Mountain grasslands have been shaped by human activities over centuries, contributing to the provision of crucial ecosystem services to people living inside and outside mountain regions. However, mountain grasslands in the European Alps nowadays are facing significant transformations, mainly due to changes in the grassland management as well as climatic variations. Spatially explicit and...
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture significantly contribute to climate change, with drained peatlands representing a substantial and often overlooked source, especially in Germany where 95% are drained for agriculture. Existing life cycle assessments (LCAs) of milk production often underestimate environmental impacts by neglecting these soil emissions. This study quantified the...
Fertilization plays an important role in grassland management and decisions are usually made at farm level. Data on fertilizer application rates are crucial for an accurate assessment of the effects of grassland management on ecosystem services. However, these are generally not available on farm/field scale. To close this gap, we present an agent-based model for Fertilization In Grasslands...
For agriculture, biomass production for feeding livestock is an essential ecosystem service of grasslands. In line with the European Green Deal’s farm-to-fork strategy, maximizing fodder production from existing grasslands is more sustainable than relying on high-intensive cropland feed. Reducing imports and dependency on cropland feed is a global environmental goal. However, it remains...
