TY - JOUR
T1 - From Grasslands to Forblands
T2 - Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity
AU - Søndergaard, Skjold Alsted
AU - Ejrnæs, Rasmus
AU - Svenning, Jens Christian
AU - Fløjgaard, Camilla
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Applied Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
PY - 2025/5
Y1 - 2025/5
N2 - Grazing by domestic herbivores is applied across Europe to combat the loss of light-dependent, species-rich communities due to encroachment by competitive woody and herbaceous plants. However, the billions of euros spent annually by the EU on grazing subsidies have failed to halt the loss of species in open habitats. We hypothesized that typical agri-environmental, seasonal grazing fails to simulate the ecological effects of now-extirpated, large, wild herbivores, which coevolved with these species-rich communities. We conducted a survey of 30 semi-natural sites, where grazing was either absent, seasonal, or year-round, across a spectrum of abiotic conditions. We recorded plant species diversity and cover and used plant traits to assess taxonomic and functional responses. Year-round grazing supported higher plant species richness and forb cover compared to seasonal or no grazing. Specifically, dormant-season (winter) grazing pressure increased species richness and forb cover, superseding additional effects of growing-season (summer) grazing pressure. Functional richness was similar across management types, likely due to higher plant trait similarity in year-round grazed sites. Our results support that dormant-season grazing plays a key role in weakening interspecific competition among plants and in enabling diverse forb communities to replace species-poor grass dominance. Synthesis and applications. Our results indicate that typical, seasonal grazing may be counterproductive in terms of promoting plant diversity. We found the most effective management strategy for conserving species-rich forb communities to be year-round grazing. Our results urge a greater focus on the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms behind the relationship between large herbivores and plants, not least the balance between grasses and forbs. We advocate a shift in conservation strategies towards natural grazing, to halt the continued loss of species that depend on open and semi-open, forb-rich habitats such as grasslands, wetlands, and woodlands.
AB - Grazing by domestic herbivores is applied across Europe to combat the loss of light-dependent, species-rich communities due to encroachment by competitive woody and herbaceous plants. However, the billions of euros spent annually by the EU on grazing subsidies have failed to halt the loss of species in open habitats. We hypothesized that typical agri-environmental, seasonal grazing fails to simulate the ecological effects of now-extirpated, large, wild herbivores, which coevolved with these species-rich communities. We conducted a survey of 30 semi-natural sites, where grazing was either absent, seasonal, or year-round, across a spectrum of abiotic conditions. We recorded plant species diversity and cover and used plant traits to assess taxonomic and functional responses. Year-round grazing supported higher plant species richness and forb cover compared to seasonal or no grazing. Specifically, dormant-season (winter) grazing pressure increased species richness and forb cover, superseding additional effects of growing-season (summer) grazing pressure. Functional richness was similar across management types, likely due to higher plant trait similarity in year-round grazed sites. Our results support that dormant-season grazing plays a key role in weakening interspecific competition among plants and in enabling diverse forb communities to replace species-poor grass dominance. Synthesis and applications. Our results indicate that typical, seasonal grazing may be counterproductive in terms of promoting plant diversity. We found the most effective management strategy for conserving species-rich forb communities to be year-round grazing. Our results urge a greater focus on the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms behind the relationship between large herbivores and plants, not least the balance between grasses and forbs. We advocate a shift in conservation strategies towards natural grazing, to halt the continued loss of species that depend on open and semi-open, forb-rich habitats such as grasslands, wetlands, and woodlands.
KW - agri-environmental
KW - ecosystem management
KW - megafauna
KW - natural grazing
KW - naturalistic grazing
KW - nature conservation
KW - plant coexistence
KW - rewilding
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105002152262&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1365-2664.70047
DO - 10.1111/1365-2664.70047
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:105002152262
SN - 0021-8901
VL - 62
SP - 1104
EP - 1113
JO - Journal of Applied Ecology
JF - Journal of Applied Ecology
IS - 5
ER -