Change in surface area of semi-natural grassland in the Osby municipality, Scania and potential consequences for plant diversity

Abstract: During the past, land use has changed and still is. It has been recognized that land use changes affect biodiversity all over the world. In Sweden semi-natural grasslands are a habitat with high biodiversity. The topic of this thesis is how land use change has affected the habitat of semi-natural grasslands in the area around Osby, Scania. For that purpose, semi-natural grasslands in a historical map from 1926-34 were digitalised and compared with the latest data to see if the size of the grassland has changed and if there was a loss of the previous semi-natural grasslands. Even though there is a larger area of grasslands found in the area today, there was a decrease of continuous grasslands by 84.8% between 1926-34 and the latest data. Similar result of area loss for semi-natural grasslands have been found in other studies. Former land use has an influence on the appearance of the landscape today. The type and timing of management, both historically and today, influences the species present in the semi-natural grasslands. Land use change has not automatically led to a loss of species, but it is affecting certain species, especially the ones which established before the 1700s and the ones which are grazing dependent. The effect is not fully clear, but a shift of plant species within semi-natural grasslands is suspected. Recently established grasslands could differ in composition to the old ones but still contribute to biodiversity. The importance of semi-natural grasslands as an ecosystem is better understood today. To protect and remain the remaining grasslands, governmental programs are put in place.