Influence of Fertilizers on the Biodiversity of Semi-natural Grassland in the Eastern Carpathians

Abstract

This investigation examines the influence of fertilization with organic and mineral fertilizers on the biodiversity of grasslands containing Festuca rubra, Agrostis capillaris and Nardus stricta. Permanent meadows were studied in terms of production of food, and of biodiversity. The current strategy of using organic fertilizers has raised concerns about resource conservation and environmental protection. The increase in the number of species is due to the fertilizers that have been applied leading to changes in the soil fertility status. This change in soil fertility has allowed other mesotrophic and eutrophic species to become established in fertilized meadows. In Romania, meadows belonging to this category occupy an area of approximately 1,600,000 hectares and have relatively low production rates. The experiment was located at Pojorata, Suceava County (Romania), in two different natural grasslands that had different floristic compositions. Manure improved the growth of a number of species, especially in the "plants from other botanical families" category, because of the pool of seeds that it contains. Using a management system based on fertilization with small amounts of organic and mineral fertilizers can help preserve the biodiversity of these meadows. The results of this study, in an area considered representative for large parts of the mountainous areas of Romania, indicated that fertilization treatments were able to maintain a high species diversity.

Preliminary Study of the Effect of Chemical and Organic Fertilizers on a Semi-Natural Grassland in Vlăhiţa, Harghita Mountains, Romania

“…The diversity index (Shannon) was higher in the fertilized plots (2.575-chemical fertilizer, 2.642-diluted fertilizer type I, 2.752-diluted fertilizer type II, and 2.637-organic fertilizer) than in the control plot (1.825). This result is in accordance with other studies that report the increase in species richness by the utilization of organic fertilizer (Tong et al, 2019) or different type of fertilizers (mineral nitrogen or manure) (Samuil et al, 2013). However mineral fertilizers are responsible for long-term nitrogen deposition and can decrease biodiversity (Stevens et al 2004;Pallett et al, 2016).…”

“…In a similar study with grassland edified by Agrostis capillaris and Festuca rubra it was found that manure improved mainly the growth of plants from other botanical families and no or less influence on the functional groups was observed. Manure had the highest positive effect on biodiversity by changing the soil nutrient composition and also by introducing new species that were present in the applied fertilizer (Samuil, 2013).…”

Above and Below Ground Biomass and Carbon Stock in Permanent Grasslands of Slovakia

“…It is important to underline that the highest number of species (55) is present in the site KE where the soil is a cambisol with limestones and dolomites geological substrate (Poschlod & Wallis De Vries 2002;Dengler et al 2014). To contrary permanent grasslands used for intensive ruminant husbandry have usually been improved by overseeding productive grass/clover mixtures and/ or high mineral fertilisation resulted very often in decreasing of plant diversity while moderate fertilisation may preserve biodiversity even with economic benefits (Plantereux et al 2005;Jaurema et al 2016;Bryan 1985;Willems et al 1996;Kizekova et al 2017;Samuil et al 2013). Differences in the number of plant species in semi-natural grasslands in TA and LT1 sites may be attributed to different grassland management.…”

Features of Natural Succession of Ex-Arable Forest Steppe Grassland (from Western Romania) under the Influence of Climate

“…The vegetation surveys were conducted with the linear point quadrate method described by Daget-Poissonet [ 87 ]. The considered vegetation features in the present research were the following: floristic composition (grasses, legumes and forbs considered as species number and specific contribution—CS%) [ 3 , 39 , 47 , 48 , 77 , 88 ], biodiversity (as species richness—S, Shannon index—H′ [ 3 , 89 , 90 ] and Simpson index (D) [ 3 , 48 , 91 ]) and pastoral value—VP (0–100 scale) [ 3 , 53 , 87 , 92 ]. The pastoral value characterizes the relative forager value of the grassland sward based on the specific contribution in the grassland cover of the species with the forager value expressed as the Specific Forage Quality Index (SFQi) [ 78 , 87 ].…”