Long-term effects of meadow management on seed bank diversity and composition

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Journal of Vegetation Science Pub Date : 2024-06-24 DOI:10.1111/jvs.13282

Alida A. Hábenczyus, Iva Weiterová, Kacper Foremnik, Aljaž Jakob, Siddharth Khopkar, Agnishikhe Kumar, Anamaria Lazăr, Bruno Paganeli, Kenz Raouf Samraoui, Jeni Sidwell, Jan Hrček, Jan Lepš, Jules Segrestin

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aims

Oligotrophic grasslands are habitats that host among the most diverse plant communities in Europe. Altering management regimes by either intensifying or ceasing management is known to decrease plant diversity. Yet, despite its importance for the recovery of plant communities after disturbances, little is known about whether seed banks are also affected by changes in management. Here, we investigate the effect of management practices on a meadow seed bank using a long-term manipulative experiment. We focus on the response of the seed bank to the treatments, and the relationship between the seed bank and the vegetation response.

Methods

The study was conducted in a species-rich wet meadow. The experiment consists of a factorial combination of fertilization, mowing, and removal of the dominant species. After 20 years of management, the seed bank was sampled seasonally at two soil layer depths. Standing vegetation was recorded in June at the peak of vegetation.

Results

All seed bank characteristics varied between soil layers. Mowing decreased seed density and diversity, while fertilization significantly affected the species composition. Dominant removal had no effect on the seed bank. While seed bank diversity was not correlated to vegetation diversity, individual species' responses to mowing and fertilization were positively correlated in the seed bank and the vegetation.

Conclusions

Our results show that long-term management influences the seed bank down to 10 cm of soil depth. Whereas mowing apparently reduced seed density and diversity, the effects of fertilization on these characteristics were harder to interpret. After 20 years, most species had concordant responses to both mowing and fertilization, indicating a low legacy of previous management regimes on the seed bank. Our study reveals that the intensification of grassland management has a profound effect on plant diversity by directly affecting plant communities and their seed-bank-driven recovery potential.

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草地管理对种子库多样性和组成的长期影响

目的低营养草地是欧洲植物群落最多样化的栖息地之一。众所周知，通过加强或停止管理来改变管理制度会降低植物多样性。然而，尽管种子库对于植物群落在受到干扰后的恢复非常重要，但人们对种子库是否也会受到管理变化的影响却知之甚少。在这里，我们通过一个长期操纵实验来研究管理措施对草地种子库的影响。我们的重点是种子库对处理方法的反应，以及种子库与植被反应之间的关系。方法研究在物种丰富的湿草甸上进行。实验包括施肥、除草和移除优势物种的因子组合。经过 20 年的管理后，按季节在两个土层深度对种子库进行采样。在植被高峰期的 6 月份记录常绿植被。结果不同土层的种子库特征各不相同。除草降低了种子密度和多样性，而施肥则对物种组成有显著影响。清除优势物种对种子库没有影响。虽然种子库多样性与植被多样性不相关，但在种子库和植被中，单个物种对除草和施肥的反应呈正相关。结论我们的研究结果表明，长期管理对种子库的影响可达 10 厘米深的土壤。除草明显降低了种子密度和多样性，而施肥对这些特征的影响则难以解释。20 年后，大多数物种对除草和施肥的反应一致，这表明以前的管理制度对种子库的影响较小。我们的研究表明，加强草地管理会直接影响植物群落及其由种子库驱动的恢复潜力，从而对植物多样性产生深远影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Vegetation Science 环境科学-林学

CiteScore

6.00

自引率

3.60%

发文量

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Vegetation Science publishes papers on all aspects of plant community ecology, with particular emphasis on papers that develop new concepts or methods, test theory, identify general patterns, or that are otherwise likely to interest a broad international readership. Papers may focus on any aspect of vegetation science, e.g. community structure (including community assembly and plant functional types), biodiversity (including species richness and composition), spatial patterns (including plant geography and landscape ecology), temporal changes (including demography, community dynamics and palaeoecology) and processes (including ecophysiology), provided the focus is on increasing our understanding of plant communities. The Journal publishes papers on the ecology of a single species only if it plays a key role in structuring plant communities. Papers that apply ecological concepts, theories and methods to the vegetation management, conservation and restoration, and papers on vegetation survey should be directed to our associate journal, Applied Vegetation Science journal.