Soil Erosion and Surface Runoff on Slopes in Mountain Environment Depending on Application Technique and Seed Mixture – A Case-Study

Mountain grassland restoration using hay and brush material transfer combined with temporary wheat cover

“…As in the analysis of cover and number of species transferred from the donor site, best restoration results were obtained for hay transfer and the combination of brush material with wheat sowing, showing highest similarity to references in plant species composition and highest target abundance (higher CSIInorm = abundance of species occurring in the reference). This finding confirmed that a dead (hay) or living (wheat) "nurse cover" improves seedling establishment of target (reference communities) and transferred (donor community) species (Graiss & Krautzer, 2011;Kavian et al, 2018;Scotton, 2019). The brush material transfer without wheat sowing did not increase similarity to references nor target abundance.…”

“…Furthermore, hay mulch protects seeds from predation, and animal trampling (Scotton et al, 2012;Vanderburg et al, 2020) and limits competition of ruderal species in early stages of grassland restoration (Kiehl & Wagner, 2006). Additionally, a hay layer may reduce surface runoff (Graiss & Krautzer, 2011) and improve seed adherence to the soil (Chambers, 2000;Havrilla et al, 2020). High recruitment in the hay transfer treatment suggests that such positive effects prevailed in our study over negative effects of a mulch layer on transferred species establishment, such as light limitation (Eckstein & Donath, 2005).…”

“…In modifying soil structure and composition (Pohl et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2018), wheat can be considered as a nurse crop (Padilla et al, 2006). Many high-altitude restoration studies aimed at improving recruitment conditions and reducing soil erosion using nurse species or wheat straw addition to stabilize the soil (Graiss & Krautzer, 2011;Kavian et al, 2018;Scotton, 2019).…”

“…Dry hay transfer involves cutting of plant material close to the soil surface, drying it on the field before storage and spreading it on the restoration site. The higher vegetative biomass compared with brush material may hamper germination but protects seedlings against high solar radiation, drought and soil erosion (Eckstein & Donath, 2005;Graiss & Krautzer, 2011;Havrilla et al, 2020).…”

Development of a criteria­based approach to agroecological assessment of slope agrolandscapes

“…Water erosion is a major problem in all mountainous regions of the world. According to estimates [2], after carrying out activities at high altitudes in the alpine zone of Europe, it is necessary to restore 5,000 hectares of land annually, and more than 50,000 hectares of insufficiently restored areas need urgent improvement. Soil erosion is also an urgent problem for agriculture in the areas of ridge-valley relief [3].…”