Session

Semi natural grasslands are an important vegetation type not just for their agricultural productivity, but also the extent of area they cover, ecosystem services they provide, and diversity of species they host. They differ from many habitat types because their existence and persistence require human management. Specific management events and their timing may support biodiversity, but management can also be detrimental, especially if the management intensity expands beyond the sustainable boundary of the ecosystem. We examine how management types and intensity influences plant biodiversity in semi-natural grasslands. Switzerland presents a good opportunity to evaluate the role of different types and intensity of management on biodiversity because of the recent production of a country wide grassland management intensity assessment and thorough mapping of grassland plant diversity. Switzerland also has high climatic, topographical and cultural heterogeneity, resulting in a range of different grassland types and management regimes in a relatively small area. We examine the drivers of grassland diversity in Switzerland using an existing management intensity map, soil and climate data, remote sensing-derived landscape, vegetation, and topography-derived indices, and existing vegetation compositional data from grasslands across Switzerland. We model vascular plant richness using these variables and quantify the importance of management intensity as a driver. This type of detailed understanding of the effect of management intensity on grassland species diversity will be useful to help inform policy.