Grasslands—more important for ecosystem services than you might think
Jan Bengtsson,Jan Bengtsson,James M. Bullock,Benis N. Egoh,Benis N. Egoh,Colin S. Everson,Terry M. Everson,Timothy G. O’Connor,Patrick J. O’Farrell,Patrick J. O’Farrell,Henrik G. Smith,Regina Lindborg,Regina Lindborg +12 more
TLDR
In this article, a comprehensive overview of ecosystem services provided by natural and semi-natural grasslands, using southern Africa (SA) and northwest Europe as case studies, respectively, is presented.Abstract:
Extensively managed grasslands are recognized globally for their high biodiversity and their social and cultural values. However, their capacity to deliver multiple ecosystem services (ES) as parts of agricultural systems is surprisingly understudied compared to other production systems. We undertook a comprehensive overview of ES provided by natural and semi-natural grasslands, using southern Africa (SA) and northwest Europe as case studies, respectively. We show that these grasslands can supply additional non-agricultural services, such as water supply and flow regulation, carbon storage, erosion control, climate mitigation, pollination, and cultural ES. While demand for ecosystems services seems to balance supply in natural grasslands of SA, the smaller areas of semi-natural grasslands in Europe appear to not meet the demand for many services. We identified three bundles of related ES from grasslands: water ES including fodder production, cultural ES connected to livestock production, and population-based regulating services (e.g., pollination and biological control), which also linked to biodiversity. Greenhouse gas emission mitigation seemed unrelated to the three bundles. The similarities among the bundles in SA and northwestern Europe suggest that there are generalities in ES relations among natural and semi-natural grassland areas. We assessed trade-offs and synergies among services in relation to management practices and found that although some trade-offs are inevitable, appropriate management may create synergies and avoid trade-offs among many services. We argue that ecosystem service and food security research and policy should give higher priority to how grasslands can be managed for fodder and meat production alongside other ES. By integrating grasslands into agricultural production systems and land-use decisions locally and regionally, their potential to contribute to functional landscapes and to food security and sustainable livelihoods can be greatly enhanced. (Less)read more
Citations
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Combatting global grassland degradation.
Richard D. Bardgett,James M. Bullock,Sandra Lavorel,Peter Manning,Urs Schaffner,Nick Ostle,Mathilde Chomel,Giselda Durigan,Ellen L. Fry,David W. Johnson,Jocelyn M. Lavallee,Gaëtane Le Provost,Shan Luo,Kenny Png,Mahesh Sankaran,Mahesh Sankaran,Hou Xiangyang,Huakun Zhou,Li Ma,Weibo Ren,Xiliang Li,Ding Yong,Li Yuanheng,Hongxiao Shi +23 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the current state of global grasslands and explore the extent and dominant drivers of their degradation, and set out the steps needed to protect these systems and promote their restoration.
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Land Cover Classification using Google Earth Engine and Random Forest Classifier—The Role of Image Composition
TL;DR: The results indicate that temporal aggregation (e.g., median) is a promising method, which not only significantly reduces data volume (resulting in an easier and faster analysis) but also produces an equally high accuracy as time series data.
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Billions in Misspent EU Agricultural Subsidies Could Support the Sustainable Development Goals
TL;DR: This article analyzed the distribution of €59.4 billion of 2015 CAP payments and showed that current CAP spending exacerbates income inequality within agriculture, while little funding supports climate-friendly and biodiverse farming regions.
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Step back from the forest and step up to the Bonn Challenge: How a broad ecological perspective can promote successful landscape restoration
Vicky M. Temperton,Nina Buchmann,Elise Buisson,Giselda Durigan,Łukasz Kazmierczak,Michael P. Perring,Michael P. Perring,Michele de Sá Dechoum,Joseph W. Veldman,Gerhard E. Overbeck +9 more
TL;DR: The Bonn Challenge as discussed by the authors is a U.N. program to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change through restoration of the world's degraded landscapes, and it provides an unprecedented chance for ecological restoration to become a linchpin tool for addressing many environmental issues.
Mitigation the greenhouse gas balance of ruminant production systems through carbon sequestration in grasslands.
TL;DR: It is confirmed that grassland C sequestration has a strong potential to partly mitigate the GHG balance of ruminant production systems, however, CH4 and N2O emissions from the livestock sector need to be reduced and current SOC stocks preserved.
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