Patch and landscape factors affecting the naturalness-based quality of three model grassland habitats in Hungary

Abstract

Effective conservation of (semi-)natural grasslands requires an understanding of the factors affecting naturalness (i.e. the actual quality of a habitat or vegetation patch) and the importance of the particular factors. Both local or patch and landscape or matrix variables affect habitat quality, and the proportions of the effects need to be identified. Therefore, we performed a hypothesis generating and testing analysis with generalised linear models on three typical grassland habitat types (forest steppe meadows, Artemisia alkali steppes, and lowland wet meadows), differing in their fragmentation, ecology and history, and representing characteristic types of grassland habitats with the use of the national database of the vegetation of Hungary (MÉTA). Our results, in general, show that naturalness depends upon both intra-habitat and matrix attributes: presence or proportion of other habitat types in the surrounding landscape, threatening factors and landscape ecological attributes. Higher number of habitat types and higher proportions of (semi-)natural habitats in the landscape have significant effects: presence of other grassland types similar in ecological demands to the model habitat positively affect the naturalness, while non-characteristic, secondary or disturbed habitats and invasive alien species have negative effects. However, there are clear differences among the three habitat types, indicating that for effective conservation, good knowledge of conserved habitat types is essential. Landscape or matrix factors, both compositional and structural, affecting habitat patch quality have significant effects that cannot be overlooked. In the case of fragmented grasslands, matrix factors might be even more important than patch or local factors.

Wet Grasslands as a Green Infrastructure for Ecological Sustainability: Wader Conservation in Southern Sweden as a Case Study

“…Grazing and traditional hay making on wet grasslands thus expanded, resulting in a cultural landscape favoring waders [31,32]. However, more recently, wet grasslands have been severely reduced [33,34] through a range of human-induced factors including intensification of agriculture [35,36], hydrological changes [33], eutrophication [30,37], land abandonment [38], forest expansion [39,40], urbanization [41], climate change [42] and land management shifts [43,44]. These factors have resulted in land cover changes that has directly and indirectly influenced species' habitats as well as population structure of species assemblages [34,45,46].…”

“…Fragmentation and loss of habitat negatively affects wader breeding in both natural and anthropogenic wetlands in Western Europe [42,[47][48][49]. In contrast, in landscapes where land management practices have remained traditional, less intensive and less intrusive, wet grassland ecosystems as cultural landscapes are more intact [32,38].…”

Effect of experimental top soil removal on vegetation of Pannonian salt steppes

“…It was recognized as the floristically richest saline habitat in Slovakia until the 1980s [40], with different patches of halophytic vegetation such as large salt flats covered with the most salt demanding plant community Camphorosmetum annuae and alkali shortgrass steppes with Artemisio-Festucetum pseudovinae creating smaller mosaics with wet salt meadows like Scorzonero parviflorae-Juncetum gerardii. The micro-topography was typically developed, which had an effect on the diversity of the vegetation mosaic, responding to even the slightest changes in the soil parameters [12,41].…”

“…The salinity gradient is crucial for the differentiation of halophytic vegetation in the Pannonian [41,52] and in other Central European saline habitats [13]. It plays a limiting role for the successful application of top soil removal as a restoration measure for saline habitats on large scale.…”

Conservation of disappearing cultural landscape’s biodiversity: are people in Belarus willing to pay for wet grassland restoration?

“…Continued habitat loss remains a significant threat for the species' survival. However, in landscapes where traditional land management is still practiced, wet meadows and fen ecosystems are better maintained (Thorup 1998;Illyés et al 2008). Regions located in the periphery of economic development, i.e.…”