ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates plant species diversity, forest structure, and tree regeneration in subalpine wood pastures and drawn concerning the value of subalpine forest grazing as a management strategy and its influence on biodiversity. Mountain forests in the Alps traditionally offer several independent benefits, such as timber production, protection against natural hazards, recreation area, and habitat for diverse vegetation and wildlife. Foresters fear that grazing hinders tree regeneration and reduces the protective function of mountain forests. Others claim that forest grazing provides the opportunity for extensive agricultural and forest production, and that wood pastures have a high structural diversity, thus positively influencing the landscape amenity and biodiversity. Plant species were then subdivided into four functional botanical groups: grasses, legumes, forbs, and shrubs. To improve the growth of the herbage plant species on wood pastures, farmers used to cut both mature and regenerating trees.
