E
cosystem
servicesdelivered
Provisioning
Regulation & maintenance
Cultural
Abiotic
C
ontribution
topolicyobjectives
Water Framework Directive
Floods Directive
Birds & Habitats Directive
2020 Biodiversity Strategy
P
otential
biophysicaleffects
Runoff
Reducing pollution
Soil conservation
Habitat
Climate Change
High
Low
Medium
None
Compared to arable land,
runoff attenuation
can reach 50 to 66% on grassland (Spain) and 23 (wet year) to 100% (dry year) on meadows (Poland). Meadows also contribute
to reducing runoff through increased
evapotranspiration
(8 to 35% compared to arable land in Poland) and
infiltration
, permitted by improved soil structure and organic
matter content.Well managed meadows and pastures thereby contribute to
reducing flood risks
but coordinated measures need to be taken at the catchment scale. Groundwater
recharge may be achieved but depends on management and soil types.
Higher vegetation coverage results in greater
filtration of pollutants
and contributes to limiting
erosion and sediment
delivery. If no additional nutrients are applied and
the hay is harvested this will also reduce the amount of nutrients and lead to lower nutrient losses. Thus, meadows and pastures play a role in preserving/improving
qualitative
status
of surface water and provide better protection for ecosystems. Interactions with stocking density where poaching is a risk may be important.
If well managed, meadows and pastures finally contribute to
climate change
adaptation and
mitigation
since improved organic matter content in vegetation coverage enables
to absorb more CO
2.
Meadows and pastures are finally key elements in High Nature Value systems regarding the prevention of biodiversity loss and contribute to more
sustainable agriculture
through reducing the negative impacts of agriculture production.
