Livestock Type is More Crucial Than Grazing Intensity: Traditional Cattle and Sheep Grazing in Short‐Grass Steppes

Abstract In biodiversity conservation of agriculture‐driven landscapes, grasslands have an outstanding importance; their conservation became a top priority both in research and practice. In many regions, sheep or cattle grazing are the best options for biodiversity conservation. In our study, we compared the effects of cattle and sheep grazing on short‐grass steppe vegetation under various grazing intensities. We tested the following study hypotheses: (i) sheep grazing maintains a lower taxonomic and functional diversity, lower amount of forbs compared with cattle grazing; and (ii) the effects of grazing are highly intensity dependent: the differences detected between cattle and sheep grazing are more pronounced at low grazing intensities than at high ones, because the selectivity of grazing decreases at higher intensities. We found lower taxonomic and functional diversity, and lower cover of forbs in sheep‐grazed steppes compared with cattle‐grazed ones. Grazing intensity had a significant effect only on species richness, while on Shannon diversity and evenness, only livestock type had a significant effect. While most single trait indices were affected by the type of the grazer, significant effect of intensity was detected only in few cases. These findings indicated that the selection of the livestock type is the most crucial in conservation; however, for proper ecosystem functioning and high trait variability, the suitable grazing intensity should also be carefully adjusted. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.