Conserving "old meadows" as an effective way to extend the service bundle
2022
Carrère, Pascal | Lemauviel-Lavenant, Servane | Dumont, Bertrand | Unité Mixte de Recherche sur l'Ecosystème Prairial - UMR (UREP) ; VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Ecophysiologie Végétale, Agronomie et Nutritions NCS (EVA) ; Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN) ; Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 (UMRH) ; VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. The dichotomy between temporary and permanent grasslands tends to exacerbate the opposition between an agronomic approach that favors management practices that promote biomass production at the expense of biodiversity and a more naturalist vision that favors the maintenance of biodiversity at the expense of forage performance. In fact, the functioning of grasslands results from the interaction between environmental factors (soil and climate, management) and the biological diversity present. It is necessary to consider these different factors (abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic) to identify the performance of agroecosystems and to deduce the services that humans can benefit from. The identification of interactions between management practices, biodiversity and ecosystem age provides a framework for deducing the levels of services that can be expected. Management and agricultural practices are fundamental in the management of the biodiversity-functioning-service relationship, because they reveal the role of the farmer as the pilot of the dynamics of these agro-ecosystems. Our proposal will be illustrated by analyzing the four main categories of service: support, supply, regulation, and cultural that can be expected from grasslands depending on their maturity (young vs. old). Even if biomass production and in some cases nutritional value decreases with age, allowing grasslands to age appears to be an effective lever for preserving the support, regulation and cultural services from which farmers and society benefit.
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