The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
The James Hutton InstituteThis page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
Most of the central European grasslands have undoubtedly evolved as a result of cultural-historical processes. From Neolithic times until recently, grazing livestock (since the Middle Ages, primarily cattle and sheep) had a substantial impact on the development of different types of grassland. Thus, many meadows with high ecological diversity have their origin in communal grazings which existed in Germany for hundreds of years until the middle of the last century.
The actual appearance of grasslands (hay meadows and pastures) in most regions in Germany is characterised by intensive agriculture. On marginal grounds cutting and pasturing of grassland is increasingly abandoned. Whereas under suitable conditions the use of grasslands is even more intensified.
The historical types of pastures can not be compared with modern pasture systems. Previously, pastures extended over vast areas and because of their low productivity the density of livestock was very low. Due to poor management the pastures were certainly rich in structure. On the other hand, the economic forces encouraging maximum exploitation of all natural resources were accompanied by overuse and devastation of the landscape. Pastures of this origin would nowadays be characterised as extensive. Under the condition of locality and the manner of and the intensity of grazing, specific plants for pastures and plant-communities were formed. Considering the agricultural history of present ecologically highly valued extensive grassland we have to point out that their appearance is mainly the result of the withdrawal of agricultural activities.
Because of the change of agriculture into systems of more intensive productivity or because of abandonment of agriculture in regions not suited for intensive agriculture, extensive grasslands have shown a dramatic decline. The only examples of regions with considerable areas of extensive pastures in Germany are in remote areas of the Alps, the so-called community pastures in the southern part of the Black Forest, pastures in the Central-German-Hill and-Range (i.e. Eifel, Vogelsberg and Rhön), the heaths of the Swabian and Franconian Jura, heaths in Northern Germany (i.e. Lüneburger Heath), lowland pastures along the river Elbe and flooded saltmarshes along the coast-line of the North and Baltic Seas. Even in these regions, extensive pastures in this regions are only found on a very small scale. Some regions correlate with the distribution of indigenous and endangered livestock species such as the Hinterwald (Black Forest)-cattle, the Red-Vogelsberg-cattle or the sheep of the Lüneburger-Heath.
One of the most important aspects in the current discussion on endangering factors and concepts for conservation of extensive pastures is the question of how agricultural systems can be maintained in regions less favoured for agriculture and how they can be integrated in local cycles of processing and consumption.