Traditional semi-natural grassland management with heterogeneous mowing times enhances flower resources for pollinators in farmed landscapes.

Semi-natural grasslands are essential habitats for pollinators. They provide high diversity of floral resources, but the amount of floral resources is strongly affected by the timing of mowing. For pollinator species that are active throughout the season, it is important that pollen and nectar are available over the entire summer at spatially relevant scales [1]. A key task for semi-natural grassland conservation is to understand the link between timing of mowing and the phenology of the plant species providing floral resources. Environmental schemes normally include recommendations for when to mow, but these are often simplifications of the traditional practices, which shaped the species r…