From Grasslands to Forblands: Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity

Skjold Alsted Søndergaard; Rasmus Ejrnæs; Jens Christian Svenning; Camilla Fløjgaard

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.70047

From Grasslands to Forblands: Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity

Skjold Alsted Søndergaard^*, Rasmus Ejrnæs, Jens Christian Svenning, Camilla Fløjgaard

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Applied Ecology
Volume	62
Issue	5
Pages (from-to)	1104-1113
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0021-8901
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70047
Publication status	Published - May 2025

Keywords

agri-environmental
ecosystem management
megafauna
natural grazing
naturalistic grazing
nature conservation
plant coexistence
rewilding

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title = "From Grasslands to Forblands: Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity",

abstract = "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.",

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author = "S{\o}ndergaard, {Skjold Alsted} and Rasmus Ejrn{\ae}s and Svenning, {Jens Christian} and Camilla Fl{\o}jgaard",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Applied Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.",

year = "2025",

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doi = "10.1111/1365-2664.70047",

language = "English",

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From Grasslands to Forblands: Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity. / Søndergaard, Skjold Alsted ; Ejrnæs, Rasmus ; Svenning, Jens Christian et al.
In: Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 62, No. 5, 05.2025, p. 1104-1113.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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T2 - Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity

AU - Søndergaard, Skjold Alsted

AU - Ejrnæs, Rasmus

AU - Svenning, Jens Christian

AU - Fløjgaard, Camilla

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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.

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KW - ecosystem management

KW - megafauna

KW - natural grazing

KW - naturalistic grazing

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From Grasslands to Forblands: Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity

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Keywords

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