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Floodplain grasslands

Since centuries, floodplains have been used extensively for livestock feeding. Population growth and increased knowledge on flood-protection led to more intensive grazing and farming activities in floodplains during the Middle Age. Forests became more and more degraded and replaced by productive farmland and open extensive grassland. These man-made grasslands are characteristic of seasonally flooded areas and are characterized by a high diversity of grass and herbaceous species and regular management (EC 2008; Leyer, 2004). Such grasslands have small-scale relief features, including hollows and lower and higher areas with different flood return frequencies and different groundwater levels. Although floodplain grasslands cover most of the active floodplains in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, most of them are threatened by hydrological alterations, intensified and changing agricultural needs and changing policies (EC 2008; EEA 2015d).