It is a strong image. Search online for 'Dutch grasslands' and you will find pictures of green grass, black-and-white cows, a ditch and a mill. These are agricultural grasslands. However, when I think of grasslands, I think of semi-natural grasslands, basically nature reserves. These are grasslands filled with grasses and herbs, many of them also endangered plant species. These semi-natural grasslands have been protected for years, but are still threatened. For the past years I have been studying the effect of eutrophication on the species richness in these grasslands.
First, however, I want to show how special the plants and the grasslands themselves are. As these grasslands are so threatened, they are in general not open to the public.