Landscape and habitat filters jointly drive richness and abundance of specialist plants in terrestrial habitat islands

Deák, Balázs; Valkó, Orsolya; Török, Péter; Kelemen, András; Bede, Ádám; Csathó, András István; Tóthmérész, Béla

doi:10.1007/s10980-018-0660-x

Cited by 40 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Therefore, in severely degraded areas we cannot rely on spontaneous grassland recovery solely from the seed bank (Klaus et al 2018). This propagule limitation can be aggravated by the lack of seed rain of target grassland species due to their low dispersal ability and the lack of source populations in intensively used landscapes (Buisson et al 2006;Novák & Konvička 2006;Deák et al 2018). Besides propagule limitation, favorable niches for the establishment of grassland species are also limited in perennial-dominated, dense grassland swards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishment gaps in species-poor grasslands: artificial biodiversity hotspots to support the colonization of target species

Kiss

Deák

Tóthmérész³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Sowing of grass seed mixtures is a feasible and cost-effective method for landscape-scale grassland restoration. However, sowing only grasses usually leads to species-poor and dense grass sward, where the establishment of target forbs is hampered both by microsite and propagule limitation. To overcome these limitations and increase the diversity of species-poor sown grasslands we developed a novel method by creating 'establishment gaps'. We used tillage to open gaps of 1 m 2 , 4 m 2 and 16 m 2 size in the dense grass sward of six species-poor sown grasslands in the Great Hungarian Plain. We sowed high-diversity seed mixtures of 35 native species into all gaps. We analyzed vegetation development during the first five years after setting up the trial. We also studied the colonization dynamics of the sown species along four 20-m transects around each gap, resulting in a total of 1440 plots of 1 m 2 size that were studied. Our results indicated that most of the sown species were able to establish permanently in the establishment gaps. The total cover and the cover of perennial sown species increased independently of gap size. Meanwhile the cover of short-lived sown species 2 decreased during the five years. There was only a moderate level of weed abundance in the gaps, and weed cover decreased over the years. The sown target species started to colonize the species-poor grasslands surrounding the establishment gaps within five years. The highest number of species and individuals dispersed from the 4 m 2 -sized gaps, as they had a more stable development than small gaps and were exposed to lower grazing pressure than large ones. Implications for practice Establishment gaps are widely applicable tools to increase the diversity of speciespoor grasslands. Gaps of 4 m 2 represent a more feasible solution compared to larger openings also for the farmers, because there is only a moderate level of weed encroachment and smaller soil disturbance occurs during their creation.  We recommend sowing high-diversity seed mixtures containing both short-lived species that can establish in the first year and perennial species, which guarantee a high cover of target species later on.  Gaps sown with high-diversity seed mixture are highly resistant to unfavorable climatic conditions: increasing grass abundance in dry years does not hamper the recovery of target grassland species in the following years.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishment gaps in species-poor grasslands: artificial biodiversity hotspots to support the colonization of target species

Kiss

Deák

Tóthmérész³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Ecologically rare species are predicted to be more vulnerable to environmental change and extinction risk with shifts in climate (Caughley, 1994;McKinney, 1997;Davies et al, 2004). Species are rare because they may inhabit narrow geographic ranges (Solórzano et al, 2016), occupy few specific habitats (Deák et al, 2018), and/or exhibit low abundance in nature (Rabinowitz, 1981). There are obvious consequences to having low population densities, including difficulties finding a mate (Stephens and Sutherland, 1999) and vulnerability to genetic drift (Ellstrand and Elam, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fallen Pillars: The Past, Present, and Future Population Dynamics of a Rare, Specialist Coral–Algal Symbiosis

et al. 2019

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“…However, due to the agricultural intensification and expansion of urban areas and the associated infrastructure, the formerly existing continuous grasslands have been fragmented in many regions due to the agricultural intensification and expansion of urban areas and the associated infrastructure (Biró et al 2018, Elias et al 2018, Sopotlieva et al 2018, Szabó & Ruprecht 2018. In transformed landscapeslocated in the regions in the western part of the steppe and forest steppe biomes -fragments of steppic grasslands are present in small habitat islands harbouring the remnants of the former vegetation (Deák et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This high biodiversity conservation potential is really impressing, and if we take into account that 72 of the 721 species were regionally red listed ones (such as Astragalus borysthenicus, A. dasyanthus, A. pallescens, Cerastium ucrainicum, Crocus reticulatus, Dianthus lanceolatus, Elytrigia stipifolia, Galium volhynicum and Phlomis hybrida) the conservation potential of the kurgans becomes even more emphasised. In their survey on 168 kurgans in Hungary Deák et al (2016aDeák et al ( , 2018 found 469 species of which there were altogether 73 regionally rare and/or protected grassland species typical to alkali and loess steppes (Anchusa barrelieri, Aster sedifolius, Carduus hamulosus, Chamaecytisus rochelii, Inula germanica, Phlomis tuberosa and Ranunculus illyricus).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eurasian Kurgan Database – a citizen science tool for conserving grasslands on historical sites

Deák¹,

Tóth

Bede

et al. 2019

Hacquetia

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Eurasian steppes have an essential role in conserving biodiversity, but due to the huge habitat loss in the past centuries they are often preserved only in small refuges. Among such refuges are the ancient steppic burial mounds (the so called ‘kurgans’) which have a high cultural and historical importance and are also essential sites of nature conservation. Despite their high number (approximately half million) and conservational importance there is a huge lack of knowledge on the locality and conservational state of the kurgans in most regions of Eurasia. To fill this knowledge gap, we built a public database which allows to record and query basic information on their cultural values and factors (such as land cover type, threatening factors, cover of woody species) that might serve as a basis for their effective conservation. The database provides a transparent, public and easy-to-use source for conservation managers and landscape planners focussed on grassland conservation. In addition, it also provides background information for other associate disciplines and public agencies dealing with the protection of cultural heritage.

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Landscape and habitat filters jointly drive richness and abundance of specialist plants in terrestrial habitat islands

Cited by 40 publications

References 40 publications

Establishment gaps in species-poor grasslands: artificial biodiversity hotspots to support the colonization of target species

Establishment gaps in species-poor grasslands: artificial biodiversity hotspots to support the colonization of target species

Fallen Pillars: The Past, Present, and Future Population Dynamics of a Rare, Specialist Coral–Algal Symbiosis

Eurasian Kurgan Database – a citizen science tool for conserving grasslands on historical sites

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