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Questions: How does species composition of different vegetation types respond to translocation? How do they respond to encroachment of expansive native or alien species? Location: Meadow, heath and fen plots in Radzionków Habitat Botanical Garden, Poland. Methods: In 2013, between June and October, 16,500 pieces of turf blocks from three communities, each 80 × 120 cm in size and 40-50 cm deep, were transferred from a donor site to newly constructed artificial basins. Temporal changes of species composition were observed in 163 permanent plots 2 × 2 m from 2013 to 2016. To analyse compositional changes, we carried out constrained ordination with time as explanatory variable. For changes in species richness, diversity, herb and shrub layers, contribution of woody species, diagnostic taxa, archaeophytes, neophytes, native expansive taxa and ruderal plants, a one-way ANOVA was applied. Results:We found that only 35%-39% of species had a positive correlation with time. The total number of species significantly decreased only within the meadow plots. The fen and heath only experienced a slight decrease in species number.Significant changes in abundance of diagnostic species were observed in all plant communities. The abundances of diagnostic taxa were maintained during the first 2 year, then dropped considerably. The highest decrease was noted in the heathland community. Conclusions:Turf translocation appeared to be only partially effective as a compensatory measure. Four years after the translocation, the three different habitats still maintained their specific structural features, however the number of diagnostic taxa considerably decreased, particularly in the heathland and the wet meadow. Given the high financial and logistical effort required, translocation measures are questionable and should only be applied as an exceptional last resort method. K E Y W O R D SCalamagrostis epigejos, ex situ, invasion, translocation, vegetation, wet meadow, winners and losers 4 | Applied Vegetation Science NOWAK et Al.

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Abstract:The flora of 179 springs in Tatra National Park was studied between [2003][2004][2005][2006]. These springs represent complete diversity in the region with respect to altitude (from 900 to 1960 m a.s.l.), kind of bedrock (on siliceous and carbonate bedrock) and spring discharge (from 0.1 to >3500 l/s), and they also represent various ecomorphological types (mainly rheo-and helocrenes). In the springs, 239 plant taxa were recorded (60 mosses, 51 liverworts and 128 taxa of vascular plants). Among these species, 13 taxa (Arabis soyeri subsp. subcoriacea, Bryum schleicheri, Cardamine amara, Dichodontium palustre, Epilobium alsinifolium, E. anagallidifolium, Heliosperma quadridentatum, Palustriella commutata, Philonotis calcarea, P. seriata, Rhizomnium magnifolium, Scapania paludosa, S. uliginosa) had an ecological optimum in crenic habitats (crenophiles). Ecological and phytosociological characteristics of these species, as well as their distribution in the investigated springs, were shown.

The indicators of functional diversity are increasingly used to assess the conservation effectiveness of the most valuable habitats. However, little is known about the response of functional traits, their diversity, and divergence in plant communities after translocation. To assess how functional diversity changes on dry heath, meadow, and fen after translocation of entire turfs of vegetation from an airport area to the Botanical Garden in Radzionków, we used leaf–height–seed (LHS) traits (specific leaf area, height, and seed mass) and vegetative traits (bud bank size, bud bank depth, and lateral spread). We also measured community weighted means and multifunctional diversity metrics (functional richness, evenness, and divergence) for all the traits and for LHS and vegetative traits separately. On the basis of our results, we found that the most sensitive type of vegetation to changes in functional diversity is meadow, where an increase in functional evenness and divergence were observed. The functional richness increased also for the LHS traits set in meadow plots. The response to the translocation on dry heath was a decline in functional richness and an upswell of functional evenness and divergence of vegetative reproduction traits. Additionally, we observed changes in community weighted means on meadow and dry heath. Fen was the most resistant to alterations in functional diversity after translocation. Despite the changes in functional diversity and community weighted means being significant, the shift in values of particular indices was not considerable. Our results may provide a better insight into function changes in translocated vegetation plots.