The role of competition and rarity in the restoration of a dry grassland in Finland

Tikka, Päivi M.; Heikkilä, Tuula; Heiskanen, Mira; Kuitunen, Markku

doi:10.1111/j.1654-109x.2001.tb00244.x

Cited by 17 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In contrast to planting or sowing of seeds on bare soil, hay transfer provided not only diaspores, but also safe sites for germination and establishment. The thin hay layer protected seedlings and young plants from desiccation, which can hamper plant establishment on bare soil (Kirmer and Mahn 2001;Tikka et al 2001). Our study showed that hay transfer allowed not only quick establishment of target species during the initial restoration phase, but also their persistence over 9 years.…”

Section: Effects Of Hay Transfer On Species Richness and Species Compmentioning

confidence: 72%

Establishment and persistence of target species in newly created calcareous grasslands on former arable fields

Kiehl

Pfadenhauer

2006

Plant Ecol

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The effects of different restoration measures and management variants on the vegetation development of newly created calcareous grasslands were studied in southern Germany from 1993 to 2002. In 1993, fresh seed-containing hay from a nature reserve with ancient calcareous grasslands was transferred onto ex-arable fields with and without topsoil removal. Nine years after start of the restoration, the standing crop was lower and the cover of bare soil was higher on topsoil-removal sites than on sites without soil removal. Topsoil removal had a positive effect on the proportion of target species (class FestucoBrometea), because the number and cover of productive meadow species (class Molinio-Arrhenatheretea) were reduced. Persistence of hay-transfer species and the number of newly colonizing target species were highest on topsoilremoval sites. On plots with and without soil removal, species richness and the number of target species increased quickly after hay transfer and were always higher on hay-transfer plots than on plots that had not received hay in 1993. In 2002, differences induced by hay transfer were still much more pronounced than differences between management regimes. Management by mowing, however, led to higher species richness, a greater number of target species and a lower number of ruderals in comparison to no management on restoration fields without soil removal. A detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) indicated that vegetation composition of the hay-transfer plots of the restoration fields still differed from the vegetation of ancient grasslands in the nature reserve. Vegetation of an ex-arable field in the nature reserve (last ploughed in 1959) showed an intermediate successional stage. In general our results indicate that the transfer of autochthonous hay is an efficient method for the restoration of species-rich vegetation, which allows not only quick establishment but also long-term persistence of target species.

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Section: Effects Of Hay Transfer On Species Richness and Species Compmentioning

confidence: 72%

Establishment and persistence of target species in newly created calcareous grasslands on former arable fields

Kiehl

Pfadenhauer

2006

Plant Ecol

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“…It is worthwhile emphasizing that the importance of establishing and maintaining grassland communities with high diversity of dominant species and functional groups for grassland restoration has been previously recognized (Bai et al , ). The time elapsed since restoration has been demonstrated that it affected the species richness and composition in grassland (Tikka et al , ; Lindborg & Eriksson, ; Zhang & Dong, ). Our study showed that long‐term restoration leads to a decrease in species density, richness, and evenness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity–Productivity Trade‐off During Converting Cropland to Perennial Grassland in the Semi‐arid Areas of China

Liu

Ding

et al. 2016

Land Degrad Dev

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The trade‐off between plant community structure and function is an important issue during grassland restoration. It is essential to assess changes of structure and function after converting farmland to grassland. Three restoration stages (5, 15, and 30 years) were studied to determine the optimum time when the trade‐off between diversity and productivity occurs. The results showed that the vegetation coverage, height, and productivity significantly increased, but the species richness, diversity, and density significantly decreased along the restoration time. Grassland community presented a succession from small individuals and high density to larger individuals and lower density. The community changed from being dominated by grass and forb functional groups to being dominated only by the grass functional group. The dominant grass functional group plays a decisive role on community structure and function (productivity, diversity, and density) during grassland succession. Our results suggest that community structure and function were mainly driven by the dominant grass functional group during the long‐term succession. Grassland should be utilized to suppress the leading role of the dominant functional groups in the 20th year for keeping the trade‐off of diversity and productivity. We suggest that the restoration grassland should be considered to use appropriately in the 20th year. Our study could provide a key guidance for maintaining the community structure and function trade‐off for cropland‐converted grassland management in the semi‐arid areas. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…Understanding competition intensity and importance is a central barrier to developing restoration strategies, especially in resource poor environments (Grace, 1991;Tikka et al, 2001;Sheley and Krueger-Mangold, 2003;Brooker and Kikividze, 2008). Competition intensity refers to the degree to which resource competition by neighbors reduces target plant performance below a value when no neighbors are present (Welden and Slauson, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of competition in restoring resource poor arid systems dominated by invasive grasses

Mangla

Sheley

James

et al. 2011

Journal of Arid Environments

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a b s t r a c tUnderstanding the role competition intensity and importance play in directing vegetation dynamics is central to developing restoration strategies, especially in resource poor environments. We hypothesized 1) competition would be intense among invasive and native species, but 2) competition would be unimportant in explaining variation in target plant biomass and survivorship relative to other factors driving these variables. We performed a two year addition series field experiment to quantify competition intensity and importance. Densities of two invasive (cheatgrass and medusahead) and two native (Sandberg's bluegrass and bluebunch wheatgrass) species were arranged in monocultures and mixtures of two, three and four species, producing varying total densities and species proportions. Multiple linear regression models predicting individual plant biomass and survivorship were developed. Based on biomass, competition intensity coefficients ranged from À0.38 to 0.63 with R 2 < 0.06. All survivorship data produced poor fitting regression models (R 2 < 0.05). Our results suggest neither competition intensity nor importance influenced plant dominance in resource poor environments during the two years of establishment. Land managers may be more successful at restoration of resource poor ecosystems by overcoming abiotic barriers to plant establishment rather than focusing on planteplant interactions.

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The role of competition and rarity in the restoration of a dry grassland in Finland

Cited by 17 publications

References 24 publications

Establishment and persistence of target species in newly created calcareous grasslands on former arable fields

Establishment and persistence of target species in newly created calcareous grasslands on former arable fields

Diversity–Productivity Trade‐off During Converting Cropland to Perennial Grassland in the Semi‐arid Areas of China

Role of competition in restoring resource poor arid systems dominated by invasive grasses

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