The effect of management on productivity, litter accumulation and seedling recruitment in a Carpathian mountain grassland

Abstract

The management regime may have a significant impact on the productivity and dynamics of grasslands, but the causal relationships influencing grassland conservation value are still not completely understood. Changes of selected community characteristics, such as standing crop, proportion of forbs in the standing crop, litter amount, litter decomposition and seedling recruitment, were investigated in a 4 year manipulative experiment in a mountain grassland in Slovakia. The aim of the research was to compare changes in newly abandoned sites and sites where restoration measures were applied after 20 years of abandonment. The sites were located in areas containing two vegetation types of the Arrhenatherion alliance (wet Poo-Trisetetum and dry AnthoxanthoAgrostietum) with different moisture regimes. The expected increase of the standing crop after abandonment was rather slow, and more pronounced towards the end of the experiment, and in the wet meadow type (*30% increase). The restoration mowing promoted forb proportions in the biomass, but it did not decrease the standing biomass in the restored grasslands. Strong litter accumulation after abandonment was observed in subsequent years after abandonment, when the amount of litter increased about 100% in abandoned plots. Decrease in litter was also significant after the start of restoration mowing (a decrease from 258 to 159 g m -2 in wet type and from 287 to 147 g m -2 in dry type was noted). Accumulated litter was negatively correlated to seedling recruitment (r = -0.63 at the end of the experiment). The litterbag experiment showed that the wet type has a higher rate of decomposition, with 20% more biomass decomposed during the litter-bag experiment. The experiment confirmed a negative role of litter accumulation on seedling recruitment, with the number of seedlings per m 2 decreasing from 413 to 321 individuals in the abandoned wet-type site. This may lead to a decrease in species richness. Mowing along with raking of mowed biomass may be a useful tool to restore degraded mountain grasslands and to remove accumulated litter from the stands.

Effects of changes in management on resistance and resilience in three grassland communities

“…While the effect of grassland management on different groups of animals has been studied several times, the effect of short‐time alteration in management on the meadow plant community has not received such attention. We consider this lack of knowledge to be a serious shortcoming, because change in management practice can alter community composition (Galvánek & Lepš ) and structural properties (Galvánek & Lepš ) of grasslands, and these changes may also lead to undesirable changes in invertebrate assemblages.…”

To mow or not to mow? Plant functional traits help to understand management impact on rich fen vegetation

“…If continuously mown, fen ecosystems can sustain much of their original biodiversity despite moderate disturbance of hydrological or trophic regimes. Removal of above‐ground biomass reduces standing crops, increases light availability, even at elevated fertility (Hautier, Niklaus, & Hector, ; Mälson, Sundberg, & Rydin, ), and counteracts litter accumulation, which can be one of the main causes of species loss (Galvánek & Lepš, ; Joyce, ). Mowing also prevents the establishment of trees, shrubs and tall herbs, which are sensitive to damage to their above‐ground parts (Güsewell, ; Sundberg, ).…”

Impact on the Abandonment of Semi-Natural Grasslands from Apuseni Mountains

“…Sometimes changes can be so obvious that they are threatening even grassland ecosystem integrity (Kryszak et al, 2012). The restoration of a grassland ecosystem at the initial stage could be a very long and almost impossible process (Galvanek and Leps, 2012). After 1990 our country recorded a progressive and generalized abandonment of mountain pastures.…”