What is the impact of human activity on the distribution of grasslands in Europe? What types of landscape cover are grassland areas changing into? These questions are also answered in a recent study authored by a broad team at the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
In the latest paper by Pazúr, R. et al. (2024), the authors looked at the most abundant component of terrestrial biomass – grasslands. The study approximates the trajectories of grassland change in Europe over the period 1990-2018 in a 1km x 1km square grid by applying CORINE land cover data layers. The results document that the most significant manifestation of grassland change has been a reduction in grassland area (35% of change, dominantly in favour of arable land), particularly in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the United Kingdom. The increase in grassland area (20% of changes, predominantly at the expense of arable land) was less pronounced in central Europe. The study results provide a comprehensive overview of grassland dynamics in Europe, which can also be used to support decision-making on the direction of grassland development in a pan-European context.
The article Changes in grassland cover in Europe from 1990 to 2018: trajectories and spatial patterns was published in Regional Environmental Change (Springer) – IF 2022: 4.2
The article is part of the research projects:
- What is Sustainable Intensification? Operationalizing Sustainable Agricultural Pathways in Europe (SIPATH); Swiss National Science Foundation No: CRSII5_183493
- Grasslands for biodiversity: supporting the protection of the biodiversity-rich grasslands and related management practices in the Alps and Carpathians; G4B, Biodiversa1+
- Assessment of ecosystem services and their adaptation into the strategic planning and future development of the national parks and their hinterland; VEGA 2/0159/22
- Detection of landscape diversity and its changes in Slovakia based on remote sensing data in the context of the European Green Deal; VEGA 2/0043/23
- Species-rich Carpathians grasslands: mapping, history, drivers of change and conservation; APVV 21-0226
