Haymaking complemented by moderate disturbances can sustain and restore species-rich alpine to subalpine grasslands

IF 2.6 3区 生物学 Q2 PLANT SCIENCES
Steffen Boch, Stefan Blaser, Christine Föhr, Meinrad Küchler, Markus Fischer
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The high plant diversity in alpine to subalpine grasslands is threatened by the abandonment of land use. In addition, changing environmental conditions might lead to vegetation shifts even when traditional land use is maintained, as observed in grasslands in Switzerland during the last decades. Maintaining and restoring the diversity of such grasslands might therefore require modified management methods. We conducted a six-year experiment to assess the responses of plant species richness, mean ecological indicator values, and vegetation composition to five management treatments, including scraping as additional management measure: haymaking (in autumn), haymaking complemented by scraping (i.e. manual raking) in autumn, haymaking complemented by scraping in spring, only scraping in spring, and abandonment of land use. We hypothesized that haymaking complemented by scraping in either season would remove additional biomass and increase species richness by creating open patches that can reduce inter-specific competition and promote species establishment. We found positive effects of haymaking complemented by scraping on plant species richness and habitat quality, indicated by the increased mean indicator value for light. Abandonment showed the opposite effects and increased mean indicator values for nutrients. Interestingly, haymaking combined with scraping in autumn promoted the development of the vegetation towards the composition similar to the resident vegetation type. Our findings show that extensive land use is essential to maintain species-rich alpine to subalpine grasslands. Further, they imply that modified land use can compensate for the negative developments such as reduced habitat quality and species richness caused by environmental changes and help restore the vegetation.

Abstract Image

割草辅以适度干扰,可以维持和恢复物种丰富的高山至亚高山草地
高山至亚高山草地的植物多样性很高,但却受到了土地废弃的威胁。此外,即使保持传统的土地利用方式,环境条件的变化也可能导致植被变化,过去几十年中在瑞士的草原上就观察到了这种情况。因此,保持和恢复此类草原的多样性可能需要改变管理方法。我们进行了一项为期六年的实验,以评估植物物种丰富度、平均生态指标值和植被组成对五种管理方法的反应,包括作为额外管理措施的刮草法:秋季打草、秋季打草辅以刮草(即人工耙草)、春季打草辅以刮草、春季仅刮草和放弃土地使用。我们假设,在两个季节中的任何一个季节进行打草并辅以刮草,都能清除额外的生物量,并通过形成开放的斑块来增加物种丰富度,从而减少物种间的竞争并促进物种的建立。我们发现,以打草辅以刮草对植物物种丰富度和栖息地质量有积极影响,这体现在光照平均指标值的提高上。弃耕则显示出相反的效果,并增加了养分的平均指标值。有趣的是,在秋季打草的同时进行刮草,可促进植被向与常住植被类型相似的成分发展。我们的研究结果表明,广泛的土地利用对于维持物种丰富的高山至亚高山草地至关重要。此外,这些研究还表明,改变土地利用方式可以弥补环境变化造成的栖息地质量和物种丰富度下降等负面影响,并有助于恢复植被。
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来源期刊
Alpine Botany
Alpine Botany PLANT SCIENCES-
CiteScore
5.10
自引率
18.50%
发文量
15
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Alpine Botany is an international journal providing a forum for plant science studies at high elevation with links to fungal and microbial ecology, including vegetation and flora of mountain regions worldwide.
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