One Century of Change: Stronger Diversity Decline in Lowland Than in Mountain Grasslands in Central Europe

Quantitative long-term assessments of the extent and direction of biodiversity change due to anthropogenic environmental change are challenging because representative baseline data older than a few decades are very rare. This is also the case for grasslands in temperate Europe, which can harbour high species diversity at small spatial scales, but have undergone strong and varied changes, particularly in relation to the agricultural intensification that peaked in the middle of the last century. We resampled 416 historical vegetation records (originally sampled between 1884 and 1931) of 0.09 m² from grasslands across Switzerland at a wide range of elevations (300–2500 m) and moisture levels to assess the changes in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity, as well as community characteristics, and tested whether the magnitude of change depended on elevation. We found severe declines in alpha, beta, and gamma taxonomic diversity over the last century, with species richness being on average 26% lower in the resurvey plots than in the historical plots. Functional and phylogenetic alpha diversity were also lower in the resurvey plots than in the historical plots, although the differences were less pronounced. The loss in all three diversity metrics decreased with elevation. This was linked to stronger increases in nutrient-demanding, mowing-tolerant, and competitive species, particularly grasses (Poaceae), at lower than at higher elevations. This elevational pattern reflects the strong influences of land use and eutrophication, which are more pronounced at lower elevations. By contrast, the effect of global warming on vegetation has so far been subordinate. The smaller diversity changes at higher elevations offer the potential to maintain a high proportion of the historical plant diversity in mountain grasslands.