Question: How does naturalistic grazing (trophic rewilding with large herbivores), in contrast to mowing and free succession (no grazing), affect plant community composition and species richness in temperate grassland grazed by semi-feral cattle and horses?Location: Mols Laboratory, Denmark. Methods:We investigated grazing exclosures in the rewilding area of the Mols Laboratory, four years after its establishment. We focused on moist to dry grassland vegetation, that is, excluding scrub and woodland. Each experimental block consisted of five 5 × 9 m plots, representing four fenced treatments, that is, summer-only grazing, winter-only grazing, full exclosure with annual autumn mowing and full exclosure with passive succession. The matrix (the fifth treatment) was grazed by large herbivores at close-to-natural densities, that is, regulated bottom-up by the carrying capacity of the area. Hence, even the seasonal grazing treatments were grazed at close-to-natural animal density. Quantitative plant community composition was assessed using the point-intercept method in 25 × 25 cm quadrats, supplemented with biomass calibration models based on additional quadrats, in which above-ground plant biomass was harvested after recording and the material sorted to species and weighed. Uniqueness was assessed as the sum of inverse range sizes for constituent species (unicity). Results:We found an appreciably higher plant species richness in grazing treatments than under both annual mowing and full exclosure, but only minor differences between seasonal grazing treatments. Uniqueness was highest in year-round and winter-only grazing and lowest in summer-only grazing. The forb:graminoid ratio tended to be high in the winter-only grazing treatment, whereas annual mowing was associated with dominance of graminoids over forbs. Full-exclosure plots had accumulation of litter

Question: How do naturalistic grazing in contrast to mowing and free succession affect plant community composition and species richness in a temperate grassland grazed by semi-feral cattle and horses? Location: Mols Laboratory, DenmarkMethods: We investigated grazing exclosures in the rewilding area of the Mols Laboratory, four years after its establishment. We focused on moist to dry grassland vegetation, i.e. excluding scrub and woodland. Each experimental block consisted of five 5 × 9 m plots, representing four fenced treatments, i.e. summer-only grazing, winter-only grazing, full exclosure with annual autumn mowing and full exclosure with passive succession. The matrix was grazed by large herbivores at close-tonatural densities, i.e. regulated bottom-up by the carrying capacity of the area. Hence, the seasonal grazing treatments were grazed at close-to-natural animal density. Quantitative plant community composition was assessed using the point-intercept method in 25 × 25 cm quadrats, supplemented with biomass calibration models based on additional quadrats, in which above-ground plant biomass was harvested after recording and the material sorted to species and weighed. Uniqueness was assessed as the sum of inverse range sizes for constituent species.