The European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG): stewarding Europe’s most diverse habitat type

Titelangaben

Vrahnakis, Michael ; Janišová, Monika ; Rūsiņa, Solvita ; Török, Péter ; Venn, Stephen ; Dengler, Jürgen:
The European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG): stewarding Europe’s most diverse habitat type.
In: Baumbach, Henryk (Hrsg.): Steppenlebensräume Europas : Gefährdung, Erhaltungsmaßnahmen und Schutz ; EU-LIFE-Projekt "Erhaltung und Entwicklung der Steppenrasen Thüringens". - Erfurt : Ministerium für Landwirtschaft, Forsten, Umwelt und Naturschutz (TMLFUN) , 2013 . - S. 417-434
ISBN 978-3-00-044248-3

Volltext

Link zum Volltext (externe URL):

Abstract

The aim of this article is to introduce the dry grasslands of Europe and to report on the activities of Abstract the European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG), a network of dry grassland scientists and conservationists. Dry grassland are defined here as herbaceous vegetation types, mostly dominated by grasses, that inhabit climatically or edaphically dry sites. They comprise zonal steppes, alpine dry grasslands above the timberline, azonal/extrazonal dry grasslands on sites where peculiarities of soil or reliefprevent forest growth, and semi-natural dry grasslands derived from centuries of low-intensity landuse. For most taxonomic groups, dry grasslands host a proportion of Europe’s biodiversity that byfar exceeds their spatial distribution and some of them are the richest plant communities worldwideat spatial scales < 100 m². Today, both natural steppes and semi-natural dry grasslands of Europe are highly endangered through transformation into arable fields, afforestation, land use intensificationor abandonment, eutrophication or biotic invasions. The EDGG, with more than 800 members fromover 50 countries, acts by facilitating information exchange, cooperation and joint projects towards better understanding and more effective conservation of Europe’s dry grasslands. To this end, EDGG organises annual conferences and research expeditions, publishes an online electronic Bulletin, edits Dry Grassland Special Features in international journals, and plays an active role in the sciencepolicy interface