Alternatively, former hay meadows are now grazed, and stocking densities are often so high that few flowering plants are seen.

At the same time, where possible (and we are speaking of altitudes around 2000 m a.s.l. already), more and more livestock owners apply slurry as fertilizer (greener areas - mown earlier). This leads to the disappearance of many plant and butterfly species.

Of course, a few species also benefit, such as this Lilium martagon, but mainly in early stages of abandonment.

At my current location in a pretty remote valley in Austria, abandonment, but also intensification, have kicked in again since ca. 2017. Abandoned hay meadows quickly lose they herb-rich appearance, and grasses soon dominate (often described in the literature). And yes, these slopes are steep!

I had assumed that some of these extremely biodiverse hay meadows ("Bergmähder") would persist in the long run. But speaking to the people who do the hard work, this seems less and less guaranteed.

These meadows had been maintained for centuries as #social-ecological systems, but were #abandoned and #intensified over large areas in the 1950s-1980s. However, due to tradition and conservation funding, unfertilized areas managed at low intensity still exist - biodiversity hotspots.

They also host a very high insect diversity and abundance, due to their high plant species richness and floral resources.

Mountain hay meadows of the Alps are impressive.

There is currently a lot of debate about #grazing vs. #mowing for #biodiversity - often polarized, with grazing seen as the holy grail and mowing as detrimental. I have long felt that it's not so much about one or the other, but about intensity and system. Well, here is another example:

Ganz so einfach ist es nicht, es gibt viele Gründe für Landnutzungsaufgabe - und resultierende Bestandsentwicklungen von Arten sind auch lange nicht immer negativ. Hier der dem o.a. feature zugrundeliegende Artikel: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Working from home before the start of the usual madness next week - window with a view!

Call for papers!
Conservation of Palaearctic steppes and semi-natural grasslands: challenges and solutions
Special issue in Biological Conservation: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/biol...
Coordinated by Orsolya Valkó, Jürgen Dengler, @leonardoancillo and me