Numéro #202

Managing the grass covers in a manner favourable to the bees and to the smal lowland fauna

In places where farming has become uniform, the lives of the pollinating animals and of the game animals have become increasingly precarious, because of the rarefaction and the dispersion of their resources and their habitats, on which they rely for their food and their reproduction. The grass covers constitute generally favourable environments to these animals, provided they are adequately managed. This paper details some technical elements for the management of grass covers in the farming systems that makes them propitious to the bees and to the small lowland fauna, two animal communities whose protection is the object of numerous planned actions. Grass infrastructures provide heterogeneity, thus ensuring a functional role in the trophic networks, acting as zones of shelter, of feeding and of circulation. The benefits of the grass covers depend on their type (whether the plants are sown or voluntary) and their duration. It is henceforth necessary to adopt a more systemic approach in order to identify the management practices that will serve several purposes at the same time (preservation of different animal communities, environment, soil fertility, etc.).