首页|Permanent grasslands in Europe: Land use change and intensification decrease their multifunctionality

Permanent grasslands in Europe: Land use change and intensification decrease their multifunctionality

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  • NSTL
  • Elsevier
? 2022 The AuthorsPermanent grasslands cover 34% of the European Union's agricultural area and are vital for a wide variety of ecosystem services essential for our society. Over recent decades, the permanent grassland area has declined and land use change continues to threaten its extent. Simultaneously, the management intensity of permanent grasslands increased. We performed a systematic literature review on the multifunctionality of permanent grasslands in Europe, examining the effects of land use and management on 19 grassland ecosystem service indicators. Based on the evidence in 696 out of 70,456 screened papers, published since 1980, we found that both land use change and intensification of management decreased multifunctionality. In particular, preventing conversion of permanent grasslands to croplands secured the delivery of multiple ecosystem services. A lower management intensity was associated with benefits for biodiversity, climate regulation and water purification, but impacted the provision of high-quality animal feed. Increasing the number of species in the sward enhanced multifunctionality of permanent grassland without significant trade-offs such as losses in production. Our review covered many aspects of land use, management and ecosystem services, but we also identified areas with no or only few studies. The most prominent gaps were related to comparisons between permanent and temporary grasslands, and effects of management practices on the provision of cultural values, and on erosion and flood control. We suggest that, despite apparent changes in human dietary preferences, the protection of permanent grasslands in Europe must be prioritised. At the same time, considering the need to reduce ruminant livestock's contribution to climate change, the time seems ripe to increase support for low-intensity grassland management to optimise the provision of essential ecosystem services from Europe's permanent grasslands.

Agro-ecologyEcosystem servicesGrasslandLand use changeSystematic literature review

Schils R.L.M.、Bufe C.、Berge H.T.、Rhymer C.M.、Francksen R.M.、Whittingham M.J.、Klaus V.H.、Feigenwinter I.、Ghiasi S.、Buchmann N.、Abdalla M.、Smith P.、Milazzo F.、Vanwalleghem T.、Lellei-Kovacs E.、Pellaton R.、Bertora C.、Damatirca C.、Zavattaro L.、Chodkiewicz A.、Janicka M.、Fernandez-Rebollo P.、Hejduk S.、Hiron M.、Smith K.E.、Thorman R.、Williams J.、Price J.P.N.、Kampen J.、Derkx R.

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Agrosystems Research Wageningen Plant Research

School of Natural and Environmental Sciences Newcastle University

Department of Environmental Systems Science Institute of Agricultural Sciences ETH Zürich

Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Aberdeen

Department of Agronomy ETSIAM University of Córdoba

Institute of Ecology and Botany Centre for Ecological Research

Department of Agricultural Forest and Food Sciences University of Torino

Department of Agronomy Institute of Agriculture Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW

Department of Forestry ETSIAM University of Córdoba

Department of Animal Nutrition and Forage Production Mendel University in Brno

Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

ADAS

Biometris Department of Plant Sciences Wageningen University

Library Wageningen University and Research

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2022

10.1016/j.agee.2022.107891

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

ISSN：0167-8809
年,卷(期)：2022.330
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