Temperate wooded pasture and meadow

These are open wooded landscapes created and maintained through traditional grazing, hay-making and silviculture. The wooded pastures are typical of the lowlands, hills and mountains throughout the nemoral zone, the wooded meadows mostly found in the mountains and riparian areas of Central Europe. Regional variations in climate and terrain, in purpose and origin, land use and disturbance regime make this habitat very diverse and dynamic with structure and species composition strongly influenced by the landowners and farmer/herders. Due to their semi-open character and their landscape scale, they can accommodate numerous species, many of which are rare and endangered. Other types are relatively species-poor with widely distributed components, but here combined in highly distinctive ways. Traditional wooded pastures and meadows characteristically express the locally distinctive social and economic history and are therefore of considerable cultural significance like high nature value farmland.

Deciduous trees are the usual canopy dominants, particularly Quercus robur, Q. petraea and Fagus sylvatica but also commonly A. campestre, A. platanoides, Acer pseudoplatanus, Alnus glutinosa, Betula pendula, Carpinus betulus, Castanea sativa, F. angustifolia, Fraxinus excelsior, Populus alba, Populus nigra, Pyrus pyraster, Salix spp., Sorbus torminalis, Tilia cordata, T. tomentosa, and Ulmus glabra. Typical coniferous trees are Pinus spp., Picea abies and Larix decidua. The spatial arrangement of trees may be close to a regular pattern, where the trees were deliberately planted, sparsely distributed under traditional management or, in ornamental parklands, arranged by landscape design. Individual trees may be of very great age and pollarded veterans can be a distinctive feature.

The open canopy can allow the establishment of a diverse understorey but grazing and/or mowing may largely prevent the development of saplings and shrubs. The species and their density depend on site characteristics, local tradition and management regimes but the most typical smaller trees and shrubs are Crataegus laevigata, C. monogyna, Cornus mas, Corylus avellana, Cytisus scoparius, Euonymus europaeus, J. oxycedrus, Juniperus communis, Ligustrum vulgaris, Prunus spinosa, Rosa spp., Rubus canescens with Calluna vulgaris a common sub-shrub. The composition of the herb layer depends on regional climate and terrain conditions as well as on the kinds of grazing and hay-making. The main herbs are grassland generalists such as species of Dactylis, Lolium, Medicago and Trifolium but plants more or less exclusive to silvipastoral habitats are poisonous taxa such as Asphodelus spp., Dictamnus albus, Helleborus spp., Paeonia spp., Pulsatilla spp. and Veratrum nigrum.

Old-growth and scrub- and coppice- wooded pastures, grazed orchards, meadow orchards have many different sub-types in the nemoral region, including the following: nemoral deciduous hudewald or park of lowland to submontane Fagetalia landscapes in western and central Europe; montane to subalpine deciduous, coniferous or mixed pastoral woodland or Weidfeld dominated by Fagus, Picea or Acer in the mountains of central, southern and southeastern Europe; nemoral lowland deciduous hudewald, park; thermophilous deciduous hudewald of colline to montane Quercetalia pubescentis landscapes in southern, south-east and south-central Europe; deciduous riparian and lowland hudewald with flooding regime of the great river basins, chiefly in eastern and south-eastern Europe; montane to subalpine coniferous pastoral woodland dominated by Pinus or Larix in the high mountains of temperate Europe; montane to altimontane coniferous or mixed Pinus and Abies wood-pasture of the mountains of the wider Mediterranean region; Wacholderheide pastures wooded with Juniperus communis of Fagetalia and Quercetalia roboris landscapes in lowland to montane north-western and central Europe; thermophilous deciduous coppice wood-pasture of Quercetalia pubescentis landscapes in southern and south-eastern Europe; subcontinental shibliak distributed in pastures of wood-steppe and Quercetalia pubescentis regions in south-eastern and south-east central Europe; submediterranean shibliak distributed in Quercetalia pubescentis regions of southeastern Europe; rangelands with tall juniper in southern and southern central European mountains, more widely distributed in Anatolia, the Black Sea area and the Middle East; ancient aristocratic parklands and royal hunting forests in England.

Indicators of quality:

• Abundance of old-growth, veteran trees

• Regeneration of open-growth trees

• Regular and deliberate management maintaining high nature and cultural value as well as agricultural value

• Little regeneration of the woody element and no scrub encroachment over the grassland

• No decrease in grazing pressure or frequency of mowing

• No land-use intensification such as removal of the structural elements to extend the grassland, use of fertilizer and artificial seeding, increase of livestock density

• No spread of non-native trees from planted stock or naturally invasive sources

Synthesis of Red List assessment

Confidence in the assessment

Pressures and threats