Abstract
In semi-natural mountain meadows, yield and forage quality must be reconciled with plant biodiversity conservation. This study was performed to analyze the relationships between these three parameters. To quantify plant biodiversity and pastoral value (PV), phytosociological inventories were performed in 104 semi-natural meadows in the Central Spanish Pyrenees included in the Natura 2000 network. Forage yields were calculated and forage samples were analyzed for relative feed value (RFV). We identified two main types of meadows: (i) those that had “more intensive management,” relatively close to farm buildings, with little or no slope, dominated by grasses, with low plant biodiversity, high PV and yield, but low forage quality and (ii) those that had “less intensive management,” distant from farm buildings, on slopes, richer in “other forbs”, with high plant biodiversity and forage quality, but low PV and yield. Conservation policies should emphasize less intensive management practices to maintain plant diversity in the semi-natural meadows in the Pyrenees. The widespread view that “other forbs” have low nutritional value should be revised in future research. These species often are undervalued by the PV method, because their nutritional quality, digestibility and intake are poorly understood.
Highlights
According to Kahmen & Poschlod (2008), one major objective in European nature conservation and within agro-environmental schemes is to maintain the semi-natural grasslands by means of appropriate management
In semi-natural mountain meadows, yield and forage quality must be reconciled with plant biodiversity conservation
We identified two main types of meadows: (i) those that had “more intensive management,” relatively close to farm buildings, with little or no slope, dominated by grasses, with low plant biodiversity, high pastoral value (PV) and yield, but low forage quality and (ii) those that had “less intensive management,” distant from farm buildings, on slopes, richer in “other forbs”, with high plant biodiversity and forage quality, but low PV and yield
Summary
According to Kahmen & Poschlod (2008), one major objective in European nature conservation and within agro-environmental schemes (cross compliance with national good farming practices) is to maintain the semi-natural grasslands by means of appropriate management. The transfer of conservation knowledge between sites or regions remains difficult due to different species sets. Semi-natural meadows provide many ecological services including biodiversity conservation, landscape maintenance, reception capacity of pollinators and other wildlife, protection against erosion, soil and water protection and carbon sink (Paracchini et al, 2008). The conservation of high nature value (HNV) farmland is central to achieving the biodiversity targets set in 2010 in the sixth Environment Action Programme of the European Union (EU), and alpine meadows are typical HNV (Paracchini et al, 2008). The qualification as HNV farmland would lead to an added value
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