REGRASS 2 investigates whether the re-establishment of 10 m wide meadows sown within agriculturally managed cereal fields can promote plant and animal biodiversity. The meadows established in 2016, developed well and total plant cover was slightly above 80% after the second study year, reaching 80% in 2022. In 2022, the cover by the plant species from the seed mixture was only a little lower than the total vegetation cover, thus the spontaneous vegetation had only a very small share in the total vegetation cover. On average, 26 species from the seed mixture and an additional six plant species native to the site were found in the newly established meadows in 2022.
The newly established meadows (NG) had high species numbers of plants as well as a high flower abundance six years after their seeding. In this respect, they are in no way inferior to the old meadows (OG) we investigated. In terms of insect species numbers, especially wild bees and heteopteran bugs benefited from the newly established meadows (NG). Species numbers of hoverflies benefited equally from NG and OG, while grasshoppers showed no preference for a habitat type. In contrast, ÖPUL-funded biodiversity areas (SG), which were poor in plant species, could not promote insect diversity to the same extent. With regard to species composition, it was shown that although each of the three grassland habitats investigated provides habitat for independent species, here NG with 59 independent species clearly outperformed SG (36) and OG (35). Thus, NG has a special role to play in maintaining independent species. The results on biological pest control from 2022 are promising because they show a positive effect of NG on the arable area close to NG.
Practical application: species-rich, richly flowering and naturally suitable extensive grassland stands could be permanently established on all five newly established meadows. With regard to the ingredients, it is possible to use the resulting forage from the newly established meadows as horse hay. In Austria’s agricultural landscape, only a limited area is available for the creation of semi-natural habitat. Therefore, if only a small area is available for the promotion of biodiversity in Austrian agricultural areas, it should be used optimally. Therefore, we recommend that habitats established with the species-rich seed mixture developed in REGRASS 2 (NG) be included in the future ÖPUL program. |