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 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 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 Land Use Intensification written by Saul Cunningham and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2012-07-18 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There can be little doubt that there are truly colossal challenges associated with providing food, fibre and energy for an expanding world population without further accelerating already rapid rates of biodiversity loss and undermining the ecosystem processes on which we all depend. These challenges are further complicated by rapid changes in climate and its additional direct impacts on agriculture, biodiversity and ecological processes. There are many different viewpoints about the best way to deal with the myriad issues associated with land use intensification and this book canvasses a number of these from different parts of the tropical and temperate world. Chapters focus on whether science can suggest new and improved approaches to reducing the conflict between productive land use and biodiversity conservation. Who should read this book? Policy makers in regional, state and federal governments, as well as scientists and the interested lay public.
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 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 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 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 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 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 Managing Protected Areas in Central and Eastern Europe Under Climate Change written by Sven Rannow and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-01-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with an overview of data and concepts developed in the EU-project HABIT-CHANGE, this book addresses the need for sharing knowledge and experience in the field of biodiversity conservation and climate change. There is an urgent need to build capacity in protected areas to monitor, assess, manage and report the effects of climate change and their interaction with other pressures. The contributors identify barriers to the adaptation of conservation management, such as the mismatch between planning reality and the decision context at site level. Short and vivid descriptions of case studies, drawn from investigation areas all over Central and Eastern Europe, illustrate both the local impacts of climate change and their consequences for future management. These focus on ecosystems most vulnerable to changes in climatic conditions, including alpine areas, wetlands, forests, lowland grasslands and coastal areas. The case studies demonstrate the application of adaptation strategies in protected areas like National Parks, Biosphere Reserves and Natural Parks, and reflect the potential benefits as well as existing obstacles. A general section provides the necessary background information on climate trends and their effects on abiotic and biotic components. Often, the parties to policy change and conservation management, including managers, land users and stakeholders, lack both expertise and incentives to undertake adaptation activities. The authors recognise that achieving the needed changes in behavior – habit – is as much a social learning process as a matter of science-based procedure. They describe the implementation of modeling, impact assessment and monitoring of climate conditions, and show how the results can support efforts to increase stakeholder involvement in local adaptation strategies. The book concludes by pointing out the need for more work to communicate the cross-sectoral nature of biodiversity protection, the value of well-informed planning in the long-term process of adaptation, the definition of acceptable change, and the motivational value of exchanging experience and examples of good practice.
Download or read book Sustainable Land Management in a European Context written by Thomas Weith and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-08-28 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book presents and discusses current issues and innovative solution approaches for land management in a European context. Manifold sustainability issues are closely interconnected with land use practices. Throughout the world, we face increasing conflict over the use of land as well as competition for land. Drawing on experience in sustainable land management gained from seven years of the FONA programme (Research for Sustainable Development, conducted under the auspices of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research), the book stresses and highlights co-design processes within the “co-creation of knowledge”, involving collaboration in transdisciplinary research processes between academia and other stakeholders. The book begins with an overview of the current state of land use practices and the subsequent need to manage land resources more sustainably. New system solutions and governance approaches in sustainable land management are presented from a European perspective on land use. The volume also addresses how to use new modes of knowledge transfer between science and practice. New perspectives in sustainable land management and methods of combining knowledge and action are presented to a broad readership in land system sciences and environmental sciences, social sciences and geosciences. This book received the Gerd Albers Award. The prize is awarded by the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP).
Download or read book Examining European semi natural grassland silages and urban green cut as input sources for the integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass written by Hensgen, Frank and published by kassel university press GmbH. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To act against the negative effects of climate change, the European Union (EU) has increased its efforts in the field of renewable energies. This led to the definition of national and EU wide targets for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy by the year 2020 for each EU-Member state and the Union as a whole. To reach these aims without jeopardising other important aims like food security and nature conservation, sustainable systems of recovery of renewable energy have to be developed. One possibility is the “integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass” (IFBB). Its core element is the mechanical separation of the biomass into a solid fuel for combustion and a liquid for anaerobic digestion. This study investigated the technology on a prototype scale for a variety of European semi natural grasslands and urban green cut biomasses. The quality of the derived energy carriers and the parameters influencing these qualities were in the research focus. In addition, the IFBB system was compared to other energy recovery systems.
Download or read book Origin Conservation and Restoration of the Threatened European Grassland Ecosystem in the Anthropocene written by Grégory Mahy and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2024-11-07 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural and Semi-Natural Grassland Ecosystems (NSG) represent high-value biodiversity hotspots for biodiversity of the European continent, as well as an invaluable cultural heritage forged through millennia of human-nature interactions. While pristine natural European grasslands result mainly from constrained specific climatic and soil conditions, semi-natural grasslands largely result from the activities of humans and their livestock (e.g. grazing, mowing, burning) during millennia of low-intensity land use. European NSG, their biodiversity, and the cultural heritage they represent are highly threatened since the beginning of the 20th century in a context of multifactorial global change including environmental dimensions (climate change, habitat fragmentation, pollution, biological invasions) and land-use changes with the accelerating of socio-economic evolution of agricultural practices (intensification or abandonment) and urbanization.
Download or read book Plant Sciences Reviews 2011 written by David Hemming and published by CABI. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: & Quot;Plant Sciences Reviews 2011" provides scientists and students in the field with timely analysis on key topics in current research. Originally published online in CAB Reviews, this volume makes available in printed form the reviews in plant sciences published during 2011.
Download or read book Rewilding European Landscapes written by Henrique M. Pereira and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-04 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some European lands have been progressively alleviated of human pressures, particularly traditional agriculture in remote areas. This book proposes that this land abandonment can be seen as an opportunity to restore natural ecosystems via rewilding. We define rewilding as the passive management of ecological successions having in mind the long-term goal of restoring natural ecosystem processes. The book aims at introducing the concept of rewilding to scientists, students and practitioners. The first part presents the theory of rewilding in the European context. The second part of the book directly addresses the link between rewilding, biodiversity, and habitats. The third and last part is dedicated to practical aspects of the implementation of rewilding as a land management option. We believe that this book will both set the basis for future research on rewilding and help practitioners think about how rewilding can take place in areas under their management.
