Effects of management complexity on the composition, plant functional dominance relationships and physiognomy of high nature value grasslands

Abstract

A significant proportion of Europe’s species-rich grasslands are semi-natural habitats. They have a long history of traditional management. Several studies have been carried out to conserve them, resulting in the establishment of subsidised conservation management schemes. On the other hand, many of these conservation management schemes have failed to provide locally adaptive solutions to maintain the diversity and functional status of species-rich grasslands. In addition, few studies have compared the conservation effectiveness of different levels of management complexity. The levels of management complexity in our study are based on how different management types (e.g. grazing and mowing etc.) and how different herbage removal intensities (e.g. lower and higher grazing intensities) are combined within and between years. To investigate this, we compared the overall effects of management complexity, herbage removal intensity and management type on plant diversity, plant functional type dominance relationships and plant physiognomy. Our field sampling was carried out in the sandy meso-xeric grasslands of the Turján Region of the Great Hungarian Plain (Central Hungary). We sampled nine 2 m × 2 m plots per grassland site (n = 12), recorded all the rooted plant species and estimated their percentage cover in each plot. High level of management complexity had significant positive effects on plant diversity, grazing had positive effects on plant diversity and phanerophyte density, while the studied levels of herbage removal intensity had no effect on diversity, plant functional types or plant physiognomy. In parallel, mowing and/or low levels of management complexity had some negative effects on conservation value (e.g. lower Shannon and Simpson diversity). In this landscape, the dominance of grazing and the more complex management is more optimal than relatively homogeneous mechanical mowing. The choice of management type and intensity is an important tool in the conservation management system of this landscape, but so too is its appropriate application in space and time. Through a detailed analysis of the effects of management complexity levels compared to management types and herbage removal intensity levels, we provide a new opportunity to make grassland management practices more effective for conserving biodiversity in this region, but it would be important to investigate these in different landscapes and conditions.

Vegetation Analysis in the Archaeological Area of Pasargadae WHS (Iran) Enhancing the Naturalistic Value of the Site within the Occurring Environmental Changes

“…This also explains the similarity in species composition (Figures 3 and 4) and the distribution of the endemic species with conservation interest among the different clusters. Indeed, the highest number of species with conservation interest held by clusters 1 and 2 (Table 4) is in accord with findings made by several authors, namely that when grazing is conducted in a non-intensive manner, it tends to promote greater biodiversity, and the effects of such practices can persist for an extended period of time [87][88][89][90][91][92].…”

Phytocoenotic assessment of herbaceous plant communities in the organic sweet cherry orchard

“…The lack of colonisation of the grass cover by invasive and quarantine species in the experimental areas of the cherry orchard can be explained by moderate mowing (4 times during the growing season). Control over invasive species is considered active recovery (Grašič et al, 2023), and moderate mowing (or moderate grazing) as reported (Yang et al, 2022;Kun et al, 2024) accelerate recovery processes in the phytocoenoses of meadows and pastures (the so-called "moderate concern hypothesis"). In a global ecological sense, ruderants provide invaluable ecosystem services, namely, a dense cover of natural grasses mitigates the effects of climate warming, binds carbon and thereby reduces CO 2 emissions in the atmosphere (Berlinches de Gea et al, 2023).…”

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“…The lack of colonisation of the grass cover by invasive and quarantine species in the experimental areas of the cherry orchard can be explained by moderate mowing (4 times during the growing season). Control over invasive species is considered active recovery (Grašič et al, 2023), and moderate mowing (or moderate grazing) as reported Kun et al, 2024) accelerate recovery processes in the phytocoenoses of meadows and pastures (the so-called "moderate concern hypothesis"). In a global ecological sense, ruderants provide invaluable ecosystem services, namely, a dense cover of natural grasses mitigates the effects of climate warming, binds carbon and thereby reduces CO 2 emissions in the atmosphere (Berlinches de Gea et al, 2023).…”