steppes? (iii) What are the diversity–environment relationships and do they vary between spatial scales and among different taxonomic groups?

The inner-alpine dry valleys of the Swiss Alps are characterized by subcontinental climate, leading to many peculiarities in dry grassland species composition. Despite their well-known uniqueness, comprehensive studies on biodiversity patterns of the dry grasslands in these valleys were still missing. To close this gap, we sampled 161 10-m 2 vegetation plots in the Rhône, Rhine and Inn valleys, recording vascular plants, terricolous bryophyte and lichen species, as well as environmental data. Additionally, we tested the scale-dependence of environmental drivers using 34 nested-plot series with seven grain sizes (0.0001-100 m 2). We analysed the effects of environmental drivers related to productivity/stress, disturbance and within-plot heterogeneity on species richness. Mean species richness ranged from 2.3 species in 0.0001 m 2 to 58.8 species in 100 m 2. For all taxa combined, the most relevant drivers at the grain size of 10 m 2 were southing (negative), litter (negative), mean annual precipitation (unimodal), gravel cover (negative), inclination (unimodal) and mean annual precipitation (unimodal). For vascular plants the pattern was similar, while bryophyte and lichen richness differed by the opposite relationship to mean annual precipitation as well as negative influences of mean herb layer height, grazing and mowing. The explained variance of the multiple regression model increased with grain size, with very low values for the smallest two grain sizes. While southing and litter had high importance for the fiver larger grain sizes, pH and gravel cover were particularly important at the intermediate grain sizes, and inclination and mean annual precipitation for the two largest grain sizes. The findings emphasize the importance of taxonomic group and grain size for patterns and drivers of species richness in vegetation, consistent with ecological theory. Differences in the diversity-environment relationships among the three taxonomic groups can partly be explained by asymmetric competition that leads to low bryophyte and lichen diversity where vascular plants do well and vice versa. The relatively low alpha diversity of vascular plants in dry grasslands in Swiss inner-alpine valleys compared to similar communities in other parts of the Palaearctic remains puzzling, especially because Swiss stands are often large and well-preserved.

Aims: We studied the syntaxonomic position, biodiversity, ecological features, nature conservation value and current status of dry grasslands investigated by Josias Braun-Blanquet more than 60 years ago. Study area: Inner-alpine valleys of Austria. Methods: We sampled 67 plots of 10 m2, following the standardized EDGG methodology. We subjected our plots to an unsupervised classification with the modified TWINSPAN algorithm and interpreted the branches of the dendrogram syntaxonomically. Biodiversity, structural and ecological characteristics of the resulting vegetation units at association and order level were compared by ANOVAs. Results: All the examined grasslands belong to the class Festuco-Brometea. From ten distinguished clusters, we could assign four clusters to validly published associations, while the remaining six clusters were named tentatively. We classified them into three orders: Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis (Armerio elongatae-Potentilletum arenariae, Phleo phleoidis-Pu...

The problems and prospects for reversing land degradation and for
ecological restoration of degraded landscapes are reviewed. Animal husbandry on rangelands in NW China is under great pressure. This pressure is leading to a major transformation of the livestock sector, from one that is resource-driven (based on available forage, water, crop residues/by-products) to one that aggressively looks for new resources (grain, fodder crops, energy inputs). This shift has resulted in
environmental damage and disruption to the traditional systems of production.
Key Points
1. Rangelands provide habitat to a wide array of native wildlife and plants, high quality water, forage for domestic livestock and wildlife, and play a part in biodiversity conservation and CO2 sequestration. In addition, they directly provide
livelihood and lifestyle to millions of herders and, indirectly, to the bureaucracy
and service industry set up to cater to their needs.
2. A major productivity gaps exists within NW China’s pastoral Lands. Closing
this productivity gap could offer opportunities to relieve the strain on rangelands
but it is clear that this cannot be obtained by expanding the conventional feed
base on rangelands.
3. Rangeland grazing systems offer only limited potential for intensification and livestock production is becoming increasingly more dependent on crops. Thus the importance of forage from rangelands is decreasing at the expense of cereals, fodder crops like maize and oats, and industrial by-products.