Changes in the composition of sand grasslands along a climatic gradient in Hungary and implications for climate change

Kovács-Láng, E.; Kröel-Dulay, Gy.; Kertész, Miklós; Fekete, G.; Bartha, Sándor; Mika, J.; Dobi-Wantuch, I.; Rédei, Tamás; Rajkai, Kálmán; Hahn, István

doi:10.1127/phyto/30/2000/385

Cited by 86 publications

(90 citation statements)

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“…Ploughing was typical of the other main habitat type (open sand grassland) neither at the regional nor the local scale. This disparity between the two habitats may be explained by their differing soil quality, and thus their different suitability for agriculture (Kovács-Láng et al 2000, Molnár et al 2012. The fields on sandy soils with extremly low humus content were covered with open sand grasslands and were extensively grazed till the socio-economic changes at the end of the 19 th century (Biró, Molnár 1998, Molnár 2003.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The climate is continental with annual temperature of 10-11 o C. The annual precipitation is 550-600 mm with increasing semi-aridity towards the central part of the area. This area is part of the forest-steppe biome in the Pannonian biogeographic region with a mosaic of several dry and wet, and salt affected habitat types due to diverse abiotic patterns (Kovács-Láng et al 2000). The natural vegetation has been exposed to intensive human impacts for at least two millennia resulting in a highly fragmented landscape.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detection of long-term landscape changes and trajectories in a Pannonian sand region: comparing land-cover and habitat-based approaches at two spatial scales

et al. 2013

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A key driver of biodiversity loss is human landscape transformation. Change detection and trajectory analysis are frequently applied methods for studying landscape change. We studied to what degree habitatspecific change detection and trajectory analysis provide different information on landscape change compared to the analysis with land-cover statistics. Our research was carried out at two spatial scales (regional, 1800 km 2 , 360 random points; local, 23 km 2 , polygon-based maps) in the Kiskunság, Hungary. Spatio-temporal databases were prepared using historical maps, aerial photos and satellite images from 1783, 1883, 1954, and 2009. Local expert knowledge of landscape history and recent vegetation was used during the historical reconstructions.We found large differences at both scales between land-cover based and habitat-specific analyses. Habitatspecific change detection revealed that grassland loss was not continuous in the different habitats, as land-cover based analysis implied. Ploughing affected open sand grasslands and sand steppes differently in different periods. It was only apparent from the habitat-specific analyses that from the grasslands only mesotrophic and Molinia meadows were relatively constant, up until the 1950s. The gradual increase in forest area revealed by land-cover CHD analyses was split into natural and anthropogenic processes by habitat-specific analyses. Habitat specific trajectory analysis also revealed ecologically important historical differences between habitats. Afforestation affected especially the open sand grasslands, whereas wetland habitats were relatively stable. The most important trajectory was the one in which closed sand steppes were ploughed during the 19 th century, and remained arable fields until present. Fifty percent of the regional trajectories of 18 th century open sand grasslands terminated in tree plantations at present, though 82% of the current open sand grasslands of the local site can be regarded as ancient.We concluded that dividing land-cover categories into finer habitat categories offered an opportunity for a more precise historical analysis of key habitats, and could reveal important ecological processes that cannot be reconstructed with land-cover based analyses. It also highlighted habitat-specific processes making natural and social drivers better interpretable. Information on the diversity of habitat-histories may serve as a basis for spatially more explicit conservation management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of long-term landscape changes and trajectories in a Pannonian sand region: comparing land-cover and habitat-based approaches at two spatial scales

et al. 2013

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“…is located in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, near the village Fülöpháza in the Kiskunság National Park, Hungary. The soil is coarse textured calcaric arenosol with ~11% CaCO3 and <1% humus content in the upper 20 cm layer, low water holding and conducting capacities (Kovács-Láng et al 2000). The climate is moderately warm semiarid temperate with continental and submediterranean influences.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Towards the drier and warmer end of a climatic gradient in open perennial sand grasslands of Hungary (i.e. in the same direction as the predicted climate change), Kovács-Láng et al (2000) observed declining plant cover and species richness, and increasing abundance of annuals and sand grassland specialists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant ecophysiological responses to drought, nocturnal warming and variable climate in the Pannonian sand forest-steppe: results of a six-year climate manipulation experiment

2017

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The impacts of year-round nocturnal warming or late spring rain exclusion on three plant functional types were studied in a plot-scale climate simulation experiment in a semiarid sand forest-steppe of Central Hungary. Ecophysiological traits were followed through six years for the C3 bunch grass Festuca vaginata, the spreading C4 grass Cynodon dactylon and shrubsized root suckers of Populus alba. In general, experimental treatments had slighter effects than weather fluctuations yielding extremities did. Populus alba responded to nocturnal warming with developing slenderer leaves. Rain exclusion reduced leaf physiological activity or growth, but only during or just after the treatment, and in certain years. When assessing treatment and background climatic variation effects together, in spring, leaf area growth was consistently stimulated by increasing temperature, but decreased with longer rainless periods for P. alba and F. vaginata. Physiological responses in spring indicated low temperature limitation for C. dactylon, and both low and high temperature control for P. alba. Longer summer droughts reduced leaf gas exchange, particularly for F. vaginata with substantial drop in photochemical activity and chlorophyll content. These results suggest that shallow rooted C3 bunch grasses can be the most susceptible to climatic variation, thus their abundance is expected to decline in the Pannonian forest-steppe. In contrast, plants having deeper roots and clonal integration will probably be less affected by the projected warming and drying climate.C4 photosynthesis or southern geographical distribution may also be beneficial, thus, the abundance of such species is expected to diminish less or even increase.

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“…, yearly precipitation is 505 mm (Kovács-Láng et al 2000). Plants with their original soil were placed in 4-litre pots, shoots were cut back to 1 cm above soil surface and newly emerged shoots were grown in the growth room of the Eötvös Loránd University.…”

Section: Field Sampling and Growth Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf morphology and anatomy in two contrasting environments for C₃and C₄grasses of different invasion potential

Han

Mojzes

Kalapos

2008

Acta Botanica Hungarica

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Leaf morphology, coarse structure and anatomy were compared for two invasive C 4 , two non-invasive C 4 , and two expanding native C 3 grass species grown in their original, high-light semiarid temperate habitat, and in a growth room under variable moderate light and favourable supply of water and nutrients. It was hypothesised that (H 1 ) among C 4 grasses leaf structural response will be greater for invasive than for non-invasive species, and (H 2 ) for plants of high spreading capacity C 4 species will be less responsive than C 3 species. Leaf mass per area was lower in the growth room than in the field by 43.4-54% and 5.7-21.2% for grasses of high spreading capacity and for non-invasive C 4 species, respectively. Little or no response was observed in the proportion of epidermis and mesophyll, but the proportional area of veins plus sclerenchyma was greater in the field than in the growth room for the invasive C 4 Sorghum halepense, and the spreading C 3 Bromus inermis and Calamagrostis epigeios, while it did not differ for the two non-invasive C 4 grasses and the invasive C 4 Cynodon dactylon. Leaf intervenial distance was invariant for C 4 grasses (except for the non-invasive Chrysopogon gryllus) and the C 3 C. epigeios, but changed by 25.1% for the C 3 B. inermis. These results suggest that among C 4 grasses invasive species exceed non-invasive ones in the plasticity of leaf coarse structure, but not that of leaf morphology and anatomy. However, leaf structure was not less plastic in invasive C 4 than in expanding C 3 grasses except for intervenial distance.

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Changes in the composition of sand grasslands along a climatic gradient in Hungary and implications for climate change

Cited by 86 publications

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Detection of long-term landscape changes and trajectories in a Pannonian sand region: comparing land-cover and habitat-based approaches at two spatial scales

Detection of long-term landscape changes and trajectories in a Pannonian sand region: comparing land-cover and habitat-based approaches at two spatial scales

Plant ecophysiological responses to drought, nocturnal warming and variable climate in the Pannonian sand forest-steppe: results of a six-year climate manipulation experiment

Leaf morphology and anatomy in two contrasting environments for C₃and C₄grasses of different invasion potential

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Changes in the composition of sand grasslands along a climatic gradient in Hungary and implications for climate change

Cited by 86 publications

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Detection of long-term landscape changes and trajectories in a Pannonian sand region: comparing land-cover and habitat-based approaches at two spatial scales

Detection of long-term landscape changes and trajectories in a Pannonian sand region: comparing land-cover and habitat-based approaches at two spatial scales

Plant ecophysiological responses to drought, nocturnal warming and variable climate in the Pannonian sand forest-steppe: results of a six-year climate manipulation experiment

Leaf morphology and anatomy in two contrasting environments for C3and C4grasses of different invasion potential

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Leaf morphology and anatomy in two contrasting environments for C₃and C₄grasses of different invasion potential