Abstract
Permanent grasslands are widely recognized for their role in protecting the landscape against soil erosion and flooding. However, this role has not yet been comprehensively quantified. Also, the degradation of grasslands is accelerating at an alarming pace, leading to erosion and runoff generation. This study aims to (i) quantify the erosion and flooding mitigation effect of permanent grasslands in the EU and the UK, compared to other land uses; (ii) review all soil erosion and runoff generating processes on permanent grasslands. First, a meta-analysis compared four erosion and flooding-related indicators: bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, runoff and soil loss between permanent grasslands, arable land and forests. The results show that permanent grassland soils had generally lower bulk density and higher hydraulic conductivity than arable soils, and generated less runoff and soil loss. Differences are less clear-cut in comparison with forests, although permanent grasslands had higher bulk density and runoff values. Secondly, a qualitative, in-depth review was performed to identify knowledge gaps related to the characteristics, importance and driving factors behind relevant soil erosion processes affecting grasslands in the EU. This identified six processes with appreciable knowledge gaps: trampling-induced erosion, gullying, piping, landsliding, snowmelt erosion, and avalanche erosion. Additionally, three processes were identified that promote runoff generation and soil erosion: compaction, hydrophobicity and wildfires.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 108443 |
| Journal | Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment |
| Volume | 348 |
| Early online date | 27 Feb 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research is funded by the European Union, under the Horizon 2020 project “Developing SUstainable PERmanent Grassland systems and policies (Super-G)”, grant no. 774124. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European UnionEU or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Vanwalleghem and Milazzo also acknowledge additional financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Spanish State Research Agency, and through the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu Program for Centers and Units of Excellence in R&D (Ref. CEX2019–000968-M).
Funding Information:
This research is funded by the European Union , under the Horizon 2020 project “Developing SUstainable PERmanent Grassland systems and policies (Super-G)”, grant no. 774124 . Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European UnionEU or the European Research Council . Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Vanwalleghem and Milazzo also acknowledge additional financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation , the Spanish State Research Agency , and through the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu Program for Centers and Units of Excellence in R&D (Ref. CEX2019–000968-M ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
Data Availability Statement
Data will be made available on request.Keywords
- Ecosystem services
- Erosion
- Flooding
- Grassland
Access to Document
- Milazzo_etal_AEE_The_Role_of_Grassland_VOR
0167-8809/Crown Copyright © 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)