Grazing of lowland heath in England: Management methods and their effects on heathland vegetation

The disappearance of grazing from much of British lowland heathland over the last century is thought to be a major contributory factor in the loss of heath vegetation by allowing succession towards woodland. The reintroduction of grazing is hindered by the small amount of available information on grazing management methods or on the responses of lowland heath vegetation to grazing. We review a range of grazing management methods (different grazing animals, stocking rates and combination with burning or cutting) and their effects on vegetation in a number of different lowland heath types (dry, humid and wet heath, and mire) distributed across southern England. The introduction of grazing or higher stocking rates generally increased plant species richness, and the cover of grasses, forbs, bryophytes and lichens and bare ground while reducing litter depth and the cover of dwarf shrubs and scrub species. However, precise effects on species composition varied widely between sites and grazing managements. The desirability of each of these effects is discussed in relation to the need to specify management objectives. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Limited