Exploring a grassland biodiversity hotspot in the Serbian Carpathians: Interdisciplinary perspectives and conservation implications

Land-use changes resulted in a decline of biodiversity in recent European agricultural landscapes. Nevertheless, regions practicing sustained low-input farming continue to harbor most of Europe's high-nature-value grasslands. The Serbian Carpathians represent one such relatively undiscovered region, boasting a well-preserved valuable bio-cultural heritage. Through novel interdisciplinary research that integrates botany, ecology, remote sensing, history, and ethnology, we explored two villages (Radenka, Suvi Do) with different ethnic backgrounds. Our primary objectives were to assess grassland plant diversity, correlate it with applied farming practices, and highlight the importance of interdisciplinary research in conservation of semi-natural grasslands. We focused on vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens that occur within randomly selected nested plot series, covering seven different spatial scales. The semi-natural grasslands in both villages exhibited remarkable plant diversity compared to other temperate meso-xeric and mesic grasslands in Europe. Integral parts of the historic farming system, such as the ancient practice of spring and autumn grazing of hay meadows, are still preserved there. Similarly, the timing of mowing and grazing based on traditional feasts continues to be observed. However, comparison of management intensity over the last 36 years indicates gradual abandonment in all studied parcels, due to severe depopulation, decline in livestock numbers, and a shift from milk to meat production. We advocate encouraging traditional grassland management practices to maintain high plant diversity. Our study underscores the need for interdisciplinary research, integrating social sciences to comprehend human influences on semi-natural grasslands, and remote sensing to assess temporal variations in management practices and their intensity.