Recovery mechanisms of above and belowground diversity and function of grassland, following reduction in intensity of land use: RecovFun

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We require efficient and cost-effective ecosystem restoration measures to halt the ongoing degradation of European grasslands' biodiversity, functions, and services through land-use intensification. Land-use extensification might be the directest restoration approach for European grasslands as it follows the idea that re-establishment of land-use intensities of a target reference grassland system will lead to the natural recovery of species-rich plant communities, their functions and services. However, the mechanisms, timeframes, and potential underlying extensification as restoration measure to combat grassland degradation are unclear, limiting the ability of policymakers to decide when its use as a tool for ecosystem restoration to improve grassland diversity, and function, and service provisioning is appropriate. The ReCovFun project proposes a novel holistic framework and novel approaches to fill these knowledge gaps: uncovering the potential and mechanisms of land-use extensification as a grassland restoration tool; and building scenarios and management guidelines of when extensification is suitable to restore grassland diversity, trophic interactions, functioning and service provisioning. To reach these aims one needs to overcome three challenges – the objectives of the RecovFun project: i) identification of extensification potential against a holistic set of restoration goals; ii) assessment of mechanisms underlying extensification effects on grassland multitrophic diversity, functions, and services; and iii) building of scenarios and management guidelines for optimal benefits of management extensification as a grassland restoration tool. Preliminary results highlight, that shifts in nutrient-cycling processes and associated interactions between plant and soil communities play a central role in shaping land-use effects on grassland ecosystems. The RecovFUN project hence uncovers extensification mechanisms by quantifying associated shifts in environmental conditions i.e., nutrient, light, and microsite availability, then assessing responses of plant and soil microbial communities, their functional traits, and interactions to these shifts, and identifying its consequences for soil nutrient cycling and biomass production. The novel multi-site experiments (REX, LUX) of land-use reduction in grasslands within the Biodiversity Exploratories (BE) project will serve as an ideal platform to assess extensification mechanisms and its potential as a grassland restoration tool. The major value-added by RecovFun to the outlined BE aims lies in i) contribution to the mechanistic understanding of relationships between land use, biodiversity, and functioning, ii) integration of investigated mechanisms into the socio-cultural and stakeholder-related context of grassland restoration, and iii) data synthesis opportunities by transferring established mechanisms for plant-soil interactions to other organism groups and associated functions and services.