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Data on different seed harvesting methods used in grassland restoration on ex-arable land.

ABSTRACT: We present data of the grassland restoration experiment performed in the Bílé Karpaty Mts. (White Carpathians, Czech Republic) in dry species-rich meadows. First we harvested seed material in a preserved source meadow (donor site hereafter) by brush harvesting the vegetation once (B1 hereafter), brush harvesting three times during the season (B3 hereafter), and by cutting green hay (GH hereafter). Then we determined the species composition and seed quantity of the harvested material. Furthermore, we transferred the seeds to an experimental site on ex-arable land (receptor site hereafter), and monitored the development of the meadow communities in the following five years. Data are interpreted in: Á-J. Albert, O. Mudrák, I. Jongepierová, K. Fajmon, I. Frei, M. Ševčíková, J. Klimešová, J. Doležal, Grassland restoration on ex-arable land by transfer of brush-harvested propagules and green hay. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 272 (2019), 74-82.

SUBMITTER: Albert AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6557757 | biostudies-other | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Data on different seed harvesting methods used in grassland restoration on ex-arable land.

Albert Ágnes-Júlia ÁJ Mudrák Ondřej O Jongepierová Ivana I Fajmon Karel K Frei Ivana I Ševčíková Magdalena M Klimešová Jitka J Doležal Jiři J

Data in brief 20190524

We present data of the grassland restoration experiment performed in the Bílé Karpaty Mts. (White Carpathians, Czech Republic) in dry species-rich meadows. First we harvested seed material in a preserved source meadow (donor site hereafter) by brush harvesting the vegetation once (B1 hereafter), brush harvesting three times during the season (B3 hereafter), and by cutting green hay (GH hereafter). Then we determined the species composition and seed quantity of the harvested material. Furthermore ...[more]

PMID: 31198828

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Project description: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.

Project description:Land-use change is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss by introducing environmental modifications, which excludes native species unable to adapt to the novel conditions. Grasslands are among the most threatened biomes; understanding the influence of different land-use types on native species is crucial to achieving sustainable management policies. We hypothesized that land-use types that partially conserve the original vegetation cover would show higher taxonomic and functional diversity and similarity with native assemblages than land-use types that replace the original vegetation cover. We compared the taxonomic and functional alpha and beta diversity of spider assemblages between soybean crops, eucalypt plantations, and cattle fields with seminatural grasslands. Through null models, we assessed the standardized effect sizes to test differences in the strength of environmental filtering among land-use types. Environmental changes introduced by different land-use types resulted in assemblages differentiated in species and trait composition, taxonomically and functionally impoverished with respect to seminatural grasslands. All land-use types drove species replacement and trait loss and replacement of grassland spiders. Each land-use showed a characteristic species and trait composition. Most of the grassland traits were not lost but were under or over-represented according to the land-use type. Only in soybean crops the formation of spider communities would be mainly driven by environmental filtering. Changes in land-use decreased species diversity and modified the composition of spider species and functional traits leading to differentiated spider assemblages. As spider species and traits varied among land-uses, a mitigation measure against grasslands biodiversity loss could be the development of productive landscapes with a mosaic of land-use types, as each of them would provide microhabitats for species with different requirements. Because land-use types mainly led to the rearrangement of grassland functional trait values, most of spider functions might be conserved in mosaics of land-use types.

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Data on different seed harvesting methods used in grassland restoration on ex-arable land.

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Data on different seed harvesting methods used in grassland restoration on ex-arable land.

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