ORCID
0000-0003-0441-1897
Department
Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Year of Study
2
Full-time or Part-time Study
Full-time
Level
Postgraduate
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Supervisor
Lynda Weekes
Supervisor
Therese Higgins
Supervisor
Joanna Tierney
Abstract
Grassland is Ireland’s most expansive terrestrial habitat type covering >58% of the land cover but its biodiversity is under serious threat of agricultural intensification or land abandonment. While the decline in Irish grassland biodiversity has been recognised, there is a paucity of research into the restoration of lowland mesotrophic grassland. Most of Ireland’s grasslands are privately farmed mainly for pasture, therefore, appropriate agricultural management techniques for biodiversity restoration are vital. The purpose of this research was to first classify the lowland grassland vegetation in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry in the west of Ireland (Approx. 244ha). Then to investigate selected management regimes that are the most effective for spontaneous regeneration of lowland grassland vegetation diversity,
A baseline study has shown that the grasslands are currently of low biodiversity value, with pockets of ideal communities. The species richness was found to be moderately low (median: 16/4m2) across most community classifications. The grasslands primarily grazed by cattle had the lowest species richness (13.5/4m2).
Three management regimes (mowing, extensive grazing, and mob grazing) are currently in place across semi-improved and abandoned grasslands. The seedbank is also under analysis to indicate if it still has a diverse reservoir of species for restoration.
We suspect that seedbank may be depauperate of rare species as grassland seedbank analysis outside of Ireland has shown. However, we predict that with the regimes in place, the species richness of previously intensively managed fields will increase, the cover of previously sown commercial species will slowly decrease, and the communities will begin diversifying.
Keywords:
grassland regeneration, grassland restoration, farm management, seedbank analysis, Ireland, seedling emergence method, grassland biodiversity, biodiversity
Start Date
14-6-2022 11:45 AM
End Date
14-6-2022 12:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Griffin, Sally, "Farming for the Future; Managing Lowland Grassland for Biodiversity" (2022). ORBioM (Open Research BioSciences Meeting). 10.
https://sword.cit.ie/orbiom/2022/schedule/10
Farming for the Future; Managing Lowland Grassland for Biodiversity
Grassland is Ireland’s most expansive terrestrial habitat type covering >58% of the land cover but its biodiversity is under serious threat of agricultural intensification or land abandonment. While the decline in Irish grassland biodiversity has been recognised, there is a paucity of research into the restoration of lowland mesotrophic grassland. Most of Ireland’s grasslands are privately farmed mainly for pasture, therefore, appropriate agricultural management techniques for biodiversity restoration are vital. The purpose of this research was to first classify the lowland grassland vegetation in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry in the west of Ireland (Approx. 244ha). Then to investigate selected management regimes that are the most effective for spontaneous regeneration of lowland grassland vegetation diversity,
A baseline study has shown that the grasslands are currently of low biodiversity value, with pockets of ideal communities. The species richness was found to be moderately low (median: 16/4m2) across most community classifications. The grasslands primarily grazed by cattle had the lowest species richness (13.5/4m2).
Three management regimes (mowing, extensive grazing, and mob grazing) are currently in place across semi-improved and abandoned grasslands. The seedbank is also under analysis to indicate if it still has a diverse reservoir of species for restoration.
We suspect that seedbank may be depauperate of rare species as grassland seedbank analysis outside of Ireland has shown. However, we predict that with the regimes in place, the species richness of previously intensively managed fields will increase, the cover of previously sown commercial species will slowly decrease, and the communities will begin diversifying.