Changing ecological and agricultural expectations for US Coastal Plain managed grasslands

Abstract

Across the US Coastal Plain, native grasses and legumes may provide viable alternatives to monoculture pastures of introduced sod‐forming grasses, which require recurring costly inputs. Some available cultivars of native grasses, mostly from neighboring regions, have potential to combine forage production for grazing livestock with enhanced habitat, especially for grassland birds. A few native legume species have potential to enhance ecosystem service provisioning of existing grass pastures. Such pastures with native grasses and legumes could complement restoration plantings to increase connectivity and scale of ecosystem function; however, coordination of pasture and restoration plantings would be needed to optimize benefits.