Species introduction in restoration projects – Evaluation of different techniques for the establishment of semi-natural grasslands in Central and Northwestern Europe

Kiehl, Kathrin; Kirmer, Anita; Donath, Tobias W.; Rasran, Leonid; Hölzel, Norbert

doi:10.1016/j.baae.2009.12.004

Cited by 397 publications

(484 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Packard & Mutel 2005, Kiehl et al 2010, Bakker et al 2012. A large proportion of studies, principally in the Northern Hemisphere, come from regions where management (by grazing, cutting or burning) is essential for conservation of grasslands composed by native species (Bullock et al 2011b, Bakker et al 2012.…”

Section: Programa De Pós-graduação Em Ecologia Universidade Federal mentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration Ecology in Brazil Time to Step Out of the Forest

Overbeck¹,

Hermann²,

Andrade³

et al. 2013

NatCon

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Section: Programa De Pós-graduação Em Ecologia Universidade Federal mentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration Ecology in Brazil Time to Step Out of the Forest

Overbeck¹,

Hermann²,

Andrade³

et al. 2013

NatCon

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“…Rather, they rely on strong resprouting capacity, investment in underground storage/root systems, and clonal growth (Veldman et al 2015). Lack of target species source, either in the seed bank or in the surrounding, may also limit the recolonization of degraded areas by native species, often to the benefit of ruderal and/or invasive species (Ash et al 1994;Bakker et al 1996;Bradshaw 1997;Bakker and Berendse 1999;Wilson 2002;Shu et al 2005;Kiehl 2010) Thus, active restoration is the only strategy for re-establishing Cu-Co communities in disturbed sites (Hutchings and Booth 1996;Bischoff 2002;Kiehl et al 2010), which imply, first, to conserve these communities and second, to develop techniques to restore its.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of translocation methods to conserve metallophyte communities in the Southeastern D.R. Congo

Stradic

Séleck

Lebrun

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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In Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo, unique metallophyte communities supporting numerous endemic species occurred on the highly mineralized copper cobalt (Cu-Co) hills throughout the province. These hills are economically valuable mineral reserves, mining activities represent therefore a threat to the long-term persistence of these communities. Ex-situ conservation program was set up by a mining company to rescue and conserve the diversity of Cu-Co communities until restoration activities are initiated. Two kind of Cu-Co communities, the steppe and the steppic savanna were translocated using topsoil spreading and whole-turf translocation. In this study we assessed the effectiveness of these two techniques in conserving Cu-Co communities and their potential use in future restoration programs. More than two years after the translocation, whole-turf translocation appeared to be the better technique for ex-situ conservation of endemic Cu-Co species.Not only did whole-turf successfully translocate numerous target species that were not present in the topsoil areas, but it also resulted in fewer ruderal and non-target species compared to topsoil spreading. Topsoil spreading recorded low seedling emergence from seed bank due to large proportions of dormant seeds or the absence of a seed bank, especially for the steppic savanna. Restoration of the steppe, is currently more successful than for steppic savanna where the lack of dominant and structuring species likely contributed to divergence in species composition compared to reference ecosystem. Our study stress the fact that tropical old-growth grasslands, which require probably several centuries to assemble, are difficult to restore or translocate.

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“…Nevertheless, it would appear that the structural diversity of the donor sites did not impede seed collection by suction harvesting. In this respect, vacuum harvesting may perform better than green hay collection or brush stripping of seeds, both of which have been shown to be less effective for seed set close to the ground (Kiehl et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, there has been interest in the use of seed vacuum harvesters that can be converted at low cost from widely available gardener's leaf blowers/lawn vacuums (Briggs 2001;Kalmbacher et al 2005). Such vacuum harvesters are both simple and cost effective, collecting large number of seeds without compromising germination rates when sown (Stevenson et al 1997;Riley et al 2004;Kiehl et al 2010). Typically the aperture of the sucking unit ranges from 10-15 cm in diameter for hand-held devices, to > 1 m for heavier tractormounted harvesters (Scotton et al 2011).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In those habitats, gaps are relatively large and frequent, which increases the chance for successful establishment from seed (Grime 2002). While these problems have received limited attention in the literature, such sampling bias could potentially affect what species become established during grassland restoration (Stevenson et al 1997;Riley et al 2004;Kiehl et al 2010). The order with which species establish into new grasslands, so called 'priority effects', can have long-term ramifications for the structure of plant communities (Young et al 2005).…”

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Plant traits explain the success of vacuum harvesting as a method of seed collection for the restoration of species-rich grasslands

et al. 2018

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Grassland restoration is a key measure for re-establishing damaged floral communities. As seed banks are often degraded, methods are needed to overcome dispersal limitation of the remnant vegetation. One approach is to vacuum harvest seeds from donor sites. While this is a cost-effective method, individual species' traits describing reproduction methods and dispersal mechanisms may affect the success with which seeds are collected and subsequently germinate. We collected seeds using low-cost vacuum harvesters in species-rich meadows in Poland. We predicted the relative success with which seedlings emerged from this collected material with respect to their percentage cover in the donor sites on the basis of individual species' functional traits. Prolific species that rely on seed as opposed to vegetative reproduction, and those that germinate in late summer/autumn, exhibited the highest level of emergence. To a lesser extent, drought-tolerant or shade-intolerant species were well represented in the collected material. There was also weak evidence that wind-dispersed seeds would have a higher likelihood of being collected by this method. Our results suggest that vacuum harvesting is a valuable method to collect seeds for use in grassland restoration; however, it has limitations. In particular, additional methods may be needed to introduce into grassland restoration sites the propagules of species that vegetatively reproduce or seed early. The overrepresentation of species that produce large numbers of seed may potentially introduce priority effects that could also have unintended long-term implications for the structure of the floral community.

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Species introduction in restoration projects – Evaluation of different techniques for the establishment of semi-natural grasslands in Central and Northwestern Europe

Cited by 397 publications

References 64 publications

Restoration Ecology in Brazil Time to Step Out of the Forest

Restoration Ecology in Brazil Time to Step Out of the Forest

Comparison of translocation methods to conserve metallophyte communities in the Southeastern D.R. Congo

Plant traits explain the success of vacuum harvesting as a method of seed collection for the restoration of species-rich grasslands

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