Extensively cultivated permanent grassland with a high species diversity has strongly decreased in Switzerland over the last decades owing to agricultural intensification and abandonment. The question arises which diversity of species can still be found in the current ‘usual’ cultural landscape of Switzerland and how it differs from extensively cultivated permanent grasslands.
The study presented analyses the species diversity and species composition in select extensively cultivated permanent grasslands, and it compares the findings with average values of the species diversity of vascular plants, mosses and snails according to the ‘Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland’.
Currently cultivated permanent grasslands in the Swiss average still show a high species diversity in the three species groups compared to traditional land use forms. Whilst for vascular plants the average number of species in extensively used grasslands is higher than the national average on comparable sites, the analysis showed no difference for mosses and snails. Additionally, the vascular plants included more indicator and character species and more plant species of the Red List on extensively cultivated grassland. The differences of the species composition of vascular plants between extensively cultivated permanent grassland and the nationwide average values can be ascribed to nutrient gradients.
Schlup, B., Stalling, T., Plattner, M., & Weber, D. (2013). Die Artenvielfalt des durchschnittlichen Dauergrünlands der Schweiz. Ein Vergleich zu naturschutzfachlich wertvollen Wiesen und Weiden. Naturschutz und Landschaftsplanung 45: 013-020.