Post‐restoration grassland management overrides the effects of restoration methods in propagule‐rich landscapes
Grassland restoration is gaining momentum worldwide to tackle the loss of bio-diversity and associated ecosystem services. Restoration methods and their effects on ecologi-cal community reassembly have been extensively studied across various grassland types, whilethe importance of post-restoration m...
Elmentve itt :
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| Dokumentumtípus: | Cikk |
| Megjelent: |
2022
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| Sorozat: | ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
32 No. 1 |
| Tárgyszavak: | |
| doi: | 10.1002/eap.2463 |
| mtmt: | 32316850 |
| Online Access: | http://publicatio.bibl.u-szeged.hu/24683 |
| Tartalmi kivonat: | Grassland restoration is gaining momentum worldwide to tackle the loss of bio-diversity and associated ecosystem services. Restoration methods and their effects on ecologi-cal community reassembly have been extensively studied across various grassland types, whilethe importance of post-restoration management has so far received less attention. Grasslandmanagement is an important surrogate for natural disturbances, with which most ancientgrasslands have coevolved. Thus, without the reintroduction of management-related distur-bance, restoration targets are unlikely to be achieved in restored grasslands. In this study, weaimed to explore how 20 yr of management by mowing once a year or light cattle grazingaffects restoration success in Palearctic meadow-steppe grasslands restored by either sowingnative grasses (sown sites), applyingMedicago sativaas a nurse plant (Medicagosites), orallowing spontaneous succession (spontaneous sites). We found that, following mowing, sownsites maintained long-lasting establishment limitation, whileMedicagosites experienced adelay in succession. These limitations resulted in low total and target species richness, lowfunctional redundancy, and distinct species and functional composition compared to referencedata from ancient grasslands. Spontaneous sites that were mowed reached a more advancedsuccessional stage, although they did not reach reference levels regarding most vegetationdescriptors. Sown andMedicagosites that were grazed had higher total and target species rich-ness than those that were mowed, and showed restoration success similar to that of sponta-neous sites, on which grazing had only moderate further positive effects. Grazed sites,irrespective of the restoration method, were uniformly species rich, functionally diverse, andfunctionally redundant, and thus became important biodiverse habitats with considerable resi-lience. We conclude that an optimally chosen post-restoration management may have animpact on long-term community reassembly comparable to the choice of restoration method.Restoration planners may, therefore, need to put more emphasis on future management thanon the initial restoration method. However, our findings also imply that if local constraints,such as potentially high invasive propagule pressure, necessitate the application of restorationmethods that could also hinder the establishment of target species, the long-term recovery ofthe grassland can still be ensured by wisely chosen post-restoration management. |
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| Terjedelem/Fizikai jellemzők: | Terjedelem: 13-Azonosító: e02463 |
| ISSN: | 1051-0761 |