Versuche zur Beweidung von Bergwiesen im Harz

Abstract

Scheidel, U.; Bruelheide, H.: Experimental studies on the effect of cattle grazing of montane meadows in the Harz Mountains.- Hercynia N.F. 37 (2004): 87–101.Montane meadows in the Harz Mountains have traditionally been mown for hay making. In the last decades, this type of landuse has been steadily declining which led the nature conservation authorities to search for alternative types of management, such as cattle grazing. As the effects of cattle grazing on montane meadows were largely unknown, an experiment was carried out in a meadow near Bad Lauterberg in the southern Harz Mountains. This meadow has been grazed by cattle since 1999 following some decades of irregular use of low intensity. In the same year, three plots in each of four different vegetation types were established to compare the vegetation of grazed plots to manually mown and abandoned areas for five subsequent years. In general, changes in the vegetation during the course of the experiment were relatively small and to a large extent weather-dependent. The most important management effects were the reduction of the litter layer and the reduced dominance of species which profit from abandonment such as Rubus idaeus, Thelypteris limbosperma and Galeopsis tetrahit. In this respect, mowing was more effective than grazing. At wet sites and in remote areas that were only grazed with low intensity grazing effects did not differ from abandoned use. However, clearly negative effects of grazing could also not be detected. The conclusion of our study is that grazing as a management practice in montane hay meadows involves the risk of being not effective. Larger time spans than five years are needed to detect significant grazing effects compared to abandoned use. Activities to improve the effectiveness of grazing are discussed.