Press release: Grazing animals help create vegetation patterns

Nr. 217/2014 - 01.10.2014

Cattle can enhance grassland biodiversity, benefiting many insect species

(pug) Grazing cattle have an enormous impact on grassland biodiversity. Scientists from Göttingen University have verified this in a long-term experiment on old permanent pastures. The grassland in Central Europe plays a key role in creating biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, this diversity still faces continuing and major threats due to the intensification of agricultural utilisation.
The scientists were able to show that grazing intensity is a determinant in the benefits for biodiversity. Moderate grazing intensity yielded the highest biodiversity benefit indices and not, as often assumed, very lenient grazing intensity. The results have been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

The grasslands in Central Europe form an integral part of its cultural landscape, having evolved over centuries of agricultural utilisation. Grassland is defined as all agriculturally utilised areas where grass and herbaceous plants grow. It is either grazed by livestock or reaped by mowing. Much knowledge is still lacking about the role grazing commercial livestock play in preserving and stimulating biodiversity. The studies show that grazing animals produce certain patterns in vegetation structure that impact the habitats of many insect species. "A high heterogeneity of sward structure is particularly important for the variety of grasshoppers. But butterflies also benefit from the mosaic of sward heights with a considerable proportion of higher growing areas," says Dr. Jana Sabrina Jerrentrup, the study's lead investigator from the Department of Crop Sciences.

The Göttingen researchers point out that these results are important for the agricultural management of grasslands: Alongside the production of milk and meat, they also help maintain important functions of these grasslands' ecosystems. This study is also presented in a video clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX4aH1J5saA .

Original publication: Jana Sabrina Jerrentrup et al. (2014) Grazing intensity affects insect diversity via sward structure and heterogeneity in a long term experiment. Journal of Applied Ecology 51: 968-977. DOI: 101111/1365-2664.12244, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12244/full .

Contact address:
Professor Johannes Isselstein
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Department of Crop Sciences
Institute of Grassland Science
Von-Siebold-Strasse 8, 37075 Göttingen
phone +49 (0)551 39-22253
email: jissels@gwdg.de
website: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/33623.html