The Calluna life cycle concept revisited: implications for heathland management

Abstract

Heather, Calluna vulgaris, is a key species of European dry heath and central determinant of its conservation status. The established Calluna life cycle concept describes four phases—pioneer, building, mature, and degeneration—distinguishable by growth and vitality characteristics of undisturbed plants grown from seeds. However, little is known about the life cycle and ageing of plants subjected to severe disturbance, although measures to this effect (burning, mowing) are common in heathland management. We studied the vitality of over 400 heather plants by examining multiple morphological (plant height, long shoot and inflorescence lengths, flowering activity), anatomical (growth rings) and environmental (management, nitrogen deposition, climate) attributes. We found Calluna vitality to be mainly determined by the aboveground stem age, and that severe disturbances promote vigorous vegetative regeneration. Ageing-related shifts in the habit and vitality of plants resprouting from stem-base buds is similar to that of seed-based plants, but the former revealed higher vitality when young, at the cost of a shorter life span. In contrast, plants originating from decumbent stems resemble building-stage plants but apparently lack the capacity to re-enter a cycle including stages other than degeneration-type. As a consequence, we supplemented the established heather life cycle concept with a post-disturbance regeneration cycle of plants derived from resprouting. We conclude that management of dry lowland heathlands should include rotational small-scale severe disturbance to support both seed germination and seedling establishment as well as vegetative regeneration chiefly of young heather plants capable of resprouting from buds near rootstock.

Assessing above and belowground recovery from ammonium sulfate addition and wildfire in a lowland heath: mycorrhizal fungi as potential indicators

“…The indicator species of N-addition plots was C. fimbriata, which was mainly present at the base of heather near ground level. This species is common in a wide diversity of forests (Burgaz et al 2020) and has been associated with disturbed sites in the United Kingdom (Coppins & Shimwell 1971;Sanderson 2017;.…”

Germination and seedling growth of Calluna vulgaris is sensitive to regional climate, heathland succession, and drought

“…It is important to note that only two petri dishes had seedlings that emerged in WP3 compared to the 26 petri dishes that had germinated seeds. Seedling establishment and growth is a vulnerable stage during Callunas' life history (Meyer-Grünefeldt et al, 2015;Schellenberg & Bergmeier, 2022), and our results suggest that drought exposure may further increase this vulnerability.…”

Ensuring the Long-Term Provision of Heathland Ecosystem Services—The Importance of a Functional Perspective in Management Decision Frameworks

“…Mowing frequency in heathlands strongly depends on the time dwarf shrubs need for regeneration. Depending on site conditions, regrowth of Calluna vulgaris often takes 8-10 years and between 5 and 15 years to return to the same life cycle stage (Schellenberg and Bergmeier, 2021). Therefore, mowing frequencies in dwarf shrub-dominated communities cannot be compared with (e.g.)…”