Role of livestock and traditional management practices in maintaining high nature value grasslands

Abstract

High Nature Value (HNV) grasslands face increasing threats from biodiversity loss and reduced habitat functionality, largely driven by the decline of traditional animal husbandry and grassland management practices. We studied the effects of traditional management on grassland plant communities in Ponoară village (Bihor County, Romania), where traditional farming systems are still maintained. We investigated the direct and indirect effects of traditional grazing and manuring on plant community composition and diversity, mediated by seed dispersal and altered soil properties. We combined vegetation surveys of grassland parcels with a seed content survey involving germinating seeds from farmyard manure and livestock feces collected from sampled parcels. Among the 220 vascular plant species recorded, 43 species (19 %) were dispersed via zoochory through feces and farmyard manure. Most seedlings germinated from cow feces, followed by cow manure and sheep feces. Mowing frequency, grazing, and cleaning (removal of shrubs, litter, moss, ant/mole hills) were key predictors of plant species richness. Manuring significantly influenced plant community composition. Seedling abundance germinated from livestock feces and manure explained ~20 % of the variance in species richness. Grazing intensity had a strong negative direct effect on richness, but also positive indirect effects mediated by increased soil humus content. In contrast, the indirect effects of manuring on plant communities were more strongly linked to seed dispersal than to soil modification. Our findings suggest that low-intensity grazing and organic manuring, when integrated with traditional practices in heterogeneous landscapes, can shape grassland composition without reducing species richness, while also enhancing seed-based regeneration.