Effects of mowing frequency on grassland flora and fauna: implications for the conservation of semi-natural grasslands in Europe

To maintain the high biodiversity and preserve the conservation value of semi-natural grasslands, management like grazing or mowing is necessary. Given the limited resources available for management, and few remaining areas, the best management method and intensity should be used. However, the evaluation and comparison of effects of different management intensities on a larger scale is often challenging, as most studies have a limited scope (e.g. only investigating effects in one grassland or for one type of organism). In view of this, we used meta-analysis methods to explore effects of different mowing intensities on biodiversity on a European scale, to reach more robust conclusions. We in…