Positive effects of goat pasturing on the threatened spring geophyte Gagea bohemica in formerly abandoned dry grasslands

In abandoned dry grasslands, G. bohemica benefits from a relatively high grazing pressure, resulting in a lower litter cover and subsequently higher light availability at ground level. Due to its low seed set and ability to reproduce vegetatively by subterranean bulbils, ground disturbance by livestock trampling may also constitute an important factor supporting short-distance dispersal of G. bohemica. Goat grazing is a successful tool to restore shrub-encroached dry grasslands with existing remnant populations of spring geophytes. We recommend paddock grazing by goats with a high grazing pressure starting in April after above-ground parts of G. bohemica have already withered.