Abandonment of croplands: problem or chance for grassland restoration? case studies from hungary

Abstract

In Central‐ and Eastern Europe, the collapse of socialist regimes resulted in a transformation of state‐owned agricultural cooperatives to privately owned lands from the early 1990s onwards. These socioeconomic processes resulted in landscape‐scale changes in biodiversity, ecosystem services and agricultural production. In parallel, large‐scale abandonment of croplands, especially on sandy, salty or frequently inundated areas, became common. Abandoned croplands are usually sensitive to species invasions, and are hotspots of noxious weeds, posing threats both to agriculture and nature conservation. Grassland restoration on former croplands can be an effective strategy for suppressing these species. Thus, a common goal of nature conservation and agriculture can be the restoration of grasslands on former croplands to (1) suppress weed and/or invasive species in line with the EU policy “Good Farming Practices”, (2) support animal husbandry by creating meadows or pastures, and to (3) recover biodiversity and ecosystem services. In the present paper we report “best practices” of grassland restoration projects from Hungary. Our aim was to compare the effectiveness of spontaneous grassland recovery vs. active grassland restoration by seed sowing in terms of the recovery of biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as weed control and biomass production. Our results showed that grassland restoration on abandoned fields offers a viable solution for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services. Seed sowing ensures higher weed control and biomass production, but results in lower biodiversity compared to spontaneous recovery. Both restoration methods can be cost‐effective, or even profitable even within a relatively short period of a nature conservation project.

Recovery of species richness lags behind functional recovery in restored grasslands

“…There are a number of postrestoration methods that are known to have this effect; so we can recommend testing their suitability and integrating them into standard restoration schemes. Possible suitable methods include moderate levels of grazing (Auffret, ), mechanically opening colonization windows (Valkó et al, ), transplanting blocks of turf (Mudrák, Fajmon, Jongepierová, & Doležál, ), or sowing hemiparasitic plant species such as Rhinanthus , Pedicularis , or Comandra species to reduce the vitality of populations potentially hindering recolonization (Davies, Graves, Elias, & Williams, ; DiGiovanni, Wysocki, Burke, Duvall, & Barber, ).…”

Succession in soil seed banks and its implications for restoration of calcareous sand grasslands

“…It was stressed, however, that the application of passive restoration has some constraints (Bakker & Berendse ) and can be considered to be the most promising in sites where both the propagule sources of grassland plants and dispersal vectors are available nearby, and the soil of the sites is moderately loaded with nutrients (Török et al ; Valkó et al ). The topic is especially important nowadays, as large areas of marginal croplands are being abandoned in Central and Eastern Europe, which offers a possibility for the spontaneous recovery of formerly typical target grasslands (Valkó et al ). While there are vast numbers of theory‐based experimental studies on spontaneous succession, much less attention is given to their applicability in practical restoration (Török & Helm ).…”

Comparison of Methods for Restoring Meadows Invaded by Solidago Species

“…Despite this protection, the effects of abandoning agriculture remain visible in Central and Eastern Europe. It is an effect of the collapse of the socialist regime in the early 1990s, which caused socioeconomic processes resulting in landscape-scale changes in biodiversity, ecosystem services, and agricultural production [8][9][10].Invasion by alien species is among the processes causing the major environmental changes that are destroying biodiversity and the economy [11]. Increased competition with alien species threatens the less competitive European grassland species.…”

“…Despite this protection, the effects of abandoning agriculture remain visible in Central and Eastern Europe. It is an effect of the collapse of the socialist regime in the early 1990s, which caused socioeconomic processes resulting in landscape-scale changes in biodiversity, ecosystem services, and agricultural production [8][9][10].…”