Post‐restoration grassland management overrides the effects of restoration methods in propagule‐rich landscapes

Tölgyesi, Csaba; Vadász, Csaba; Kun, Róbert; Csathó, András István; Bátori, Zoltán; Hábenczyus, Alida Anna; Erdős, László; Török, Péter

doi:10.1002/eap.2463

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…reduce the accumulation of above-ground biomass and litter, and can facilitate the establishment of specialist target species (see also Tölgyesi et al, 2022). Thus, we conclude that passive recovery is a promising choice in areas with high availability of target species propagules when no rapid results are expected.…”

Section: Con Clus Ionsmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Spontaneous succession on former arable fields can lead to restoration of the original steppe ecosystem, but probably only if there is preserved habitat in the surroundings (as a source of diaspores; Albert et al., 2014; see also Molnar & Botta‐Dukat, 1998), low risk of invasion by ecosystem engineering neophytes (Wilson, 1989) and if some sporadic disturbances (like fires and mowing in this study) reduce the accumulation of above‐ground biomass and litter, and can facilitate the establishment of specialist target species (see also Tölgyesi et al., 2022). Thus, we conclude that passive recovery is a promising choice in areas with high availability of target species propagules when no rapid results are expected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…The agricultural transformation of steppes also leads to significant changes in ecosystem functioning and to the decline of supportive and regulating ecosystem services due to altered soil structure and soil chemical properties, including a decrease in soil organic matter content (Cotton & Acosta‐Martínez, 2018; Rolinski et al., 2021). Cessation or a substantial reduction of human impact may facilitate the renewal of natural ecosystem processes in the steppes and lead to the natural recovery of target plant communities, but only if the surrounding species pool is sufficiently large, sources of diaspores are constantly available, the risk of invasion by neophytes is low and habitat conditions allow for the establishment of target species (Tölgyesi et al., 2022). However, the development and maintenance of plant species diversity may be hindered by the absence of wild or domestic ungulates or the lack of natural wildfires in the highly fragmented steppes of Europe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapid functional but slow species diversity recovery of steppe vegetation on former arable fields in southern Ukraine

Dembicz,

Zachwatowicz,

Moysiyenko

et al. 2023

Applied Vegetation Science

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QuestionsEuropean steppes are among the most threatened ecosystems in the Palaearctic region, mainly because of conversion to arable land. Abandonment may allow for the passive recovery of steppes. We made use of an exceptional old‐field succession chronosequence of nearly 100 years to answer the following questions: (a) Are the plant species composition, species richness and functional characteristics typical of virgin grass steppes able to self‐restore during ca. 100 years after abandonment? (b) Do the rates of recovery of the above vegetation characteristics differ over the studied chronosequence? (c) Do topsoil carbon and nitrogen content change over the succession chronosequence, leading to concentrations similar to that of virgin steppes?LocationSouthern Ukraine.MethodsWe sampled vegetation and soil in a virgin grass steppe and in old fields abandoned for 6, 15, 31, 50 and ca. 97 years. We subjected the composition data to multivariate analysis. To test whether species richness, functional and soil characteristics of the old fields diverge from those of the virgin steppe, we used one‐way analysis of variance with Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) statistic to create 90% confidence intervals.ResultsThe vegetation composition of the three most recently abandoned old fields differed significantly from that of the virgin steppe. The species richness of vascular plants was lower in old fields than in the virgin steppe. The share of steppe habitat specialists was similar to the virgin steppe only in the field abandoned for ca. 97 years. Functional characteristics were significantly different from the virgin steppe only in the most recently abandoned old field. Contents of Corg and Ntot in fields abandoned for ≤50 years were lower compared with the virgin steppe.ConclusionsThe functional characteristics of steppe vegetation seem to recover much faster than its biodiversity. However, based on our results, 100 years can be enough time for the spontaneous re‐establishment of typical steppe vegetation.

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Section: Con Clus Ionsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Rapid functional but slow species diversity recovery of steppe vegetation on former arable fields in southern Ukraine

Dembicz,

Zachwatowicz,

Moysiyenko

et al. 2023

Applied Vegetation Science

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“…Negative effects of drought in the sowing season might require re-sowing. To close the recovery debt, the management adaptation might be promising since this is a crucial factor beside the restoration approach and the site characteristics (Grman et al, 2013; Tölgyesi et al, 2021). For example, the introduction of sheep grazing on the experimental plots, which already exists in the surroundings, will modify the disturbance regime and improve dispersal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fit by design: Developing substrate-specific seed mixtures for functional dike grasslands

Bauer

Huber

Kollmann

2023

Preprint

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Sowing is a well-established restoration technique to overcome dispersal limitation. Site-specific seed mixtures are most effective to achieve functional communities. This is especially important if the restored vegetation has to protect critical infrastructure like roadsides and dikes. Here, an improved seed-substrate combination will secure slope stability, reduce mowing efforts, and generate species-rich grasslands. A factorial field experiment addressed this topic on a dike at River Danube in SE Germany in 2018-2021. Within 288 plots, we tested three sand admixtures, two substrate depths, two seed densities and two seed mixture types (mesic hay meadow, semi-dry calcareous grassland) in north and south exposition, and measured the recovery completeness by calculating the successional distance to reference sites, the persistence of sown species, and the Favourable Conservation Status (FCS) of target species. Overall, the sown vegetation developed in the desired direction, but a recovery debt remained after four years, and some plots still showed similarities to negative references from ruderal sites. In north exposition, hay meadow-seed mixtures developed closer to the respective reference communities than dry-grassland mixtures. In south exposition, the sown communities developed poorly which might be due to a severe drought during establishment. This initial negative effect remained over the entire observation period. Sand admixture had a slightly positive effect on target variables, while substrate depth, seed density and mixture type had no effects on species persistence or FCS. Synthesis and applications: Site-adapted seed mixtures make restoration more effective. However, applying several seed-substrate combinations might foster beta diversity. Furthermore, additional management efforts are recommended, as they might be necessary to reduce the recovery debt, as well as re-sowing after unfavourable conditions.

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“…The annual B. hordeaceus , seeded in autumn 2018 as nursery plant, decreased but was still present in 179 of 288 plots in 2021. Reasons for the recovery debt might not only be abiotic conditions but can also be biotic factors like missing mycorrhiza in the substrates (Koziol & Bever, 2017), or the post‐restoration management needs to be developed (Tölgyesi et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fit by design: Developing seed–substrate combinations to adapt dike grasslands to microclimatic variation

Bauer,

Huber,

Kollmann

2023

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Sowing is a well‐established restoration technique to overcome dispersal limitation. Seed mixtures adapted to certain environmental conditions, like substrate or microclimate, are most effective to achieve functional communities. This is especially important if the restored vegetation has to protect critical infrastructure like roadsides and dikes. Here, an improved seed–substrate combination will secure slope stability, make restorations more effective and generate species‐rich grasslands. A full‐factorial field experiment addressed this topic on a dike at River Danube in SE Germany in 2018–2021. Within 288 plots, we tested three sand admixtures, two substrate depths, two seed densities and two seed mixture types (mesic hay meadow and semidry calcareous grassland) in north and south exposition and measured the recovery completeness by calculating the successional distance to reference sites, the persistence of sown species and the Favourable Conservation Status (FCS) of target species. Overall, the sown vegetation developed in the desired direction, but a recovery debt remained after 4 years, and some plots still showed similarities to negative references from ruderal sites. In north exposition, hay meadow seed mixtures developed closer to their reference communities than dry grassland mixtures to their reference. In south exposition, the sown communities established poorly, which might be due to a severe drought during establishment. This initial negative effect remained over the entire observation period. Sand admixture had a slightly positive effect on target variables, while the tested substrate depths, seed densities and seed mixture types had no effects on species persistence or FCS. Synthesis and applications: Site‐adapted seed mixtures make restoration more effective, while applying several seed–substrate combinations might foster beta diversity. Furthermore, additional management efforts are recommended, as they might be necessary to reduce the recovery debt, as well as re‐sowing after unfavourable conditions like droughts.

show abstract

Post‐restoration grassland management overrides the effects of restoration methods in propagule‐rich landscapes

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

Rapid functional but slow species diversity recovery of steppe vegetation on former arable fields in southern Ukraine

Rapid functional but slow species diversity recovery of steppe vegetation on former arable fields in southern Ukraine

Fit by design: Developing substrate-specific seed mixtures for functional dike grasslands

Fit by design: Developing seed–substrate combinations to adapt dike grasslands to microclimatic variation

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