Seed bank dynamics in restored grassland following the sowing of high‐ and low‐diversity seed mixtures

Wagner, Markus; Walker, Kevin J.; Pywell, R. F.

doi:10.1111/rec.12616

Cited by 13 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Our study confirmed the limited potential of soil seed bank in the maintenance of species richness of the restored alkaline and loess grasslands. In general, the seed bank was dominated by weeds and there were only a few target species (see also Klaus et al 2018; Wagner et al 2018). The similarity of the species composition of vegetation and seed bank was low, as was found in other restored grasslands (Rayburn et al 2016; Godefroid et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation and seed bank dynamics highlight the importance of post-restoration management in sown grasslands

Valkó

Deák

Török

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Sowing grass seeds generally supports the rapid development of a closed perennial vegetation, which makes the method universally suitable for fast and effective landscape-scale restoration of grasslands. However, sustaining the recovered grasslands, and increasing their diversity is a challenging task. Understanding the role of seed bank compositional changes and vegetation dynamics contributes to designating management regimes that support the establishment of target species and suppress weeds. Our aim was to reveal the effect of post-restoration management on the vegetation and seed bank dynamics in grasslands restored in one of the largest European landscape-scale restoration projects. Eight years after restoration we sampled the vegetation and seed bank in a total of 96 plots located in 12 recovered grasslands in the Great Hungarian Plain. In each recovered grassland stand we designated a mown (mown from Year 1 to Year 8) and an abandoned sample site (mown from Year 1 to Year 3 then abandoned from Year 4 to Year 8). Mown and abandoned sites showed divergent vegetation and seed bank development. Abandonment led to the decline of sown grasses and higher cover of weeds, especially in the alkaline grasslands. Our study confirmed that seed bank has a limited contribution to the maintenance of biodiversity in both grassland types. We found that five years of abandonment had a larger effect on the seed bank than on the vegetation. We stress that long-term management is crucial for controlling the emergence of the weeds from their dense seed bank in restored grasslands.Implications for practiceSeed sowing of grass mixtures can be a feasible tool for restoring grasslands at large scales. However, the developed vegetation usually has low biodiversity and a high seed density of weeds is typical in the soil seed bank even several years after the restoration. Therefore, post-restoration management is necessary for suppressing weeds both aboveground and belowground.We recommend to design the long-term management of the sites subjected to grassland restoration already in the planning phase of the restoration projects and ensure that the management plan is ecologically and economically feasible.We recommend to complement the monitoring of vegetation with the analysis of soil seed bank for evaluating restoration success.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation and seed bank dynamics highlight the importance of post-restoration management in sown grasslands

Valkó

Deák

Török

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Therefore, soil seed banks represent a pool of species that could germinate and establish plant communities. Understanding the characteristics of soil seed banks is important for assessing vegetation restoration potentials and successional trajectories (Wagner et al 2018; Ma et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil seed bank in different vegetation types in the Loess Plateau region and its role in vegetation restoration

Wang

Zhao

et al. 2020

Restoration Ecology

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In the Loess Plateau region, soil erosion is a serious problem. Vegetation restoration is an effective approach to control soil erosion and improve ecosystems. The soil seed bank generally plays an important role in vegetation restoration after disturbance. Thus, we reviewed soil seed bank studies to reveal the soil seed bank characteristics and its role in vegetation restoration in three vegetation types (forest, forest-steppe, and steppe). We selected 38 seed bank studies and analyzed several seed bank characteristics, such as seed density, species composition, and the relationship between seed size and seed bank. We also assessed the role of the soil seed bank in vegetation restoration. The soil seed bank density ranged from 2,331 AE 1,993 to 6,985 AE 4,047 seeds/m 2 among the different vegetation types. In the soil seed bank, perennial herbs and grasses accounted for 51.5% of the total species. Native species that were dominant or common in the standing vegetation usually had relatively high seed bank densities. Moreover, species with smaller seeds generally had higher soil seed bank densities. The present study indicates that the soil seed bank plays a significant role in spontaneous vegetation restoration, especially during the early successional stages in abandoned slope farmlands and grazing-excluded grasslands. However, species with large seeds or transient soil seed banks should be reintroduced through seeding to accelerate target species restoration. More studies on soil seed banks need to be conducted to comprehensively reveal their characteristics.

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“…At the same time, there has been a growing interest in the linkage between belowground and aboveground biota because it influences community and ecosystem processes and properties (Wardle et al ). To conclude, both negative and positive interactions must be taken into account in ecological restoration in order to improve restoration efforts (Menninger & Palmer ; Halpern et al ; Wagner et al ).…”

Section: Improvement Of Establishment Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wagner et al () investigated not only the establishment of introduced target species but also the seed bank dynamics in soils of grasslands restored by sowing of low‐ and high‐diversity seed mixtures. Sowing of species‐rich grass‐forb mixtures was reflected in a faster build‐up of sown forbs in the seed bank and a faster decline of nontarget forbs in comparison to species‐poor mixtures containing only grasses.…”

Section: Species Introduction and Assisted Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cultivation techniques led to a short distance dispersal of seeds over 16 m within fields in 3 years indicating that species may disperse further in the future especially when sown strips of target species are set up rectangular to the direction that cultivation is carried out, instead along the field margins. Wagner et al (2018) investigated not only the establishment of introduced target species but also the seed bank dynamics in soils of grasslands restored by sowing of low-and high-diversity seed mixtures. Sowing of species-rich grass-forb mixtures was reflected in a faster build-up of sown forbs in the seed bank and a faster decline of nontarget forbs in comparison to species-poor mixtures containing only grasses.…”

Section: Species Introduction and Assisted Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Beyond the species pool: modification of species dispersal, establishment, and assembly by habitat restoration

Török¹,

Helm

Kiehl

et al. 2018

Restoration Ecology

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Species dispersal, establishment, and assembly are crucial stages of the life history of plants, and clear understanding of the governing forces and rules that shape species composition in a particular community is vital for successful ecological restoration. In this article, we focus on five aspects of seed dispersal and plant establishment, which should be considered during habitat restoration actions. In the first two sections, we discuss the success of spontaneous dispersal and establishment on restoration based on either spatial dispersal or local seed banks. In the third section, we assess the possibilities of species introduction and assisted dispersal. In the fourth section, we introduce some possibilities for the improvement of establishment success of spontaneously dispersed or introduced species. Finally, we highlight issues influencing long‐term persistence and sustainability of restored habitats, related to the alteration of management type and intensity, climate change, and spread of non‐native species. With the present article, we introduce the special issue entitled “Seed dispersal and soil seed banks – promising sources for ecological restoration” containing 15 papers by 62 authors from 10 countries arranged in the abovementioned five topics.

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Seed bank dynamics in restored grassland following the sowing of high‐ and low‐diversity seed mixtures

Cited by 13 publications

References 36 publications

Vegetation and seed bank dynamics highlight the importance of post-restoration management in sown grasslands

Vegetation and seed bank dynamics highlight the importance of post-restoration management in sown grasslands

Soil seed bank in different vegetation types in the Loess Plateau region and its role in vegetation restoration

Beyond the species pool: modification of species dispersal, establishment, and assembly by habitat restoration

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