Management of semi-natural grasslands benefiting both plant and insect diversity: The importance of heterogeneity and tradition

Bonari, Gianmaria; Fajmon, Karel; Malenovský, Igor; Zelený, David; Holuša, Jaroslav; Jongepierová, Ivana; Kočárek, Petr; Konvička, Ondřej; Uřičář, Jan; Chytrý, Milan

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2017.06.010

Cited by 103 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 88 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition to a large ancient species pool and specific edaphic conditions, local continuity in mowing or moderate grazing is an essential prerequisite for forming and maintaining high species richness. Across regions, the most fine-scale species-rich grasslands occur at sites managed by mowing once a year in most cases (Kull & Zobel 1991, Aavik et al 2008, Roleček et al 2014, Turtureanu et al 2014; but see Roleček et al 2019) and this is the case also in the White Carpathians (Jongepierová 2008, Bonari et al 2017). Although the general history of hay grasslands goes back to the Iron Age (Poschlod et al 2009, Hejcman et al 2013, the area of hay grasslands in the White Carpathians expanded as late as in the 17th century (Hájková et al 2018) and was preceded by burning or moderate grazing that probably had similar effects (Hájková et al 2018, Novák et al 2019).…”

Section: Role Of Prehistoric Human Activities In Determining the Currmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the landscape scale, large areas of grassland, presence of solitary trees and shrubs, and high heterogeneity in land cover are considered to be the factors that support high species diversity in grasslands (Helm et al 2006, Öster et al 2007, Michalcová et al 2014. The local conditions then include intermediate position along environmental gradients, resulting in the overlapping of the niches of many species (Löbel et al 2006, Merunková et al 2012, Dvořáková et al 2014, Reitalu et al 2014, and regular management that lowers competition and maintains the diversity (Hansson & Fogelfors 2000, Klimeš et al 2000, Aavik et al 2008, Jongepierová 2008, Bonari et al 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sillinger 1929, Podpěra 1930, 1951, Martinovský 1967, Tlusták 1975, Klimeš 1997) so we have detailed information on the species composition of these grasslands (Jongepierová 2008). The research carried out over the last 10 years focused on the determinants that may underlie the extremely high species richness of the most valuable semi-dry grasslands (Jongepierová 2008, Hájková et al 2011, Merunková et al 2012, Dvořáková et al 2014, Michalcová et al 2014, Bonari et al 2017. The importance of such a research is not only regional, because compositionally similar extremely species-rich grasslands also occur at other sites in eastern central Europe where landscape configuration and history is analogous to that in the White Carpathians , Roleček et al 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Soil moisture and a legacy of prehistoric human activities have contributed to the extraordinary plant species diversity of grasslands in the White Carpathians

Fajmonová¹,

Hájková²,

Hájek³

2020

Preslia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil moisture and a legacy of prehistoric human activities have contributed to the extraordinary plant species diversity of grasslands in the White Carpathians. -Preslia 92: The factors that determine the unique species richness and composition of some temperate grasslands are poorly known. Uniqueness of the extraordinarily species-rich grasslands in the White Carpathian mountain range (Czech Republic, Slovakia), with many disjunct occurrences of species, have been previously attributed to intermittently wet deep soils, which facilitate the co-occurrence of steppe and wet-grassland species, and Holocene continuity of open land, resulted in large species pools. Based on a detailed investigation of 23 well-preserved regularly mown grasslands differing in their vegetation composition and species richness, we tested the relative importance of the hypothetical determinants of compositional variability within semi-dry grasslands. For the first time we included measurements of seasonal moisture at different soil depths and landscape differences in the intensity of the effect of prehistoric humans. Soil moisture was measured using the frequencydomain reflectometry based Profile Probe PR2 sensor at depths of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60 cm in the soil, repeatedly every four weeks from April to November. Soil samples were taken from the same depths in order to determine soil basicity and nutrient content. As a proxy of the intensity of the effect of prehistoric human activities, mean distances between sampled localities and the five nearest Neolithic or Aeneolithic settlements were used. The species richness was best explained by mean soil moisture, which increased towards the most species-rich grasslands, whereas the distance from prehistoric settlements had no effect. Basicity, moisture and the distance from prehistoric settlements had significant conditional effects on species composition. There was a high frequency of species of intermittently wet soils, thermophilous oak forests and forest fringes in the most valuable grasslands, which are located mostly in the south-western part of the area where the soils were moister and closer to prehistoric settlements, but the seasonal variation in moisture was not high. We conclude that coexistence of species from different habitats is dependent on regular management and high soil moisture throughout the growing season. Due to intermediate moisture conditions that are tolerated by multiple ecological groups of species, many species may locally coexist and form a species-rich grassland community of unique species composition. In addition, prehistoric human activities contributed to landscape openness and helped maintain a forest-steppe species pool during the Holocene forest optimum. Our results indicate that although this historical determinant shapes predominantly the species composition pattern, the extraordinarily species-rich spots are determined rather by abiotic factors, such as intermediate moisture and biotic interactions resulting from the type and duration of management pra...

show abstract

Section: Role Of Prehistoric Human Activities In Determining the Currmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Soil moisture and a legacy of prehistoric human activities have contributed to the extraordinary plant species diversity of grasslands in the White Carpathians

Fajmonová¹,

Hájková²,

Hájek³

2020

Preslia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Semi-natural grasslands are important habitats for biodiversity conservation in European agricultural landscapes (Duelli and Obrist 2003;Tscharntke et al 2005;Bonari et al 2017). For centuries, these habitats have been used primarily for animal husbandry; however, this function has recently become less important due to decreasing livestock production (Mac-Donald et al 2000;Poschlod et al 2005;Wehn et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity loss in grasslands due to the increasing dominance of alien and native competitive herbs

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The increasing dominance of competitive plant species may reduce species richness of plant communities. Yet, species richness may depend on spatial scale and the alien versus native status of the dominant species. To explore the dominance effects of alien versus native species on species richness, we sampled semi-natural grasslands in southwestern Poland. We established 100 m 2 squares at different grassland sites, and in two opposite corners we placed two series of five nested plots (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10 m 2), in which we recorded all vascular plant species. Next, we selected squares with a strongly dominant plant in one corner (high-dominance series) and with no strong dominant in the opposite corner (low-dominance series). The number of species per plot and the slopes of the species-area curves fitted to each nested-plot series were used to assess whether the alien vs. native status of the dominant species influences species-richness pattern across scales. We found a significantly lower number of species in the high-dominance series than in the low-dominance series, regardless of the alien versus native status of the dominant species. The slopes of the species-area curves indicated that the rate of species accumulation with increasing area was faster in the high-dominance series than in the low-dominance series; however, this pattern did not depend on the alien vs. native status of the dominants. Our study confirms that increasing dominance is linked to a decline in species richness, but reveals that alien dominants do not have a stronger impact than native dominants.

show abstract

“…Many studies have shown the importance of management type and intensity in maintaining or modifying plant species richness and composition in grasslands (e.g Marini, Scotton, Klimek, Isselstein, & Pecile, ; Marini, Scotton, Klimek, & Pecile, ; Catorci, Cesaretti, Malatesta, & Tardella, ; Bonari et al., ; Rodríguez‐Rojo et al., ). On the other hand, other variables influence floristic composition, biodiversity and agronomic value of hay meadows: soil characteristics (Angiolini, Riccucci, & De Dominicis, ; Marini et al., ), topography‐related environmental factors (Bennie, Hill, Baxter, & Huntley, ; Gusmeroli et al., ), climatic (Herben, Krahulec, Hadincová, Pecháčková, & Wildová, ) and spatial factors (Di Giulio, Edwards, & Meister, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environment or management? Relative importance for floristic composition of sub‐Mediterranean hay meadows in Central Italy

Giallonardo

Angiolini

Ciaschetti

et al. 2019

Applied Vegetation Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Questions:What are the separate and combined effects of natural and management factors on floristic assemblage in sub-Mediterranean hay meadows? How are hay meadow dynamics affected by the environment excluding management?Location: Central Apennines, Italy.Methods: Vegetation was studied in 66 hay meadows by random plots, recording four groups of explanatory variables: management, soil, topography, and space. Using partial ordinations, the explanatory variables of the variation in floristic composition and plant traits were divided into sets. Then, to emphasize the relationship between purely environmental variables and vegetation, we considered only the partial ordination executed with soil and topographic variables using management and spatial data as covariables. Results:The soil variables had the highest marginal explanatory power. Organic matter was the main driver of floristic composition, indicating a gradient associated also with soil moisture. The pure effect of spatial variables was very important, reflecting historical processes. On the contrary, management and topography variables sets were relatively weak predictors. Partial ordination showed that two topographic variables, slope and height above the plain, had an important weight in the hay meadow floristic assemblage, influencing soil fertility. Conclusions: This analysis (a) confirms the determining function of soil fertility and moisture in driving plant species composition and traits; (b) focuses on the marginal power of current management when past traditional agro-pastoral activity undergoes changes in mode and intensity; (c) highlights the role of spatial variables and site history; and (d) improves knowledge about topographical factors as drivers of species composition. The maintenance of hay meadow mosaics requires preservation of grasslands in complete topographical catenae and prevention of the abandonment of parcels on steep slopes. Considering the spatial variability of the studied communities, it is necessary to include a high number of geographically and ecologically different areas in a conservation network.

show abstract

Management of semi-natural grasslands benefiting both plant and insect diversity: The importance of heterogeneity and tradition

Cited by 103 publications

References 88 publications

Soil moisture and a legacy of prehistoric human activities have contributed to the extraordinary plant species diversity of grasslands in the White Carpathians

Soil moisture and a legacy of prehistoric human activities have contributed to the extraordinary plant species diversity of grasslands in the White Carpathians

Diversity loss in grasslands due to the increasing dominance of alien and native competitive herbs

Environment or management? Relative importance for floristic composition of sub‐Mediterranean hay meadows in Central Italy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About