Abstract
An agro-environmental payment for the management of the so-called ‘Biodiversity Promotion Areas’ (BPA) has been used to accomplish biodiversity conservation goals in Switzerland. These areas have been managed according to specific limitations on mowing dates and fertilizers. We assessed the regional-scale effectiveness of BPA implementation within Ticino Canton by answering the following questions: (i) is plant species diversity higher in BPA than in conventionally managed grasslands (CMG)? (ii) which are the differences between BPA and CMG in terms of climatic, topographical, ecological, and vegetation variables? (iii) which vegetation types, functional groups, and plant species are specifically related to BPA? A total of 242 vegetation surveys (64 in BPA and 178 in CMG, respectively) was carried out in 55 farms and the main climatic and topographic features were assessed. Differences in terms of plant diversity, ecological indicator and pastoral values, species functional groups, vegetation types, and indicator species between BPA and CMG were assessed. The BPA harboured a higher plant diversity. They were located in steeper areas, at higher elevations, and characterised by lower soil nutrient content, mowing tolerance, and pastoral value than CMG. Dry meadow species number and cover were higher in BPA, while nutrient-rich meadow species number was higher in CMG. The species associated to BPA belonged to a wider range of functional groups and 38% of them belonged to the national list for biodiversity promotion in agriculture, whereas no species associated to CMG belonged to that list. Thus, our results confirmed the effectiveness of BPA for biodiversity conservation for the Southern Swiss Alps.
Highlights
Semi-natural extensive grasslands of temperate regions are amongst the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystems on the Earth (Wilson et al 2012)
The current study aims to assess the regional-scale effectiveness of Biodiversity Promotion Areas (BPA) implementation for plant diversity conservation in the Southern Swiss Alps by answering the following questions: (i) is vascular plant species diversity higher in grasslands managed as BPA than in conventionally managed grasslands (CMG)? (ii) which are the differences between BPA and CMG in terms of climatic, topographical, ecological, and vegetation variables? (iii) which vegetation types, functional groups, and plant species are related to the BPA?
59 and 81 species were found exclusively within BPA and CMG, respectively
Summary
Semi-natural extensive grasslands of temperate regions are amongst the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystems on the Earth (Wilson et al 2012). A remarkable number of grassland specialists, among which many endemic and threatened species, composes a significant proportion of this high biodiversity, for both flora and fauna (Nagy 2009; WallisDeVries and Van Swaay 2009; Tocco et al 2013; Fournier et al 2017; Kadereit 2017). These highly diverse open habitats are the result of long-term extensive mowing and grazing regimes and most of the extreme-richness sites are managed with no fertilisation and no more than one cut per year (Dengler et al 2014). A general increase in the richness of vascular plants was recorded from the colline to the mountain belts in Switzerland, which is the result of the decrease in management intensity occurring at increasing elevations as a consequence of lower grassland productivity (Koordinationsstelle Biodiversitats-Monitoring Schweiz 2009)
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