Pasture-rumen interaction assessment as a key tool for grassland ecosystem service conservation

Calcareous european grasslands are threatened by the abandonment of traditional management practices. Conservation of pasture biodiversity depends on key elements involved in these age-old activities, such as density of grazing anmals, type of management and aniaml feeding behaviour. As it was demonstrated that grazing history plays a key role in determining species compositon of pasture, it is possible to assume that the conservation/restoration os pasture biodiversity can be best promoted by improovement of the sheep grazing management.