Ant and plant species richness in relation to grazing, fertilisation and topography

SummaryThe preservation of biodiversity within agricultural landscapes in Europe is of great importance. Conservation priorities in semi-natural grasslands in Sweden have mainly focused on preventing accumulation of litter by management with grazing or haymaking. The effects of specific management regimes on species diversity of different taxa or taxonomic groups can differ considerably. In this study we investigated how plant and ant diversity and community composition were affected by grazing, fertilisation and topography. The results show that plant species richness was higher in grazed than abandoned pastures but ant species richness was not affected by grazing. Both plant and ant species richness was negatively affected by fertilisation. Neither ant nor plant species richness was affected by topography. No significant relation was found between the total numbers of ant and plant species. Both plant species composition and ant species composition were affected by fertilisation and grazing. When considering management or restoration tools for grasslands it is important to focus on more than one taxonomic group.