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

Abstract

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.

Microbial secondary succession in a chronosequence of chalk grasslands

“…Microbial community dynamics in soils are closely linked to vegetation and soil characteristics (Marschner et al, 2001), yet, although plant succession is well documented, for instance in the re-establishment of chalk grasslands (Kiehl and Pfadenhauer, 2007), little is known about accompanying responses in microbial community structure. We therefore studied two seminatural Dutch chalk grassland sites (Gerendal nature reserve and Wrakelberg), which each contain several stages of secondary vegetation succession due to the abandonment of intensive agriculture at different times in the past (17 to 466 years) (Supplementary material and methods), thereby representing ideal field experiments to study soil-borne microbial community shifts.…”

Testing coexistence of extinction debt and colonization credit in fragmented calcareous grasslands with complex historical dynamics

“…New patches with different origins (conversion of arable fields, clearing in forests or creation of new road verges) did not exhibit different colonization credit, suggesting that species richness may recover equally whatever the origin of the patch creation. This result is particularly unexpected as calcareous grassland restoration from arable land was shown to be difficult without strong management such as topsoil removing and/or hay addition (Walker et al 2004;Edwards et al 2007;Kiehl & Pfadenhauer 2007;Piqueray & Mahy 2010). Moreover, Gibson and Brown (1992) showed that former arable grasslands still differ from ancient grasslands in their floristic composition after decades, which was not the case in our study.…”

Effect of experimental top soil removal on vegetation of Pannonian salt steppes

“…Top soil removal has been carried out in different non-forest habitat types in Western Europe where the reduction of nutrient levels is also necessary, such as fens [32], heathlands [33][34][35] and dry grasslands [36]. To date, however, studies on the effectiveness of top soil removal in saline habitats are lacking, despite the fact that it can be applied on a more local scale than other restoration methods (e.g.…”