Grassland restoration on former croplands in Europe: an assessment of applicability of techniques and costs

Abstract

Grasslands used to be vital landscape elements throughout Europe. Nowadays, the area of grasslands is dramatically reduced, especially in industrial countries. Grassland restoration is widely applied to increase the naturalness of the landscape and preserve biodiversity. We reviewed the most frequently used restoration techniques (spontaneous succession, sowing seed mixtures, transfer of plant material, topsoil removal and transfer) and techniques used to improve species richness (planting, grazing and mowing) to recover natural-like grasslands from ex-arable lands. We focus on the usefulness of methods in restoring biodiversity, their practical feasibility and costs. We conclude that the success of each technique depends on the site conditions, history, availability of propagules and/or donor sites, and on the budget and time available for restoration. Spontaneous succession can be an option for restoration when no rapid result is expected, and is likely to lead to the target in areas with high availability of propagules. Sowing low-diversity seed mixtures is recommended when we aim at to create basic grassland vegetation in large areas and/or in a short time. The compilation of high-diversity seed mixtures for large sites is rather difficult and expensive; thus, it may be applied rather on smaller areas. We recommend combining the two kinds of seed sowing methods by sowing low-diversity mixtures in a large area and high-diversity mixtures in small blocks to create species-rich source patches for the spontaneous colonization of nearby areas. When proper local hay sources are available, the restoration with plant material transfer can be a fast and effective method for restoration.

Comparison of translocation methods to conserve metallophyte communities in the Southeastern D.R. Congo

“…However, neither translocation technique was able to replicate the reference communities largely due to the loss of community structure. While whole-turf translocation appears to be a better technique than topsoil spreading in Cu-Co communities, the high cost may limit its implementation at large scale and would require significant economic commitment to be included in restoration programs (Kirmer et al 2009;Box et al 2011;Török et al 2011). Mean abundance (± standard error) of reference steppe community at Kaviwafwaulu hill and translocated steppe communities (whole-turf translocation and topsoil spreading).…”

“…It can be used as a strategy to create communities that closely resemble the original state (Bullock 1998;Box 2003). This technique is effective but more expensive (Kirmer et al 2009;Török et al 2011) than topsoil spreading which demand less technique and time.…”

Naturally recruited herbaceous vegetation in abandoned Belgian limestone quarries: towards habitats of conservation interest analogues?

“…On abandoned sites where plant assemblages tend to naturally succeed toward mesophilous calcareous grassland, active intervention could be directed to promote species assemblages analogous to species-rich temperate grasslands, which have a particular high conservation value (WallisDeVries et al 2002). Restorations will need to overcome dispersal limitations (i) by integrating the restoration sites into local grazing systems, including semi-natural references habitats (Pykälä 2005), (ii) by directly planting (sowing seeds) species of interest at restoration sites (Hedberg and Kotowski 2010), (iii) or by transferring grassland hay (with intact seeds) to the restoration sites (Török et al 2011).…”

Step(pe) up! Raising the profile of the Palaearctic natural grasslands

“…Grasslands host significant levels of biodiversity in human-mediated landscapes (Gibson 2009). Therefore, conservation and restoration of grassland biodiversity, especially in agricultural landscapes, have been identified as priorities Török et al 2011). The proportion of protected areas is higher than 10 % in the Palaearctic steppes, but varies largely across regions .…”