Grazing as a measure against grass encroachment in Dutch dry dune grassland: effects on vegetation and soil

The higher availability of N and P in lime‐poor than in lime‐rich coastal dunes in the Netherlands

“…Living biomass, standing dead matter and light availability were measured inside and outside exclosures throughout the year, but only biomass in the open vegetation in Zeeduinen showed a difference due to exclosure (rabbit browsing). Rabbit activity in Zwanenwater was low, particularly in grass‐dominated vegetation, and the remnants of open vegetation (Kooijman & de Haan 1995) were usually small. Therefore four randomly selected unprotected sites were sampled in each vegetation type.…”

Potential Approaches to Developing Lichen-Based Critical Loads and Levels for Nitrogen, Sulfur and Metal-Containing Atmospheric Pollutants in North America

“…However, tall grasses have increased in many Dutch dry dune grasslands over recent decades, a period with higher nitrogen loading (20-30 kg N ha -1 yr -1 ). In the primarily non-calcareous dunes, Ammophila arenaria is now the dominant species, whereas in more calcareous areas Calamagrostis epigejos, Elymus repens and Elymus athericus dominate (Kooijman and De Haan, 1995). Because of reduced light penetration through the tall grass canopies formed by these species, the development of several prostrate species has been reduced and management is necessary to maintain its diversity.…”

Coastal Dunes

“…Elytrichia atherica, Calamagrostis epigejos, Ammophila arenaria, Schizachyrium scoparium) (Kooijman and Haan 1995;Martínez et al 2001) spread on dune areas, leading to the dominance of a few tall grass species over formerly species-rich communities. Elytrichia atherica, Calamagrostis epigejos, Ammophila arenaria, Schizachyrium scoparium) (Kooijman and Haan 1995;Martínez et al 2001) spread on dune areas, leading to the dominance of a few tall grass species over formerly species-rich communities.…”

“…In the lime-rich Renodunaal district three main soil types can be distinguished: (1) calcareous soils with high pH, (2) soils in which the topsoil has become decalcified, but part of the root zone is still calcareous and (3) Fig. Data from Kooijman and de Haan (1995) decalcified to more than 1 m depth which have become acid. The decrease in species-rich dune grassland from 1986 to 1992 in a 50 ha ungrazed part of the Zwanenwater area, Wadden district.…”

“…15.1). Detailed methods and results are given in Kooijman and de Haan (1995), van der Meulen et al (1996), Veer (1997, Veer and Kooijman (1997), Kooijman et al (1998Kooijman et al ( , 2000 and This was attributed, similar to other Dutch ecosystems (Aerts 1989;Bobbink 1989), to increased atmospheric deposition, which may amount to 30 kg N/ha annually (Dopheide and Verstraten 1995).…”