Woody plants in water-limited ecosystems affect their environment on multiple scales: locally, natural stands can create islands of fertility for herb layer communities compared to open habitats, but afforestation has been shown to negatively affect regional water balance and productivity. Despite these contrasting observations, no coherent multiscale framework has been developed for the environmental effects of woody plants in water-limited ecosystems. To link local and regional effects of woody species in a spatially explicit model, we simultaneously measured site conditions (microclimate, nutrient availability and topsoil moisture) and conditions of regional relevance (deeper soil moisture), in forests with different canopy types (long, intermediate and short annual lifetime) and adjacent grasslands in sandy drylands. All types of forests ameliorated site conditions compared to adjacent grasslands, although natural stands did so more effectively than managed ones. At the same time, all forests desiccated deeper soil layers during the vegetation period, and the longer the canopy lifetime, the more severe the desiccation in summer and more delayed the recharge after the active period of the canopy. We conclude that the site-scale environmental amelioration brought about by woody species is bound to co-occur with the desiccation of deeper soil layers, leading to deficient ground water recharge. This means that the cost of creating islands of fertility for sensitive herb layer organisms is an inevitable negative impact on regional water balance. The canopy type or management intensity of the forests affects the magnitude but not the direction of these effects. The outlined framework of the effects of woody species should be considered for the conservation, restoration or profit-oriented use of forests as well as in forest-based carbon sequestration and soil erosion control projects in water-limited ecosystems.

4Woody plants in water-limited ecosystems affect their environment on multiple scales: 5 locally, natural stands can create islands of fertility for herb layer communities compared to 6 open habitats, but afforestation has been shown to negatively affect regional water balance 7 and productivity. Despite these contrasting observations, no coherent multiscale framework 8 has been developed for the environmental effects of woody plants in water-limited 9 ecosystems. To link local and regional effects of woody species in a spatially explicit model, 10 we simultaneously measured site conditions (microclimate, nutrient availability and topsoil 11 moisture) and conditions of regional relevance (deeper soil moisture), in forests with different 12 canopy types (long, intermediate and short annual lifetime) and adjacent grasslands in sandy 13 drylands. All types of forests ameliorated site conditions compared to adjacent grasslands, 14 although natural stands did so more effectively than managed ones. At the same time, all 15 forests desiccated deeper soil layers during the vegetation period, and the longer the canopy 16 lifetime, the more severe the desiccation in summer and more delayed the recharge after the 17 active period of the canopy. We conclude that the site-scale environmental amelioration 18 brought about by woody species is bound to co-occur with the desiccation of deeper soil 19layers, leading to deficient ground water recharge. This means that the cost of creating islands 20 of fertility for sensitive herb layer organisms is an inevitable negative impact on regional 21 water balance. The canopy type or management intensity of the forests affects the magnitude 22 but not the direction of these effects. The outlined framework of the effects of woody species 23 should be considered for the conservation, restoration, or profit-oriented use of forests as well 24 2 as in forest-based carbon sequestration and soil erosion control projects in water-limited 25 ecosystems. 26 27

Invasive species are a major threat to biodiversity worldwide. Controlling their rapid spread can only be effective if we consider the geographical factors that influence their occurrence. For instance, roads, railway networks, green and blue infrastructure, and elements of ecological networks (e.g., ecological corridors) can facilitate the spread of invasive species. In our study, we mapped the occurrence of five invasive plant taxa (tree of heaven, common milkweed, Russian olive, black locust, and goldenrods) in Hungary, using field photos from the EUROSTAT Land Use and Coverage Area Frame Survey (LUCAS) database from the year 2015. Species point occurrence data were compared with the spatial characteristics of linear transport infrastructure and with the green and blue infrastructure. We found that the occurrence of tree of heaven and Russian olive was strongly related to the road and railway network. The average Euclidean distance of LUCAS points infected with these species from railway embankments and roads was much smaller than that of uninfected points. However, black locust and goldenrods were more common only along the road network. According to our results, the occurrence of some investigated invasive plants was over-represented in the HEN and within Natura 2000 areas of Hungary compared to non-infected points. Our results may provide important information for predicting the rate of invasion and for applying targeted management within the HEN, and Natura 2000 protected areas.

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Grassland restoration is gaining momentum worldwide to tackle the loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Restoration methods and their effects on ecological community reassembly have been extensively studied across various grassland types, while the importance of post‐restoration management has so far received less attention. Grassland management is an important surrogate for natural disturbances, with which most ancient grasslands have coevolved. Thus, without the reintroduction of management‐related disturbance, restoration targets are unlikely to be achieved in restored grasslands. In this study, we aimed to explore how 20 yr of management by mowing once a year or light cattle grazing affects restoration success in Palearctic meadow‐steppe grasslands restored by either sowing native grasses (sown sites), applying Medicago sativa as a nurse plant (Medicago sites), or allowing spontaneous succession (spontaneous sites). We found that, following mowing, sown sites maintained long‐lasting establishment limitation, while Medicago sites experienced a delay in succession. These limitations resulted in low total and target species richness, low functional redundancy, and distinct species and functional composition compared to reference data from ancient grasslands. Spontaneous sites that were mowed reached a more advanced successional stage, although they did not reach reference levels regarding most vegetation descriptors. Sown and Medicago sites that were grazed had higher total and target species richness than those that were mowed, and showed restoration success similar to that of spontaneous sites, on which grazing had only moderate further positive effects. Grazed sites, irrespective of the restoration method, were uniformly species rich, functionally diverse, and functionally redundant, and thus became important biodiverse habitats with considerable resilience. We conclude that an optimally chosen post‐restoration management may have an impact on long‐term community reassembly comparable to the choice of restoration method. Restoration planners may, therefore, need to put more emphasis on future management than on the initial restoration method. However, our findings also imply that if local constraints, such as potentially high invasive propagule pressure, necessitate the application of restoration methods that could also hinder the establishment of target species, the long‐term recovery of the grassland can still be ensured by wisely chosen post‐restoration management.