DISCUSSION-CONCLUSIONS

In summary, agro-forestry systems, and specifically wood-pastures, include habitat types that are ecologically transitional between woodlands and meadows, but with structures and species composition not usually found in pure forests or meadows. Many wood-pastures have a long environmental history and special characteristics, such as old trees, dead wood (dead organic matter), periodic disturbance by large herbivores and/or light conditions in the understory, which bridge the historical pastoral use with primitive Holocene forests.

The specificities of wood-pastures cannot be maintained, either through forest management or through meadows management alone. The conservation of agroforest habitats requires:

(a) long-term management comparable to or based on the relevant/local traditional land use, and in sufficiently large areas,

(b) systematic monitoring to avoid both overgrazing and undergrazing or full abandonment of grazing. In many cases, continued anthropogenic intervention is absolutely essential for habitat conservation.

To establish the clarity of future management and conservation objectives for grazed forests in Europe, it is necessary to define wood-pasture categories and assess their extent and conservation status in European countries (Bergmeier et al. 2010).