Land‐use history exerts long‐term effects on the clear‐cut flora in boreonemoral Sweden

Abstract

Questions: Can signs of 19th century grassland management, which can be observed in the flora immediately (2-4 yrs) after clear-cutting in boreonemoral Sweden, still remain 4 yrs later? Do the effects from the time since clear-cutting differ between forest and grassland plant species?Location: Province of € Osterg€ otland, southern Sweden.Methods: Twelve contemporary clear-cut areas that were once meadows and 12 that were once forests were selected using land-use maps from the 1870s. Grasses and herbaceous plants were surveyed twice, once in 2009 and once in 2013 (2-4 and 6-8 yrs after clear-cutting, respectively). Plant presence was recorded within 100 circular sample plots (radius 1 m) placed evenly throughout each respective clear-cut area along transects spaced 25-m apart. The number of sample plots in which a species was present was taken as a measure of that species' frequency. Random effects meta-analysis, odds ratios and ANCOVA were used to analyse species responses to clear-cutting over time.Results: A total of 170 plant species were found in the study, of which 33 were classified as grassland indicator species and 31 as plants primarily confined to forests. Clear-cut areas with a history as meadowland had, on average, up to 64% higher total species richness and 110% more grassland indicator species than did clear-cut areas with a history as forest. The time since clear-cutting had no effect on total species richness. However, the odds of finding a grassland indicator species decreased with the time since clear-cutting, whereas the odds of finding a forest species increased. Conclusions:We concluded that land-use history plays an important role in explaining the flora found in Swedish clear-cuts, and that its effects on species richness remain for a minimum of 8 yrs after harvest (conservative estimate). This phenomenon highlights the importance of acknowledging land-use legacies in ecological research and conservation. Future studies should investigate various options for the promotion of grassland plants in clear-cuts with a history of grassland management while also acknowledging the potential conflicts between conservation and production. The results may pertain to other countries with similar land-use histories.

Interactive effects of past land use and recent forest management on the understorey community in temperate oak forests in South Sweden

“…Across both land-use intensities, the intensively managed plots have become more similar over time, while this was not the case for the group of less intensively managed plots, where communities on former infield and outland were still very distinct from each other in 2014. These findings contrast with those of Jonason, Bergman, Westerberg, and Milberg (2016), who observed that clear-cutting sustained legacies from former use as meadowland. However, they observed only small differences in soil nutrients between land-use types (i.e., forest history vs. meadow history), while soil nutrient content was an important driver behind land-use legacies (resulting from infield vs. outland use) in our study.…”

What is biological cultural heritage and why should we care about it? An example from Swedish rural landscapes and forests

“…In grassland systems, time lags in the order of a century have been documented Eriksson 2004, Helm et al 2006) and legacies of previous grassland management in what is currently forest and maintained over a century, have been documented (Herben et al 2006, Johansson et al 2011). These legacies may also remain after one forest-cycle of clear-cutting (Jonason et al 2016). Very few similar studies have been conducted in forest systems and focusing on what is regarded as forest species, perhaps due to a preconceived notion that such legacies are not expected when research is conducted in forests.…”

Butterflies in Swedish grasslands benefit from forest and respond to landscape composition at different spatial scales

“…It is worth noting that the positive value of forest on butterflies may not be persistent over time. Jonason et al (2014Jonason et al ( , 2016 showed that plant species richness in clear-cuts was related to historical land use in the 1800 s and the introduction of modern forest management practices will create more uniform, evenaged, dense and dark stands hostile to grassland plants (Niklasson and Granström 2000;Axelsson and Ö stlund 2001;Bergstedt et al 2017). Hence, we expect that future forests will contain fewer open areas, and clear-cuts will become less rich in plants useful for butterflies.…”