Authors: Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely; Tóth, Katalin ;Sonkoly , Judit ;McIntosh-Buday , Andrea McIntosh-Buday 1,2;Balogh , Nóra ;Díaz Cando , Patricia ;Törő , Istvánné ;Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto ;Espinoza Ami , Francis David ;Demeter , László ;

Conservation of biodiversity in agriculture-driven landscapes have a crucial importance; their conservation and restoration have a top priority both in research and practice. We compared the effects of cattle and sheep grazing on sand grassland vegetation under various grazing intensities. The composition of the vegetation was surveyed in 2 by 2 m plots, and biomass was harvested in from an area of 20 by 20 cm. We found that both the identity of livestock and grazing intensity significantly affected the vegetation composition and most of the biomass fractions. With increasing grazing intensity, the amount of litter and graminoids decreased with typically lower values in sheep grazed sites. The amount of lichen and moss biomass were decreased with increasing grazing intensity and the highest values were mainly detected in exclosures. The total biomass was the lowest in sites grazed by sheep in high intensity. With increasing grazing intensity, the cover and biomass of short-lived species increased. Our results suggest that in conservation and sustainable management of sand grasslands not only the grazing intensity, but the identity of livestock should be carefully selected and adjusted.