The study combined a face-to-face survey, mapped farm parcels and interview analysis. Researchers surveyed farmers between February and May 2022, representing 14% of the 3,525 farms in Ljubljansko barje and Dravsko-ptujsko polje. Of the 506 participants, 390 interviews were recorded, and 90 were selected for transcription and thematic coding. The sample was representative of the regional farm populations by age, farm size, organic-farming status and livestock units per hectare, although respondents included a higher proportion of men, livestock farms and farms enrolled in agri-environmental-climate measures than the full populations.

Ljubljansko barje covers 135.6 km² and includes 1,060 farms. Frequent flooding and high soil moisture have kept permanent meadows as its main land use, covering 39% of the area, while maize and cereals occupy the remaining arable land. The region has experienced drainage, earlier mowing, conversion of meadows to arable land and removal of hedgerows. Dravsko-ptujsko polje covers 414 km² and contains 2,450 farms; it is more intensively cultivated, with arable land occupying 53% of the region and permanent meadows covering 6%. Wet meadows have nearly disappeared there.

For this analysis, conservation experts defined extensively managed meadows as those without grazing or fertilisation and with mowing after 10 July in Ljubljansko barje. In Dravsko-ptujsko polje, the recommended mowing date was early July, reflecting local grass-seed ripening, although light grazing and fertilisation were described as compatible with local soil conditions. The definitions used in the two regions therefore differed in timing and in the treatment of grazing and fertilisation.

The researchers identified 317 extensively managed meadows among 2,484 mapped meadows in Ljubljansko barje. Only seven of the 321 mapped meadows in Dravsko-ptujsko polje met the extensive-management definition, so the quantitative model was limited to Ljubljansko barje. A boosted regression tree model using 450 trees explained 52.2% of deviance in the training data, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.947. Cross-validation produced 40% explained deviance and an AUC of 0.903. The residual-autocovariate term was the most influential variable at 60.91%, followed by plot size at 6.49%, road distance at 5.46%, rented land at 4.50%, farm meadow share at 3.59%, distance from water at 3.44% and attitudes toward the productive value of meadows at 3.24%.

Partial-dependence results associated larger plots with a logarithmically increasing probability that a meadow was extensively managed. Distance from roads was associated with a small increase in that probability. The probability was higher where water distance was up to 400 metres and showed no detected change beyond that distance. The share of rented land had little association over most of its range but was associated with a marked increase when rented land constituted 90–100% of a farm. Farmers’ positive attitudes toward the productive value of extensive meadows were consistently associated with their presence. These were model associations derived from one region and do not establish that the predictors caused farmers to retain the meadows.

Interviews revealed that many farmers recognised the ecological value of flower-rich meadows as habitat for birds, insects and other wildlife. Some also described aesthetic and experiential benefits, including the presence of blossoms and opportunities to observe wildlife. Survey respondents scored preserving extensive meadows for nature conservation relatively highly, with a mean of 3.8 on a five-point scale, while their score for agricultural production averaged 2.2. Despite this recognition, extensive management was frequently described as unsuitable for contemporary livestock production: early and frequent mowing was needed to secure nutritious fodder, while late-cut biomass was characterized as coarse, woody or of little market value.

Social expectations also discouraged delayed mowing. Farmers repeatedly associated regularly cut, visibly managed land with proper farming, while taller meadows could be viewed as abandoned. Some respondents reported anticipating criticism from neighbours, and farmers renting land said landowners could oppose delayed mowing. These interviews suggest that maintaining the appearance of productive farmland may constrain conservation practices even where farmers acknowledge the ecological value of extensive meadows.

Agri-environmental-climate measures were available in Ljubljansko barje during the 2014–2022 Common Agricultural Policy programming period. The “Hay meadows” scheme paid €329.79 per hectare per year, while the “Birds of wet grasslands” scheme paid €349.99–386.59 per hectare per year, with a possible additional payment where corncrakes were present nearby. A minority of farmers welcomed this support, especially for marginal, flood-prone, shaded or difficult-to-access land. Most considered the payments insufficient to compensate for lost production or the opportunity to grow more profitable crops. The findings apply to two lowland Slovenian regions and to the study’s agricultural definition of extensive meadows; the researchers did not model how views might differ among individual habitat types or predict which habitats would be least favored by farmers. The authors therefore caution that the results cannot be treated as a general account of all European semi-natural grasslands.

Subject of Research: Farmer decision-making and management of semi-natural meadows in two Slovenian lowland agricultural regions

Article Title: Semi-natural meadow conservation under pressure: Farmers’ decision‑making in intensifying lowland agricultural systems

Article References: Alif, Ž., Novak, A., & Šumrada, T. (2026). Semi-natural meadow conservation under pressure: Farmers’ decision‑making in intensifying lowland agricultural systems. Nature Conservation, 63, 153-171. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.63.186090

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.63.186090

Keywords: semi-natural meadows, Slovenian agriculture, farmer decision-making, grassland conservation, agri-environmental payments, livestock production, land intensification, mixed-methods study, farmland management, biodiversity conservation, Semi-natural, meadow

Semi-natural grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems on the continent. Unlike natural grasslands, they exist only because humans have mowed, grazed, and managed them for centuries, preventing forest from reclaiming the land. Across temperate Europe, these meadows shelter rare and endangered plant and animal species, which is why many have been placed under legal protection and long-term monitoring. Yet as intensive agriculture expands and traditional farming becomes economically unviable, these communities are vanishing at an alarming rate, making it urgent to understand exactly which factors sustain their diversity.

To address this question, Tomasz Wójcik of the University of Rzeszów and Alina Stachurska-Swakoń of Jagiellonian University selected the Wielopolka catchment as a model area because traditional low-intensity agriculture still survives there. Between 2012 and 2015, the team established 15 study sites arranged along the profiles of the main river valley and its tributaries, capturing the full range of grassland communities in the region. At each site, they recorded ten phytosociological relevés using the classical Braun-Blanquet method on 100-square-meter plots, yielding 150 vegetation plots in total. Alongside the botanical surveys, they dug 15 soil profiles to depths of 50 to 100 centimeters and collected 51 soil samples for laboratory analysis of texture, pH, organic matter, nitrogen, and the available forms of key nutrients including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium.

The plant communities documented in the study spanned a remarkable edaphic range within a small area. Six associations and eight variants belonging to the Molinio-Arrhenatheretea class were distinguished, stretching from the wet rush community Scirpetum sylvatici in waterlogged valley bottoms to strikingly dry, thermophilous variants of the hay-meadow association Arrhenatheretum elatioris on valley tops. These thermophilous variants, hosting warm-loving species such as Gentiana cruciata, Melampyrum arvense, and Centaurea scabiosa, are rare in the northern part of the Western Carpathians and turned out to be the richest communities in the entire catchment, recording the highest values of all diversity indices measured.

Using discriminant analysis on Ellenberg ecological indicator values, the researchers identified the dominant environmental forces organizing this vegetation mosaic. Soil moisture, expressed as the moisture index, emerged as the single most powerful factor underlying community differentiation, followed by soil fertility. Crucially, these soil properties were themselves strongly correlated with position in the valley profile: moisture and fertility peaked in valley bottoms where humus-rich colluvial and alluvial soils accumulate, while the driest and most calcium-rich substrates occurred on upper slopes and hilltops. Altitude played only a secondary role at this relatively low elevation, and slope and exposure mattered even less, underscoring that at the landscape scale of a small catchment, the geometry of the valley itself dictates where water and nutrients collect.

The detailed soil chemistry added further nuance. Canonical Correspondence Analysis with forward selection and Monte Carlo permutation tests revealed that available phosphorus, measured as P2O5, was the most influential single soil parameter, explaining 8.4 percent of the variance in species composition with 23.8 percent of the contribution among soil variables. Alongside CaO, K2O, potassium, and the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, phosphorus helped separate the thermophilous meadow variants from their neighbors. Intriguingly, while these nutrients governed which communities occurred where, only the C/N ratio showed a positive correlation with species richness itself, and no linear relationship was found between soil pH or total nitrogen and diversity measures. The concentration of calcium carbonate in the substrate, however, proved closely tied to the development of the xerothermic species that make the thermophilous meadows so exceptional.

The human dimension of the story proved just as decisive as the environmental one. The researchers identified six management types across the catchment, ranging from complete abandonment to regular mowing up to three times per year and occasional cattle grazing. Analysis of variance showed that unmanaged plots consistently recorded the lowest species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity, and evenness, a result that was highly significant statistically. At the other end of the spectrum, patches of the wet meadow association Cirsietum rivularis that were mown three times per year achieved the highest Shannon-Wiener index in the entire study area, while the species-rich thermophilous meadows thrived under occasional mowing or sporadic grazing. Moderately frequent disturbance, it seems, keeps competitive grasses in check and opens space for the many light-demanding forbs that give these meadows their celebrated floristic wealth.

These findings align with a broader body of European research showing that low-intensity management creates the medium-level disturbances necessary to maintain high species richness, and that cessation of use triggers a predictable downhill slide: vegetation grows taller, mesophilic grasses expand, photophilous species retreat, and overall biodiversity declines as secondary succession advances toward woodland. The Wielopolka study also confirms patterns reported from other Carpathian regions, including the Sądecki Beskid Mountains and the White Carpathians, where dry grasslands on calcium-rich soils consistently harbor the greatest local species richness. When all environmental variables, soil traits, landscape indicators, and management types were combined in the ordination model, soil moisture, CaO content, and management type together explained the largest share of variation in species distribution, and the full model accounted for roughly half of the total variance in the data set.

The implications reach far beyond one Polish river basin. The authors argue that submontane landscapes, even within a relatively small area, can serve as crucial reservoirs of plant diversity and refuge for rare and protected species, provided the fine-grained mosaic of wet valley bottoms, dry slopes, and varied management is maintained. But there is a catch: the extensive grazing and varied mowing regimes that sustain this diversity are no longer profitable for landowners, and without systemic political and economic support, they are being abandoned. The study therefore delivers a clear message to policymakers across Central and Eastern Europe, where similar submontane grasslands persist: conserving these biodiversity hotspots requires not just designating protected areas, but actively subsidizing the traditional agricultural practices on which centuries of accumulated diversity ultimately depend. As climate change adds further pressure, with mountain plant communities responding unevenly to warming, the window for preserving these living archives of European cultural landscape is narrowing, and the Wielopolka catchment shows precisely what is at stake if that window closes.

Subject of Research: Factors determining plant diversity of semi-natural submontane grasslands in relation to soil properties and traditional management

Article Title: Grassland diversity of submontane valleys under influence of soil and management types

Article References: Wójcik, T., & Stachurska-Swakoń, A. (2026). Grassland diversity of submontane valleys under influence of soil and management types. Plant and Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-026-09024-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s11104-026-09024-2

Keywords: grassland diversity, soil moisture, Western Carpathians, traditional management, semi-natural meadows, species richness, soil chemistry, calcium content, mowing, grazing, biodiversity conservation, Molinio-Arrhenatheretea