Biodiversity-rich European grasslands: Ancient, forgotten ecosystems
Biodiversity-rich European grasslands: Ancient, forgotten ecosystems
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DOI：
10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.022
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发表时间：
2018-12-01
影响因子：
5.9
通讯作者：
Hickler, Thomas
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Feurdean, Angelica;Ruprecht, Eszter;Hickler, Thomas
在全球范围内，重新植树造林被建议作为一种景观恢复战略，以缓解气候能够维持森林的地区的气候变化。这种做法可能会威胁到具有独特生物多样性的草原生态系统，因为这种政策是基于大多数草原都是人为的错误假设。在这里，我们使用了来自中东欧的多种证据(古生态、土壤学、系统发育、古生物学)，并表明在整个冰后期，即过去11,700年来，该地区一直存在各种类型的草原。温暖干燥的气候、频繁的火灾、食草动物的压力和新石器时代早期的定居点使森林保持开放，直到4000至3000年前开始大范围的森林砍伐。在过去的两百万年里，封闭的森林覆盖一直是个例外。这种长期的坚持可能有助于这些草原的高度生物多样性。因此，我们呼吁更加谨慎地优先保护可能被许多环境专家和管理人员错误地认为是自然的东西，即森林。相反，我们提供了一个新的框架，以更好地了解不同草原类型的演变和持久性及其生物多样性，以便更好地理解、珍视和保护草原。
Worldwide reforestation has been recommended as a landscape restoration strategy to mitigate climate change in areas where the climate can sustain forest. This approach may threaten grassland ecosystems of unique biodiversity as such policies are based on the false assumption that most grasslands are man-made. Here, we use multiple lines of evidence (palaeoecological, pedological, phylogenetic, palaeontological) from Central Eastern Europe and show that various types of grasslands have persisted in this area throughout the postglacial i.e., the past 11,700 years. A warm and dry climate, frequent fires, herbivore pressure and early Neolithic settlements kept forests open until widespread forest clearance beginning 4000 to 3000 years ago. Closed forest cover has been the exception for the last two million years. This long-term persistence has likely contributed to the high biodiversity of these grasslands. Consequently, we call for a more cautious prioritisation of the protection of what may be erroneously considered natural, i.e. forests, by many environmental specialists and managers. Instead we provide a new framework for a better understanding of the evolution and persistence of different grassland types and their biodiversity, so that grasslands can be better understood, valued and conserved.