Plant species loss due to forest succession in Alpine pastures depends on site conditions and observation scale

Pornaro, Cristina; Schneider, Manuel K.; Macolino, Stefano

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.02.019

Cited by 39 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…As recently demonstrated by Homburger et al (2015), stocking rate alone is not sufficient to understand local grazing pressure. Anthelme et al 2001;Kesting 2009;Pornaro et al 2013;Koch et al 2015). Results of the vegetation analysis agreed well with releves of 100 m 2 plots randomly distributed across the study site at a continuous range of R. ferrugineum cover (Pornaro 2012).…”

Section: Shrub Cover Reduces Species Richness and Heterogeneitysupporting

confidence: 56%

“…The portion and distribution of grassland and shrub patches primarily depend on management factors such as the intensity of grazing by domestic animals. Grazing intensity has been reduced in many areas of the Southern Alps and caused the expansion of dwarf shrub communities (Pornaro et al 2013). As reported by the Trento Regional Rural Development Programme (2014-2020), 67% of the regional territory were covered by forest in 2005 (407.531 ha), and the area of forest expanded by 18% on former open grassland in marginal areas in the past 50 years.…”

Section: Description Of Study Sitementioning

confidence: 91%

“…The reduction of traditional management or the complete abandonment of pastoralism in areas below the treeline results in the expansion of woody plants, especially in inaccessible and steep areas (Tasser & Tappeiner 2002;Galvánek & Janák 2008). In many cases, such homogeneous shrub or forest vegetation is much less biodiverse than grassland vegetation or mosaics of both (MacDonald et al 2000;Pornaro et al 2013;Koch et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Above- and belowground patterns in a subalpine grassland-shrub mosaic

Pornaro

Schneider

Leinauer

et al. 2016

Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all As

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Many mountain pastures consist of a mosaic of grassland and shrub communities. Ongoing changes in mountain agriculture have affected the balance between the two elements of the mosaic. In order to understand the consequences of these changes for ecosystem functioning, we studied patterns in vegetation, root structure and soil properties along transects of varying grassland-to-shrub proportions. Our hypothesis was that differences in the vegetation aboveground are accompanied by differences belowground, related to soil properties and depth. The research was conducted at a subalpine site in the Trentino region (South-eastern Alps), consisting of Nardus stricta grasslands alternating with shrub patches of Rhododendron ferrugineum. Our investigation showed that the composition of vegetation was mainly governed by R. ferrugineum cover and less by soil properties. Plant species richness peaked at low to intermediate degrees of shrub cover and composition between transects became more similar with increasing shrub cover. Where R. ferrugineum cover was higher, Hemicryptophytes caespitosae were replaced by Nano-phanerophytes with consequences for belowground structures. At increasing shrub cover, root length density decreased, especially in the top soil, while root weight density remained stable and C content increased insignificantly. We discuss that theses structural changes along the gradient of R. ferrugineum cover affect a number of ecosystem services. The presented evidence suggests that maintaining grasslands with a low cover of R. ferrugineum balances a number of services, namely plant species diversity, carbon stabilization in soil and the prevention of soil erosion.

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Section: Shrub Cover Reduces Species Richness and Heterogeneitysupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Description Of Study Sitementioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Above- and belowground patterns in a subalpine grassland-shrub mosaic

Pornaro

Schneider

Leinauer

et al. 2016

Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all As

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“…Abandonment of marginal grassland has occurred in most European mountain regions over the last decades (e.g. Pornaro et al 2013). In Switzerland, regional policy and the financial support to agriculture through agrienvironmental schemes have slowed this trend and contributed to maintaining traditional farming practices (Kampmann et al 2012).…”

Section: Major Agronomic and Ecological Challenges Abandonment Intenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Swiss alpine summer farming: current status and future development under climate change

Herzog

Seidl

2018

Rangel. J.

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Abstract. High altitude grazing is widespread around the globe and also has a long tradition in European mountain regions. One-third of the Swiss farmland consists of summer pastures: seasonally used marginal pastures without permanent settlements, which extend between the grasslands and forests of permanent mountain settlements and unproductive mountain tops. Farmers' main motivations for using those pastures have been and still are forage provision and health benefits for grazing animals, benefits for labour distribution between home farm and summer farm, and cultural ecosystem services such as the maintenance of a tradition and the associated lifestyle. Yet, remote pastures are being abandoned and are prone to reforestation, while more productive and accessible pastures are intensified. Those processes are related to changes in management practices, to scarcity of labour and -to a lesser extent -to climate change. We summarise the agronomic and ecological status of Swiss summer pastures, in particular with respect to livestock keeping, biodiversity and climate change, and speculate on future trends of summer farming.

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“…Reduction of livestock grazing has led to reforestation of many pastures at high altitudes (Freléchoux et al 2007;Janišová et al 2007;Tasser et al 2007;Lingua et al 2008;Pornaro et al 2013) as well as meadows at a wide range of altitudes (Blažková 1988(Blažková , 1991(Blažková , 2003. Still, non-forest areas do not often off er favourable conditions for seedlings of woody plants, because seedlings have to cope with intense competition of herbs (Prach et al 1996;Castro et al 2002;Gömöry 2006;Vandenberghe et al 2006;Doviak et al 2008) or with a thick layer of undecomposed litter (Prach et al 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest succession after a major anthropogenic disturbance: a case study of the Jewish Forest in the Bohemian Forest, Czech Republic

Bednařík¹,

Čada²,

Matějka³

2014

J. For. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:The knowledge of forest development after disturbances, particularly anthropogenic disturbances, is of major importance for forest management. Many areas of mountain forests in Europe have been affected by human activities such as felling and livestock grazing in the past and then left for natural succession. Those forests provide several ecosystem services (e.g. soil or avalanche protection) and therefore it is vital to know their developmental processes. The Norway spruce forest stand in the area of Medvědí Mt. (Šumava National Park, Czech Republic), known as the Jewish Forest, is considered an example of succession after anthropogenic disturbances. This study aimed to: (1) analyse the history of disturbances which affected the locality, (2) describe the subsequent process of forest succession which led to the development of the present forest formation. We conducted a dendrochronological analysis and a spatial analysis. The main cohort was established after a period of disturbances in the first half of the 20 th century. Both natural (windstorm) and anthropogenic (logging and livestock grazing) disturbances coincided during this period. Regeneration of low density was restricted to a short period after the disturbance and was likely dependent on the occurrence of proper microsites. Later, regeneration was probably obstructed by lack of convenient microsites and high competition of the herb layer. Nowadays, new regeneration emerges together with proper microsite at decaying wood and near mature trees. We conclude that anthropogenic disturbances can limit the density and heterogeneity of regeneration, which leads to the establishment of sparse stand. This structure can persist for decades before proper microsites accumulate and enable regeneration.

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Plant species loss due to forest succession in Alpine pastures depends on site conditions and observation scale

Cited by 39 publications

References 24 publications

Above- and belowground patterns in a subalpine grassland-shrub mosaic

Above- and belowground patterns in a subalpine grassland-shrub mosaic

Swiss alpine summer farming: current status and future development under climate change

Forest succession after a major anthropogenic disturbance: a case study of the Jewish Forest in the Bohemian Forest, Czech Republic

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