Download or read book Grasslands in Europe written by Peter Veen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2014-04-14 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grasslands are an important element of European nature. About half of Europe's endemic species depend on grasslands, whether in mountains, lowlands, river plains or coastal areas. Many grasslands originate in traditional agricultural landscapes. Modern intensification, however, brings many of these ecosystems under threat. 'Grasslands in Europe' is a tribute to these important ecosystems. It was written by an international team of grassland experts, who describe twenty-four case studies from countries in all of Europe - ranging from the grasslands of Gotland and #land (Sweden) to the Spanish Dehesa, and from the hay meadows of the British Pennine Dales to the steppes of Turkish Anatolia. Together, these case studies provide a fascinating glimpse into the various European grasslands, their value for nature, culture and agriculture, and the threats they are facing today. The accessible text as well as the rich illustrations will appeal to a wide audience. Grasslands in Europe contains a large number of stunning full-colour photographs of grassland landscapes, species and cultural history. It also contains many maps and infographics. Thematic chapters provide essential background information on topics such as grassland fauna, the history of agriculture, grassland communities, and the connection between grasslands and climate. The book also analyses the opportunities and risks of EU policy to conserve these grasslands. It offers a farmer-centred outlook to manage and to maintain the European grasslands of high nature value.
Download or read book Grasslands and Herbivore Production in Europe and Effects of Common Policies written by Christian Huyghe and published by Editions Quae. This book was released on 2014-03-20 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Funded by and written during theEuropean Multisward project, this open access ebook presents an inventory of grasslands and forage crops in Europe by placing them in the production system in which they are embedded, and studying the technical, economic and regulatory determinants of past and present trends. Profusely illustrated with maps, it also features many case studies in all European regions and interviews of farmers and key stakeholders.
Download or read book Integrating Efficient Grassland Farming and Biodiversity written by European Grassland Federation. International Symposium and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Grassland Productivity and Ecosystem Services written by Gilles Lemaire and published by CABI. This book was released on 2011 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains 28 chapters with emphasis on the interactive nature of the relationships between the soil, plant, animal and environmental components of grassland systems, both natural and managed. It analyses the present knowledge and the future trends of research for combining the classical view of grasslands, as a resource for secure feeding of an increasing human population, with the more recent perspective of the contribution of grasslands to the mitigation of environmental impacts and biodiversity erosion as consequences of human society activities. The chapters are organized within five sections dealing with the different functions and the main ecosystem services expected from grasslands: (i) domestic herbivore feeding and animal production; (ii) the regulation of biogeochemical cycles and its consequences for the environment; (iii) dynamics of biodiversity hosted by grasslands; (iv) integration of grasslands within sustainable animal production systems; and (v) interactions of grassland areas with other land use systems at the landscape level.
Download or read book Grassland a global resource written by D.A. McGilloway and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-08-28 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The concept of grasslands as a global resource is not new. Indeed many recognised authorities have been canvassing for a global approach to understanding, managing and exploiting this resource for many years. This is the first book that gathers together leading experts from around the world to outline our current understanding of this complex ecosystem, the ways in which it can be enhanced and utilised and where the research challenges are for the future. The following themes unite the book: - Efficient production from grassland; - Grassland and the environment; - Delivering the benefits from grassland. The reader is given an in depth understanding of the biology of the system and how grasslands are crucial for soil stabilisation and water quality. Secondly, much attention is given to how grasslands offer the possibility of increasing food supply and income generation, which is a hugely important but often ignored facet in today’s climate of extensification and biodiversity. Current advances in the grassland sciences have a proven potential to promote the economic development and environmental stability of regions, nations and peoples, particularly in some of the most resource-limited areas of the world. Approaches for achieving the most effective development and adoption of new technology are reviewed."
Download or read book Grassland Restoration and Management written by David Blakesley and published by Pelagic Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2016-04-11 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the destruction of 95% of meadows during the twentieth century, there is an urgent need to understand what little unspoiled habitat remains in order to plan the management and restoration of existing sites, as well as re-creating future grassland habitats. This book is a much-needed guide to grassland restoration and management. Providing a thorough overview of recent research on grassland restoration and its implications for practical grassland restoration and management, it introduces grassland communities and the wildlife they support, including examples of species of conservation concern, and considers the management of semi-natural grassland habitats with particular emphasis on drier grassland habitats. Chapters cover: - Grassland character and communities - Introduction to grassland wildlife - Managing semi-natural grassland - Grassland restoration – threats and challenges - Opportunities in grassland restoration - Plant material for grassland restoration - Defining success in grassland restoration. A variety of management techniques are examined, including soil amendment, cultivation, harvesting and maintenance in creating suitable conditions for the successful restoration of species-rich grasslands. It is essential reading for conservationists, site owners or managers, practitioners, conservation organizations and students of ecological restoration with an interest in the creation of new grassland habitats, the restoration of semi-natural grassland, as well as the continuing management of semi-natural (unimproved) grassland communities.
Download or read book Grassland Use in Europe written by Agnès van den Pol-van Dasselaar and published by Eyrolles Group. This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering 40% of the European agricultural area, grasslands are vitally important both for agriculture and society. These grasslands serve multiple functions, including the local provision of fodder for animal husbandry (and hence high-quality food provision for people), biodiversity conservation, carbon storage and the provision of 'traditional' landscapes that European citizens appreciate for recreational purposes and cultural heritage. The future of grassland farming in Europe is in the hands of young farmers. Compared to other topics, grassland management has often been a weak point of teaching delivered by agricultural technical schools in several European countries. The training of future farmers and advisors could thus be significantly improved, which could lead to better grassland management in the medium and long terms. For this reason, the European project Inno4Grass created a syllabus and a set of PowerPoint presentations on practical grassland management for current and future generations of grassland farmers and advisors.
Download or read book Grasses and Grassland Ecology written by David J. Gibson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the most up to date and thorough account of the natural history of the plants that comprise the most important food crop on Earth, the grasses and grasslands.
Download or read book California Grasslands written by Mark R. Stromberg and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2007-12-03 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This highly synthetic and scholarly work brings together new and important scientific contributions by leading experts on a rich diversity of topics concerning the history, ecology, and conservation of California's endangered grasslands. The editors and authors have succeeded admirably in drawing from a great wealth of recent research to produce a widely accessible and compelling, state-of-the-art treatment of this fascinating subject. Anyone interested in Californian biodiversity or grassland ecosystems in general will find this book to be an invaluable resource and a major inspiration for further research, management, and restoration efforts."—Bruce G. Baldwin, W. L. Jepson Professor and Curator, UC Berkeley "Grasses and grasslands are among the most important elements of the California landscape. This is their book, embodying the kind of integrated view needed for all ecological communities in California. Approaches ranging across an incredibly broad spectrum -- paleontology and human history; basic science and practical management techniques; systematics, community ecology, physiology, and genetics; physical factors such as water, soil nutrients, atmospherics, and fire; biological factors such as competition, symbiosis, and grazing -- are nicely tied together due to careful editorial work. This is an indispensable reference for everyone interested in the California environment."—Brent Mishler, Director of the University & Jepson Herbaria and Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley "The structure and function of California grasslands have intrigued ecologists for decades. The editors of this volume have assembled a comprehensive set of reviews by a group of outstanding authors on the natural history, structure, management, and restoration of this economically and ecologically important ecosystem."—Scott L. Collins, Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico
Download or read book Agroforestry in Europe written by Antonio Rigueiro-Rodríguez and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-11-09 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agroforestry has come of age during the past three decades. The age-old practice of growing trees and crops and sometimes animals in interacting combinations – that has been ignored in the single-commodity-oriented agricultural and forestry development paradigms – has been brought into the realm of modern land-use. Today agroforestry is well on its way to becoming a specialized science at a level similar to those of crop science and forestry science. To most land-use experts, however, agroforestry has a tropical connotation. They consider agroforestry as something that can and can only be identified with the tropics. That is a wrong perception. While it is true that the tropics, compared to the temperate regions, have a wider array of agroforestry systems and hold greater promise for potential agroforestry interventions, it is also true that agroforestry has several opportunities in the temperate regions too. Indeed, the role of agroforestry is now recognized in Europe as exemplified by this book, North America, and elsewhere in the temperate zone. Current interest in ecosystem management in industrialized countries strongly suggests that there is a need to embrace and apply agroforestry principles to help mitigate the environmental problems caused or exacerbated by commercial agricultural and forestry production enterprises.
Download or read book Sustainable Grassland Productivity written by J. Lloveras and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Grasslands and Climate Change written by David J. Gibson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive assessment of the effects of climate change on global grasslands and the mitigating role that ecologists can play.
Download or read book Grasslands of the World written by Victor R. Squires and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book begins with a brief account of the extraordinary sequence of events that led to emergence of grasslands as major vegetation formations that now occupy some of the driest and hottest and the highest and coldest on earth as well as vast steppes and prairies in more temperate climes. It is the story of grasses successfully competing with forests and woodlands, aided and abetted by grazing herbivores and by humans and their use of fire as a tool. It is a story of adaptation to changing climates and the changing biophysical environments. A major focus of the book is the Palaearctic biogeographic realm that extends over some 45 million km2 and thus more than 1/3 of the terrestrial ice-free surface on Earth. It comprises extensive grasslands of different types and origin, which can be subdivided into (1) natural grasslands with (1a) steppes (climatogenic in dry climates), (1b) arctic-alpine grasslands (climatogenic in cold climates) and (1c) azonal and extrazonal grasslands (pedogenic and topogenic) as well as (2) secondary grasslands created and sustained by human activities, such as livestock grazing, mowing or burning. Grasslands of the Palaearctic do not only form a major basis for the agriculture of the region and thus its food supply, but are also crucial for other ecosystem services and host a supra proportional part of the realm’s plant and animal diversity. To reflect that suitability of grasslands for biodiversity strongly depends on their state, we apply the term High Nature Value grassland to those natural grasslands that are not degraded (in good state) and those secondary grasslands that are not intensified (semi-natural). The situation in a variety of countries where grasslands are evolving under the influence of global climate change is also considered. Case studies are presented on Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, India, China, South America, North America and Australia. The concluding chapter examines a set of themes arising from the chapters that make up the bulk of this book. The following provide a focus: recent history of grassland biomes – brief recap of current thinking and recent trends with special reference to dry grasslands in the Palearctic regions; the current status of grasslands and germplasm resources (biodiversity) – an overview; management systems that ensure sustainability; how to recover degraded grasslands; socio-economic issues and considerations in grassland management; the impacts of environmental problems in grasslands such as future climate change and intensification and the problems/prospects facing pastoralists and other grassland-based livestock producers.
Download or read book Alternative Functions of Grassland written by European Grassland Federation. International Symposium and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Non marketable functions of grassland. Alternative use of grassland. Methods of grassland preservation.
Download or read book Grassland Farming and Land Management Systems in Mountainous Regions written by European Grassland Federation. International Symposium and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mountainous regions, which cover nearly half of the continent’s area, are in many ways of vital importance for the European population. They supply much of the continent ́s water, are centres of biological and cultural biodiversity, provide various opportunities for recreation/ farmers. But mountainous regions are characterised by permanent natural handicaps due to topographic and climatic restrictions on economic and agricultural activity. Because of the geographical constraints to farming, work productivity is on average lower by 28% in mountain areas compared with less favoured areas, and by 40% compared with lowlands. Agriculture in mountainous regions can therefore, in general, not compete with agriculture in advantaged lowlands and, with very few exceptions, cannot hope to become competitive in adopting intensive models in response to the growing global competition.
Download or read book Perennial Biomass Crops for a Resource Constrained World written by Susanne Barth and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-18 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a flavour of activities focussed on the need for sustainably produced biomass to support European strategic objectives for the developing bioeconomy. The chapters cover five broad topic areas relating to the use of perennial biomass crops in Europe. These are: ‘Bioenergy Resources from Perennial Crops in Europe’, ‘European Regional Examples for the Use of Perennial Crops for Bioenergy’, ‘Genotypic Selection of Perennial Biomass Crops for Crop Improvement’, ‘Ecophysiology of Perennial Biomass Crops’ and ‘Examples of End-Use of Perennial Biomass Crops’. Two major issues relating to the future use of biomass energy are the identification of the most suitable second generation biomass crops and the need to utilise land not under intensive agricultural production, broadly referred to as ‘marginal land’. The two main categories of plants that fit these needs are perennial rhizomatous grasses and trees that can be coppiced. The overarching questions that are addressed in the book relate to the suitability of perennial crops for providing feedstocks for a European bioeconomy and the need to exploit environments for biomass crops which do not compete with food crops. Bioenergy is the subject of a wide range of national and European policy measures. New developments covered are, for example, the use of perennial grasses to produce protein for animal feed and concepts to use perennial biomass crops to mitigate carbon emissions through soil carbon sequestration. Several chapters also show how prudent selection of suitable genotypes and breeding are essential to develop high yielding and sustainable second generation biomass crops which are adapted to a wide range of unfavourable conditions like chilling and freezing, drought, flooding and salinity. The final chapters also emphasise the need to be kept an eye out for potential new end-uses of perennial biomass crops that will contribute further to the developing bioeconomy.
Download or read book Ecology and Conservation of Mountaintop grasslands in Brazil written by Geraldo Wilson Fernandes and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-20 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a pioneer attempt to bring forward the first synthesis on the most diverse and threatened mountain top vegetation of South America, the rupestrian grasslands. It brings to light the state of the art information on this ecosystem geology, soil formation and distribution, environmental filters that lead to biodiversity, species interactions and their fine tuned adaptations to survive the harsh mountain environment. The human dimensions of the rupestrian grassland are also addressed, including the anthropogenic threats that may irreversibly impact biodiversity and ecosystem services. The book also highlights the ongoing studies on ecological restoration and first attempt to model the impacts of climate change on its speciose biota.
