Grassland Biodiversity

Background E ric Birse and Jim Robertson surveyed and studied Scottish vegetation between 1945 and 1985. As part of this work they collected almost 2000 records of vegetation composition in Scottish grasslands. Since this survey work was completed, there has been increasing awareness of, and interest in, the long term impacts of human activities on plant community composition. The aim of this work was to identify if and how different types of Scottish grasslands have changed in community composition and species richness over the past 40-60 years and to relate this to changes in climate, pollution and land use. Approach • Between 2012 and 2014 we re-visited over 600 of the grassland plots surveyed by Birse and Robertson. • The plots were split into 6 broad types of grasslands: 1. calcareous grasslands, 2. acidic grasslands, 3. mat grass (Nardus stricta) grasslands, 4. improved (Lolium perenne-dominated) grasslands, 5. mesotrophic (moderately fertile) grasslands, 6. wet grasslands. Long-term changes in Scottish grassland plant communities 4 CHAPTER 1