Abstract Worldwide reforestation has been recommended as a landscape restoration strategy to mitigate climate change in areas where the climate can sustain forest. This approach may threaten grassland ecosystems of unique biodiversity as such policies are based on the false assumption that most grasslands are man-made. Here, we use multiple lines of evidence (palaeoecological, pedological, phylogenetic, palaeontological) from Central Eastern Europe and show that various types of grasslands have persisted in this area throughout the postglacial i.e., the past 11,700 years. A warm and dry climate, frequent fires, herbivore pressure and early Neolithic settlements kept forests open until widespread forest clearance beginning 4000 to 3000 years ago. Closed forest cover has been the exception for the last two million years. This long-term persistence has likely contributed to the high biodiversity of these grasslands. Consequently, we call for a more cautious prioritisation of the protection of what may be erroneously considered natural, i.e. forests, by many environmental specialists and managers. Instead we provide a new framework for a better understanding of the evolution and persistence of different grassland types and their biodiversity, so that grasslands can be better understood, valued and conserved.

中文翻译：

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生物多样性丰富的欧洲草原：古老而被遗忘的生态系统

摘要 全球重新造林已被推荐作为景观恢复策略，以缓解气候可以维持森林的地区的气候变化。这种方法可能会威胁到具有独特生物多样性的草原生态系统，因为此类政策基于大多数草原是人造的错误假设。在这里，我们使用来自中东欧的多条证据（古生态学、土壤学、系统发育学、古生物学），并表明在整个后冰期，即过去的 11,700 年中，该地区一直存在各种类型的草原。温暖干燥的气候、频繁的火灾、食草动物的压力和新石器时代早期的定居点使森林保持开放，直到 4000 到 3000 年前开始广泛的森林砍伐。在过去的两百万年里，封闭的森林覆盖是个例外。这种长期的持续存在可能促成了这些草原的高度生物多样性。因此，我们呼吁对可能被许多环境专家和管理人员错误认为是自然的森林，即森林的保护进行更谨慎的优先排序。相反，我们提供了一个新的框架，以更好地了解不同草原类型及其生物多样性的演变和持久性，从而更好地了解、重视和保护草原。