animals got their food directly from woodland and grassland, today they are increasingly fed with concentrated food from cropland. Domestic animals in industrial
farming areas in temperate zones are progressively captured indoor and fed in stalls.
Denmark and Germany are among the largest pig and pig meat industries in the
world, but it is hardly possible to see any pig in the Danish and German landscapes.
All over Europe the number of cattle, sheep and goat in the landscape decreased
during the last decades.
The Grazing livestock density index (cf. Eurostat on the internet: https://ec.
e u r o p a . e u / e u r o s t a t / s t a t i s t i c s - e x p l a i n e d / i n d e x . p h p / G l o s s a r y :
Grazing_livestock_density_index; assessed 2/2019) measures the stock of herbivors
(cattle, sheep, goat, horse) per fodder area. Fodder area consists of arable land with
cultivation of fodder crops and permanent grassland. Thus, this index does not give
any information about how many domestic animals are grazing outside in the
landscape. While the majority of domestic animals in Europe hundred years ago
lived in the pastures for most of the year cattle (and pig) in the industrial agriculture
today often do not see any daylight in their short lives. We estimate that the number
of domestic herbivors grazing in European landscapes declined by a rate of more
than 90% during the last 100 years. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get reliable
information about the development of numbers of domestic and wild herbivors in
the landscapes.
To summarize, the influence of wild herbivors on grassland ecosystems historically was more and more replaced by domestic and alien animals with the effect of
extinction and endangerement of several native species. Nomadism and transhumance were substituted by settledness, and widespread moderate grazing pressure of
both wild and domestic animals decreased and was frequently replaced by one of the
two extremes—intensive use with overgrazing or abandoment.
3 Goods and Services
Grasslands are used for livestock breeding, hunting of wild animals, for hay production, collecting herbs, fruits, roots, and fibre. Since usage means also upvaluation
of the ecosystem, and because grazing or mowing are essential for the existence of
many grassland ecosystems the relinquishment of human influence including livestock breeding can mean both devaluation and destabilization.
Grasslands are an important source of non-commodity products such as water
quality, climate regulation via carbon storage and evapotranspiration, aesthetics,
recreation, and biodiversity conservation (Kulshreshtha et al. 2015).
The aggregates of the soils under grassland are in average more stable than soils
of arable land. In combination with a higher field moisture capacity this results in a
much better water retention. Thus, inundations and heavy rain have less strong
erosion or washout effects in large grassland than cropland regions (Klapp 1954;
Buchgraber and Gindl 2009).
334
C. Hobohm et al.
farming areas in temperate zones are progressively captured indoor and fed in stalls.
Denmark and Germany are among the largest pig and pig meat industries in the
world, but it is hardly possible to see any pig in the Danish and German landscapes.
All over Europe the number of cattle, sheep and goat in the landscape decreased
during the last decades.
The Grazing livestock density index (cf. Eurostat on the internet: https://ec.
e u r o p a . e u / e u r o s t a t / s t a t i s t i c s - e x p l a i n e d / i n d e x . p h p / G l o s s a r y :
Grazing_livestock_density_index; assessed 2/2019) measures the stock of herbivors
(cattle, sheep, goat, horse) per fodder area. Fodder area consists of arable land with
cultivation of fodder crops and permanent grassland. Thus, this index does not give
any information about how many domestic animals are grazing outside in the
landscape. While the majority of domestic animals in Europe hundred years ago
lived in the pastures for most of the year cattle (and pig) in the industrial agriculture
today often do not see any daylight in their short lives. We estimate that the number
of domestic herbivors grazing in European landscapes declined by a rate of more
than 90% during the last 100 years. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get reliable
information about the development of numbers of domestic and wild herbivors in
the landscapes.
To summarize, the influence of wild herbivors on grassland ecosystems historically was more and more replaced by domestic and alien animals with the effect of
extinction and endangerement of several native species. Nomadism and transhumance were substituted by settledness, and widespread moderate grazing pressure of
both wild and domestic animals decreased and was frequently replaced by one of the
two extremes—intensive use with overgrazing or abandoment.
3 Goods and Services
Grasslands are used for livestock breeding, hunting of wild animals, for hay production, collecting herbs, fruits, roots, and fibre. Since usage means also upvaluation
of the ecosystem, and because grazing or mowing are essential for the existence of
many grassland ecosystems the relinquishment of human influence including livestock breeding can mean both devaluation and destabilization.
Grasslands are an important source of non-commodity products such as water
quality, climate regulation via carbon storage and evapotranspiration, aesthetics,
recreation, and biodiversity conservation (Kulshreshtha et al. 2015).
The aggregates of the soils under grassland are in average more stable than soils
of arable land. In combination with a higher field moisture capacity this results in a
much better water retention. Thus, inundations and heavy rain have less strong
erosion or washout effects in large grassland than cropland regions (Klapp 1954;
Buchgraber and Gindl 2009).
334
C. Hobohm et al.