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A meadow is a field habitat vegetated by primarily grass and other non-woody plants (grassland).〔(Maryland Department of Natural Resources, "Maryland's Wild Acres." ) Retrieved June 18, 2013.〕 Meadows are of ecological importance because they are open, sunny areas that attract and support flora and fauna that couldn't thrive in other conditions. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artificially created from cleared shrub or woodland. They often host a multitude of wildlife, providing areas for courtship displays, nesting, gathering food or sometimes sheltering if the vegetation is high enough. Many meadows support a wide array of wildflowers, which makes them of utmost importance to insects like bees, pollination, and hence the entire ecosystem. In agriculture, a meadow is grassland which is not regularly grazed by domestic livestock, but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to produce hay. == Agriculture == Especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a hay meadow,〔Rebecca Morelle: (Conservationists warn of hay meadow decline ) BBC News Science & Environment, June 28, 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2013.〕 signifying grassland mown annually in the summer for making hay. Agricultural meadows are typically lowland or upland fields upon which hay or pasture grasses grow from self-sown or hand-sown seed.〔 Traditional hay meadows were once common in rural Britain, but are now in decline. Ecologist Professor John Rodwell states that over the past century, England and Wales have lost about 97% of their hay meadows.〔 Fewer than 15.000 hectares of lowland meadows remain in the UK and most sites are relatively small and fragmented. 25% of the UK's meadows are found in Worcestershire, with Foster's Green Meadow managed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust being a major site. 〔James Hitchcock ''Fields of Gold'' Worcestershire Life May 2013 p75〕 A similar concept to the hay meadow is the pasture, which differs from the meadow in that it is grazed through the summer, rather than being allowed to grow out and periodically be cut for hay.〔Meadow The New International Encyclopedia, 1905. Retrieved June 18, 2013.〕 A pasture can also refer to any land used for grazing, and in this wider sense the term refers not only to grass pasture, but also to non-grassland habitats such as heathland, moorland and wood pasture.〔Pasture The New International Encyclopedia, 1905. Retrieved July 5, 2013.〕 The term, grassland, is used to describe both hay meadows and grass pastures. The specific agricultural practices in relation to the meadow can take on various expressions. As mentioned, this could be hay production or providing food for grazing cattle and livestock but also to give room for orchards or honey production. Image:Hay Meadow - geograph.org.uk - 513892.jpg|An uncut hay meadow. File:Okolí Huklivého 001.jpg|Montane hay meadows with haystacks. File:Kirschbaumbluete in Neidlingen 02.jpg|An orchard meadow. File:Asino Sardo.jpg|A meadow (pasture) maintained by grazing livestock. File:Valge toonekurg.JPG|Artificially grazed meadow. File:Beehives, On the Farm Track to Ankness - geograph.org.uk - 216047.jpg|Artificial beehives. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「meadow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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