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Semi-natural grassland: area

The far-reaching changes in Dutch agriculture have resulted in a drastic reduction of the area of semi-natural grassland. Now, most of the semi-natural grasslands are endangered.

Semi-natural grassland: area and risk status
Type of grassland Current area(ha) Plant community(see Technical note) Trend in area
1930-1974		 Trend in area
1975-1998		 Risk status
Calcareous grassland 20 a sharp decrease stable critical
Dry grassland on inland sandy soils 900 b decrease decrease endangered
    c stable stable safe
Nutrient-poor grassland on acid soils 850 d sharp decrease sharp decrease critical
    e stable decrease susceptible
  30 f sharp decrease decrease endangered
More or less closed swards on base-rich, rather nutrient-poor river dunes 500 g sharp decrease sharp decrease critical
    h sharp decrease decrease critical
Moist or wet eutrophic grassland 12000 i stable increase safe
    j stable decrease susceptible
    k decrease decrease susceptible
Permanent mesotrophic pasture 6000 l decrease decrease safe
Permanent mesotrophic meadows 3000 m increase increase safe
Fritillary grassland 100 n sharp decrease decrease critical
Wet mesotrophic pastures and aftermath grazed meadows 4000 o stable stable susceptible
    p decrease stable critical
    q sharp decrease decrease endangered
    r decrease stable susceptible
Wet nutrient-poor acid grassland 3500 s decrease stable susceptible
Wet oligotrophic meadows 30 t sharp decrease decrease endangered
Coastal herb-rich grassland on dry soils 400 u decrease stable susceptible
    v decrease decrease critical
Dry dune grassland 3500 w stable stable safe
    x decrease stable susceptible
    y decrease decrease endangered
    z decrease decrease endangered
    aa decrease stable endangered
           
Source: Van Opstal (1997); Weeda et al. (2002) CBS/NC/Oct02

Trends


In the 20th century much of the poorly productive grassland (semi-natural grassland) was converted to highly productive grassland. For example, compared with the situation in 1900, the current area of wet oligotrophic meadows is less than 0.1% and the current area of calcareous grassland is only 5%. The most important causes of the decline are fertilisation and the lowering of the groundwater level.

The greatest loss of semi-natural grassland was in the period from 1930 to 1975. Thereafter though the decline continued, it was slower. Of the 27 plant communities of semi-natural grassland that ecologists have identified in the Netherlands, only 5 are safe.

The semi-natural grasslands that remain are of little significance for agriculture; almost all are in nature reserves. Outside nature reserves, the plant communities of semi-natural grassland still occur on dikes and in roadside verges.

Technical note


The data on the present areas are from Van Opstal (1997); they are for the situation around 1996. The areas have been rounded off. Dune grassland has also been included in the table because this too used to be used for extensive agriculture. Saline grassland has been excluded from this overview, however.

The trends in area and the risk categories are derived from Weeda et al. (2002). The smaller the area and the more negative the trend, the more vulnerable the grassland type. The risk status categories are: safe, susceptible, endangered, critical.

As the grassland types recognised by Dutch vegetation scientists can comprise several plant communities that have different trends, the plant communities have been shown separately in the table, as vegetation associations (assoc.): (a) calcareous grassland; (b) bird's foot assoc.; (c) fescue and thyme assoc.; (d) marsh gentian and mat-grass assoc.; (e) heather bedstraw and fescue assoc.; (f) betony and tor grass assoc. (= grassland on dry slopes); (g) stonecrop and thyme assoc.; (h) sickle medic and downy oat-grass assoc.; (i) marsh foxtail assoc. (j) marsh arrowgrass and creeping bent assoc.; (k) strawberry clover and creeping bent assoc.; (l) crested dog's tail meadow; (m) false oat-grass assoc.; (n) snake's head fritillary assoc.; (o) ragged-robin and square-stalked St. John's wort assoc.; (p) green-winged orchid and yellow-rattle assoc.; (q) wild angelica and lesser pond-sedge assoc.; (r) buttercup and marsh ragwort assoc.; (s) sharp-flowered rush assoc.; (t) carnation sedge grassland; (u) sand catchfly assoc.; (v) kidney vetch and Nottingham catchfly assoc.; (w) Tortula ruraliformis & T. calcicolens assoc.; (x) dandelion dune assoc.; (y) grey hair-grass dune assoc.; (z) common bent assoc.; (aa) betony and tor grass assoc.

References


  • Weeda, E.J., J.H.J. Schaminée en L. van Duuren (2002). Atlas van plantengemeenschappen in Nederland. Deel 2, graslanden, zomen en droge heiden. KNNV Uitgeverij. Utrecht.
  • Opstal, A.J.M.F. van (1997). Ecosysteemvisie graslanden. Rapport IKC-Natuurbeheer. Wageningen.

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This page was last changed on 04 May 2004  (version 01).