GRASSLAND RESARCH NETWORK
an intitiative by Elisabeth Tauber and Almut Schneider

Grasslands, covering about one fourth of the land’s surface, are among the most threatened types of habitats on earth. Species rich semi-natural grassland have been formed by a long history of locally adapted human-animal land use in many parts of the world. Over millennia through pasture culture, grass, cattle and humans co-evolved. They are in a reciprocal, interdependent relationship: grass is stimulated to grow and diversify through cattle’s bite and tread, in turn providing pollen for insects and nutrient rich forage for the animals, who in turn, as mediators, transform grass into food for humans.

Grasslands have been consistently affected by the agricultural transformations since the Green Revolution. As for example in high altitude areas in the Alps, where less and less animals are grazing, grassland is depleting rapidly. Or as for many contemporary meadows, turning into hayfields and thus reducing the co-living of animals and plants to a much-simplified system. The species loss and soil degradation is striking.

Against this background, the people in this network want to address grass as a complex resource that needs to be looked at holistically. How to understand the relational system of the different actors involved: humans, animals, grass, soil, microbes and weather? What is to be learned from grasslands when its actors are taken to be part of a chain of relations? What are the local and global interconnections involved?The network sees itself as an association that enhances dialogue between science, public institutions as well as partners in the field to achieve an up-to-date understanding of the value of grassland and new practices of grassland care.