Agro-ecosystems and grasslands

With agriculture covering half of the EU’s land area, Europe’s biodiversity is to a large part inextricably linked to agricultural practices. Change in agricultural land use is a major cause for the decline of biodiversitiy in Europe (EEA 2009). This change is charactersised by widespread intensification of farming systems on better land and abondonment or afforestation of poorer land. 

The mosaic of habitats resulting form traditional farm management favoured a diversity of plant animal species across Europe and it estimated that 50% of all species in Europe depend on agricultural habitats (Kristensen, 2003).

Likelihood of HNV Farmland presence at EU level, including the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) map for the year 2000 (JRC/EEA, 2008)

Whereas farmland under intensive production also supports a certain level of biodiversity, areas where farming practices are associated with high biodiversity value are qualified as High Nature Value (HNV) farmland. HNV farmland is characterised by a high proportion of semi-natural vegetation with a mosaic of low intensity agriculture and semi-natural structural elements (e.g. field margins, hedgerows, stone walls, patches of woodland or scrub, small rivers, etc.), as well as farmland which supports rare species or a high proportion of European or world populations. The estimated share of HNV farmland within the EU27 is about 32% (see Paracchini et. Al. 2008).

Many of the farmland habitats of high nature value depend on active management especially semi-natural grasslands. (see also grassland ecosystems).

Out of the 231 habitat types of European interest targeted by Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive, 63 depend on extensive agricultural practices or can benefit from them. For 50% of these habitat types the conservation status has been assessed as unfavourable bad.

For 27 species targeted by the EU Habitats Directive the preferred habitat types are associated with agro-ecosystems and they depend on a continuation of extensive agriculture. 30% of the conservation status assessments for these habitat types are within the category unfavourable bad and for 39% they are unfavourable inadequate.

• read EEA's message on agro-ecosystems

Grassland ecosystems

Grassland ecosystems are dominated by grasses and include meadows, steppes, grasslands grazed with a variable intensity.

European grasslands are among the most species-rich vegetation types (up to 80 plant species/m2) in Europe and have great conservation value (Eriksson et al., 2002; Poschlod and WallisDeVries, 2002; WallisDeVries et al., 2002 in Vandewalle et al., 2010).

Annex I of the Habitats Directive lists 45 grassland and meadow habitats from different types: natural, semi-natural, calcareous, dry, mesophile and humid; this reflects the high diversity of grasslands and the fact that most of them have been modified, created or maintained by agricultural activities. Only 5% of grasslands of European interest are in favourable status, whereas 76 % are in unfavourable status.

According to the latest conservation status assessment published by Birdlife International 89 of the 152 grassland bird species (i.e. 59%) have an unfavourable conservation status in Europe. A number of the species which became threatened over the last decade in Europe include some formerly common ones (Tucker and Heath, 1994 in Veen et al., 2009).

Europe’s grassland butterflies have declined by 60% since 1990 and this reduction shows no sign yet of levelling off (EEA, 2009).

Near 235 species which are covered by the EU Habitats Directive are linked to grassland ecosystems. According to the current knowledge, 28 % of Amphibians, 12 % of Reptiles and 16 % of Mammals are threatened of extinction at EU level. More than 50 % of grassland related species of European interest are in unfavourable status

Further reading

Selected links

SEBI indicator on agriculture: area under management practices potentially supporting biodiversity

Agriculture and rual development

FAO

OECD Agriculture and Fisheries

EUROSTAT Agricultural Statistics

LIFE projects on grasslands, scrublands and bogs