Meadow
A meadow is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable conditions but are often artificially created from cleared shrub or woodland for the production of hay, fodder or livestock. Meadow habitats as a group are characterized as semi-natural grasslands, meaning that they are largely composed of species native to the region, with only limited human intervention.
Meadows attract a multitude of wildlife and support flora and fauna that could not thrive in other habitats. They are ecologically important since they provide areas for animal courtship displays, nesting, food gathering, pollinating insects, and sometimes sheltering if the vegetation is high enough. Intensified agricultural practices may lead to declines in the abundance of organisms and species diversity. There are many types of meadow, including agricultural, transitional, and perpetual – each being a unique and important part of the ecosystem.
Like other biomes, meadows will experience increased pressure owing to climate change, especially as precipitation and weather conditions change. However grasslands and meadows also have an important climate change mitigation potential as carbon sinks: deep-rooted grasses store a substantial amount of carbon in soil.
Types
Agricultural meadows
In agriculture, a meadow is grassland that is not regularly grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to produce hay. Their origins extend back to the Iron Age, when appropriate tools for the hay harvest emerged. The ability to produce livestock fodder on meadows had a significant advantage for livestock production, since animals could be kept in enclosures, simplifying the control over breeding. Surpluses in biomass production during the summer could be stored for the winter, preventing damage to forests and grasslands since there was no longer the need for livestock grazing during the winter.Especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a hay meadow, signifying grassland mown annually in the summer for making hay. Agricultural meadows are typically lowland or upland fields upon which hay or pasture grasses grow from self-sown or hand-sown seed. Traditional hay meadows were once common in rural Britain but are now in decline. Ecologist Professor John Rodwell states that over the past century England and Wales have lost about 97% of their hay meadows. Fewer than of lowland meadows remain in the UK and most sites are relatively small and fragmented. 25% of the UK's meadows are found in Worcestershire, with Foster's Green Meadow managed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust being a major site.
A similar concept to the hay meadow is the pasture, which differs from the meadow in that it is grazed through the summer rather than being allowed to grow out and periodically be cut for hay. A pasture can also refer to any land used for grazing, and in this wider sense the term refers not only to grass pasture but also to non-grassland habitats such as heathland, moorland and wood pasture. The term grassland is used to describe both hay meadows and grass pastures.
The specific agricultural practices in relation to the meadow can take on various expressions. As mentioned, this could be hay production or providing food for grazing cattle and livestock but also to give room for orchards or honey production. Meadows are embedded and dependent on a complex web of socio-cultural conditions for their maintenance. Historically, they emerged to increase agricultural efficiency when the necessary tools became available. Today, agricultural practices have shifted and meadows have largely lost their original purpose. Yet, they are appreciated today for their aesthetics and ecological functions. Consequently, the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy subsidizes their management, mostly through grazing.
Transitional meadows
A transitional meadow occurs when a field, pasture, farmland, or other cleared land is no longer cut or grazed and starts to display luxuriant growth, extending to the flowering and self-seeding of its grass and wildflower species. The condition is however only temporary, because the grasses eventually become shaded out when scrub and woody plants become well-established, being the forerunners of the return to a fully wooded state. A transitional state can be artificially-maintained through a double-field system, in which cultivated soil and meadows are alternated for a period of 10 to 12 years each.In North America prior to European colonization, Algonquians, Iroquois and other Native Americans peoples regularly cleared areas of forest to create transitional meadows where deer and game could find food and be hunted. For example, some of today's meadows originated thousands of years ago, due to regular burnings by Native Americans.
Perpetual meadows
A perpetual meadow, also called a natural meadow, is one in which environmental factors, such as climatic and soil conditions, are favorable to perennial grasses and restrict the growth of woody plants indefinitely. Types of perpetual meadows may include:- Alpine meadows occur at high elevations above the tree line and maintained by harsh climatic conditions.
- Coastal meadows maintained by salt sprays.
- Desert meadows restricted by low precipitation or lack of nutrients and humus.
- Prairies maintained by periods of severe drought or subject to wildfires.
- Wet meadows saturated with water throughout much of the year.
Urban meadow
Due to increased urbanization, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2017 decreed that there is a need to protect all ecosystems due to climate change. The majority of the people that live in the urban regions of any country usually get their plant knowledge from visiting parks and or public green infrastructure. Local authorities have the duty of providing the green spaces for the public, but these departments are constantly suffering major budget cuts, making it more difficult for people to admire natural wildlife in the urban sectors and also impairing the local ecosystem. In line with the increasing acceptance of a "messier urban aesthetic", the perennial meadows can be seen as a more realistic alternative to the classic urban lawns as they would also be more cost-efficient to maintain. Factors that managers of urban spaces list as important to regard are:
- Aesthetics and public reaction
- Locational context
- Human Resources and economic sustainability
- Local politics
- Communication
- Biodiversity and existing habitat
- ''Physical factors.''
Human intervention
As extensive farming like grazing is diminishing in some parts of the world, the meadow is endangered as a habitat. A number of research projects attempt to restore natural meadow habitats by reintroducing natural, large grazers. These include deer, elk, goat, wild horse, etc. depending on the location. A more exotic example with a wider scope is the European Tauros Programme.
Some environmental organization recommend converting lawns to meadows by stopping or reducing mowing. They claim that meadows can better preserve biodiversity, water, reduce the use of fertilizers. For example, in 2018 environmental organizations with the support of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs of England, concerned by the decline in the number of bees worldwide, in the first day of Bees' Needs Week 2018 growing flowers, shrubs, and trees, 2) letting the garden grow wild, 3) cutting grass less often, 4) leaving insect nest and hibernation spots alone, and 5) using careful consideration with pesticides.
Impact of tourism
The impact of human activity has been noted to increase degradation of meadow soil. This has contributed to landslides in Sholas. E.g. due to skiing activities and urbanization, the meadows of the town of Zakopane, Poland, were noted to have altered soil compositions. The soil's organic material had faded away and was affected due to the chemicals from the artificial melting water from the snow and skiing machinery.Meadows and climate change
Ecological consequences
Climate changes impact temperature precipitation patterns worldwide. The effects are regionally very different but generally, temperatures tend to increase, snowpacks tend to melt earlier and many places tend to become drier. Many species respond to these changes by slowly moving their habitat upwards. The increased elevation decreases mean temperatures and thus allows for species to largely maintain their original habitat. Another common response to changed environmental conditions are phenological adaptations. These include shifts in the timing of germination or blossoming. Other examples include changing migration patterns of birds of passage. These adaptations are primarily influenced by three drivers:- Increased temperature
- Changing precipitation patterns
- Reduced snowpack and earlier melting