Agricultural Grassland on Mesic to Wet Soils

Leuschner, Christoph; Ellenberg, Heinz

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43048-5_8

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…To increase yield and improve accessibility by machines, many grasslands in the lowlands of north‐western Europe have been levelled in the second half of the 20th century to reduce the contour variation (Dierschke & Briemle, 2002). This has simultaneously reduced the small‐scale diversity of microhabitats and grassland biodiversity (Leuschner & Ellenberg, 2017). Uniform grassland communities of low diversity show a lower resilience to drought than more heterogeneous, species‐richer stands, as diversity has frequently been found to increase stress tolerance (Finn et al, 2018; Hofer et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microtopography causes small‐scale variation in harvest and forage quality of high‐yielding silage grassland in northern Germany

Mroncz,

Isselstein,

Komainda

et al. 2024

Grassland Research

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BackgroundLocal sward dieback, especially in grasslands on peat soil, in response to the extreme 2018/2019 drought demonstrates climate vulnerability of intensive grasslands in northern Central Europe.MethodsWe explore the influence of microtopography, that is, the within‐field mosaic of depressions and elevated patches, on soil volumetric moisture content, standing biomass and biomass crude protein (CP) and fibre content in intensively managed grassland on peat soil in a moist year (2021) and a dry year (2022) for quantifying small‐scale spatial heterogeneity within a field.ResultsWe found high within‐field variation in soil moisture, biomass and forage quality and a moisture dependence of productivity that was stronger in the dry year. CP ranged from 10% to 25% within a field, being lower in moist depressions than elevated patches in the wet (but not in the dry) summer.ConclusionsThe moister depressions help to limit the overall productivity decline in dry summers, whereas, in moist summers, the higher dry patches produce more protein‐rich forage than the depressions, where productivity is higher but quality is lower. We recommend adapting grassland management to this heterogeneity through spatially differentiated management regimes in order to better cope with an increasingly drier and more variable climate.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%