Alterations of steppe-like grasslands in Eastern Europe: a threat to regional biodiversity hotspots.
Recent changes in agriculture (intensification or abandonment) have resulted in a critical reduction of steppe-like grasslands in Eastern Europe. These grasslands harbor an extraordinarily high diversity of plants and invertebrates, including endemics, and are considered refugia for numerous threatened open-land species. We examined species richness, and abundance, proportion of open-land, endemic and threatened vascular plants, gastropods, and diurnal
Read more