DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT:

Semi-natural grasslands are among the most species-rich habitats in Europe but have sharply declined in spatial extent and biodiversity in recent decades. Within Europe, the grasslands of the Alps and the Carpathians harbour extraordinary biodiversity, which varies significantly due to local environmental conditions and management intensities. This project supports the protection and expansion of species-rich grasslands in the Alps and the Carpathians based on their spatial patterns and information about their plant diversity and management. We combine in-situ vegetation monitoring data, information from farmers, and historical data, together with information from remote sensing sensors, to model the large-scale spatial patterns of grassland plant diversity and its drivers. Our findings will help decision makers and stakeholders to target diversity-friendly policies and resources allocated for the grassland management schemes.

We aim to answer the following research questions:(1) Who are the stakeholders that operate in grassland management and protection? (2) Where are species-rich grasslands located across the Alps and the Carpathians? (3) Which grassland management regimes effectively support grassland plant diversity, how do they vary across regions and what are their legacy effects? (4) Where can we potentially extend the conservation area network in the Alps and Carpathians to maintain the, so far unprotected, biodiversity-rich grasslands? (5) How can we optimize grassland management to support biodiversity in protected areas?

The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant contributes to the project by participating in its activities, mainly by carrying out anthropological research on the project in communities in the mountainous area of the Romanian Carpathians; as well as by contributing to the systematization of data, promoting the results of the project by participating to conferences and writing scientific articles; and contributing to the drafting of documents with public policy proposals supporting the extension of the protected areas network.

www.grass4b.com

PARTNERS CONSORTIUM:

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Switzerland, coordinator of the project; Agroscope, Switzerland; Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany; European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy; Laimburg Research Centre, Italy; Jagiellonian University,Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Poland; National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Romania; Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania; West University of Timisoara, Romania; Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia; Institute of Geography, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia; Plant Science and Biodiversity Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia; Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, Ukraine.

TEAM MEMBERS FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ROMANIAN PEASANT:

Dr. Anamaria Iuga

Dr. Habil. Corina Sîrbu

Dr. Bogdan Iancu

This research is funded by BIODIVERSA+, The European Biodiversity Partnership under the 2021-2022 BiodivProject joint call for research proposals, co-funded by the European Comission (GA No. 101052342) and with the funding oranisations SNSF, DFG, NCN, PROV BZ, SAS and UEFISCDI).

This project was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI -UEFISCDI, project number COFUND-BIODIVERSA+-G4B-1, within PNCDI IV.