Enhancing grassland biodiversity and its consequences for grassland management and utilisation

Key points 1. Grasslands make an important contribution to the biodiversity of rural landscapes. 2. Biodiversity has the potential to support the production function of grassland. The conditions for this are largely unexplored. 3. The enhancement of biodiversity on agriculturally improved, species-poor grasslands is difficult to achieve due to seed limitation and high residual soil fertility. 4. Measures to overcome constraints are addition of propagules, depletion of soil nutrients, and the use of specific sward treatments. 5. Agri-environmental schemes will play an increasing role in achieving the biodiversity targets in the future, however, the efficiency of such schemes needs improvement.