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Spatial distribution of grassland productivity and land use in Europe

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  • Smit, H.J.
  • Metzger, M.J.
  • Ewert, F.

Abstract

Grasslands are an important land use in Europe with essential functions for feed and ecosystem service supply. Impact assessment modelling of European agriculture and the environment needs to consider grasslands and requires spatially explicit information on grassland distribution and productivity, which is not available. This paper presents and analyses spatially explicit data of grassland productivity and land use across regions in Europe. Data are extracted from various regional, national and international census statistics for Europe, extending eastwards to the Ural Mountains. Regional differences in grassland productivity are analysed considering selected climatic and agronomic parameters and are compared with the remotely sensed normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and simulations from two impact assessment models. Temporal productivity changes are investigated for selected regions. As grassland is mainly used for animal feed stuff, the spatial distribution of milk productivity is also analyzed. Results show large regional differences in grassland productivity and land use in Europe. Grassland productivity is highly correlated with annual precipitation and less with annual temperature sum and growing season length. The correlation with NDVI is low. Comparison with large-scale simulations from two different models reveal that simulated spatial patterns of grassland productivity differ from the data obtained in this study, which may be attributable to the under-representation of management effects in these models. Grassland productivity has increased in recent decades, but the average annual genetic gain is different between temporary (0.5%) and permanent grassland (0.25%). The spatial pattern of milk productivity across Europe is similar to the productivity of grassland, suggesting that grassland productivity plays a major role in the distribution of milk productivity. The dataset described in this paper extends the present understanding of the spatial distribution and temporal changes in grassland productivity and land use in Europe. The dataset forms a suitable basis for evaluating large-scale (grassland) productivity models, for which observed data are scarce. However, the definition of grasslands and the collection of data across European countries need to be more consistent and standardised to improve the quality of European grassland productivity and land use data.

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  • Smit, H.J. & Metzger, M.J. & Ewert, F., 2008. "Spatial distribution of grassland productivity and land use in Europe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 208-219, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:98:y:2008:i:3:p:208-219
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    1. Hermans, C.M.L. & Geijzendorffer, I.R. & Ewert, F. & Metzger, M.J. & Vereijken, P.H. & Woltjer, G.B. & Verhagen, A., 2010. "Exploring the future of European crop production in a liberalised market, with specific consideration of climate change and the regional competitiveness," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(18), pages 2177-2187.
    2. Schmid, Julia S. & Huth, Andreas & Taubert, Franziska, 2021. "Influences of traits and processes on productivity and functional composition in grasslands: A modeling study," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 440(C).
    3. van der Linden, Aart & Oosting, Simon J. & van de Ven, Gerrie W.J. & Veysset, Patrick & de Boer, Imke J.M. & van Ittersum, Martin K., 2018. "Yield gap analysis of feed-crop livestock systems: The case of grass-based beef production in France," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 21-31.
    4. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Nuno R. Rodrigues & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "Characterizing Livestock Production in Portuguese Sown Rainfed Grasslands: Applying the Inverse Approach to a Process-Based Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    5. Fabien Santini & Fatmir Guri & Sergio Gomez y Paloma, 2013. "Labelling of agricultural and food products of mountain farming," JRC Research Reports JRC77119, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Vroege, Willemijn & Dalhaus, Tobias & Finger, Robert, 2019. "Index insurances for grasslands – A review for Europe and North-America," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 101-111.
    7. Birka Wicke & Ingeborg Kluts & Jan Peter Lesschen, 2020. "Bioenergy Potential and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Intensifying European Temporary Grasslands," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-18, November.
    8. Kaligarič, Mitja & Čuš, Jure & Škornik, Sonja & Ivajnšič, Danijel, 2019. "The failure of agri-environment measures to promote and conserve grassland biodiversity in Slovenia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 127-134.
    9. Tuohy, P. & O’ Loughlin, J. & Peyton, D. & Fenton, O., 2018. "The performance and behavior of land drainage systems and their impact on field scale hydrology in an increasingly volatile climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 96-107.
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    11. Richard Orozco & María Rosa Mosquera-Losada & Javier Rodriguez & Muluken Elias Adamseged & Philipp Grundmann, 2021. "Supportive Business Environments to Develop Grass Bioeconomy in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-16, November.
    12. Zhaojun Wang & Lei Wang & Gang Zhang & Xu Li & Xiangyun Li & Yangjie Zhang & Xuhang Zhou & Ming Chen & Tingting Xiao & Zhili Feng & Yue Weng & Zhanhui Tang & Deli Wang, 2021. "Characteristics of Mercury Pollution and Ecological Risk Assessment in Different Degraded Grasslands of the Songnen Plains, Northeastern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, September.
    13. He, Huayun & Chen, Chao & Li, Qiuyue & Guo, Bin & Hu, Qi & Zhang, Lina & Pang, Yanmei, 2024. "Combining CENTURY model and vulnerability assessment index to estimate aboveground biomass and ecological vulnerability of grassland: An analysis in Northwest Sichuan Plateau," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 493(C).
    14. Iraj Emadodin & Daniel Ernesto Flores Corral & Thorsten Reinsch & Christof Kluß & Friedhelm Taube, 2021. "Climate Change Effects on Temperate Grassland and Its Implication for Forage Production: A Case Study from Northern Germany," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, March.
    15. Myrgiotis, Vasileios & Blei, Emanuel & Clement, Rob & Jones, Stephanie K. & Keane, Ben & Lee, Mark A. & Levy, Peter E. & Rees, Robert M. & Skiba, Ute M. & Smallman, Thomas Luke & Toet, Sylvia & Willia, 2020. "A model-data fusion approach to analyse carbon dynamics in managed grasslands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

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