An indicator species approach for result-orientated subsidies of ecological services in grasslands – A study in Northwestern Germany Original Research Article

Agri-environmental subsidies for grasslands of high conservation interest are usually associated with fairly strict management rules, but have not always been successful in terms of the preservation of species. A new approach now links the subsidies paid to the ecological value of a grassland site: the farmers are paid for keeping up a high plant species richness, and they can control the species richness of their sites by using vascular plants as indicator species. The method was tested in different grassland communities in six regions of Lower Saxony in Northwestern Germany, mainly addressing the question whether the number of selected indicator species was correlated with the total species richness of vascular plants and with the number of endangered species.