Climate, landscape history and management drive Eurasian steppe biodiversity

Abstract

Palaearctic steppes are among the largest continuous terrestrial natural habitats of the world with high biodiversity at multiple scales. Steppe grasslands and adjacent forest steppes are characteristic landscape elements from Central and Eastern Europe to Northern China across the whole temperate zone of Eurasia with some floristically similar regions in North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran. The origin and evolution of the landscape history of the Eurasian steppes started in the lower Miocene and passed through widening and diminishing of the steppe area. This history is mirrored by the phylogeography of typical steppe species. Today, the area of typical steppes is highly reduced by various activities of humans. Because steppes are often characterised by fertile soils, they are subjected to large-scale degradation and area loss by intensive crop production, or other forms of overuse especially in the Western part of their distribution zone. Steppes are among the most threatened and least protected habitats globally, and therefore, the conservation and restoration of steppe biodiversity, especially in agriculture-dominated landscapes, are key priorities for research and practice. Effective biodiversity conservation and restoration depend, however, on knowledge of ecological properties and processes that are responsible for the sustainment of crucial ecological functions and services in pristine steppes. In this special issue we aimed to give emphasis on the most recent and novel research in steppe biodiversity and ecology, highlighting the enormous levels of biodiversity at multiple scales shaped by a complex interaction of a long-term evolutionary history, macroclimate and local factors including disturbances such as overgrazing. Fine-tuned management, for example in a form of low-intensity and extensive grazing is urgently needed for maintaining and/or restoring steppe resistance and resilience to climate change extremities.