La localisation géographique a un effet majeur sur la faune et la flore des prairies permanentes en Europe

Wild bees, spiders, earthworms and plants contribute considerably to biodiversity in grasslands and provide valuable services to agriculture, such as pollination, pest control and maintenance of soil quality. We investigated the responses of these four taxa to geographic location, practices and surrounding landscape variables using a dataset of 357 grassland fields within 88 farms in six European regions, to capture the diversity of European grasslands. Geographic location alone had a dominant effect on all communities. Some practices and surrounding landscape variables alone had a small additional
significant effect on observed species richness, rarefied species richness or abundance. Bee species richness and abundance as well as rarefied plant species richness decreased with increasing number of mechanical operations. Observed spider species richness and abundance were unrelated to practices or landscape variables, whereas rarefied species richness showed significant relations to nitrogen input, habitat diversity and amount of grassland habitats in the surroundings. Earthworm abundance increased with nitrogen input but species richness did not. Observed plant species richness decreased with increasing nitrogen input and increased with woody habitats in the surroundings. Investigating multiple regions and taxonomic groups allowed identifying the main factors structuring communities, which is necessary for designing appropriate conservation measures and ensuring continued supply of services.