Interaction of Management and Spontaneous Succession Suppresses the Impact of Harmful Native Dominant Species in a 20-Year-Long Experiment

Judit Házi (), Dragica Purger, Károly Penksza and Sándor Bartha
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Judit Házi: Department of Botany, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Rottenbiller utca 50, H-1077 Budapest, Hungary
Dragica Purger: Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Pécs, Rókus utca 2, H-7624 Pécs, Hungary
Károly Penksza: Department of Botany, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, MKK, Páter Károly utca 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Sándor Bartha: Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkotmány út 2–4, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Our study focused on the compositional changes of Pannonian semi-natural dry grasslands. The preservation of these valuable habitats requires regular management. Our mowing experiment aimed to study the suppression of the native dominant Calamagrostis epigejos L. Roth in mid-successional grasslands. Mowing was applied twice a year in eight permanent plots. The vegetation was sampled annually from 2001 to 2021. The impacts of mowing were tested using repeated–measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). After 10 years, the cover of C. epigejos in the mown plots decreased significantly, from an initial average cover of 56.6 to 5.6%. In 20 years, it declined to 1.3%. Surprisingly, in the control plots, it decreased also from 63.7 to 6.9%. Species richness was affected by mowing: significant differences between mown and control plots were detected from the eighth year of our experiment. However, species richness steadily increased in both treatment types from 15 to 36 in the mown plots and 18 to 25 in the control plots, indicating a combined effect of vegetation succession and treatment. Our results suggest that long-term in situ experiments and comprehensive botanical studies are necessary to provide a basis for multi-objective management and reliable utilization of grasslands.

Keywords: Calamagrostis epigejos L. Roth; conservation management; grassland expansion; invasion; land abandonment; long-term data; nature conservation; restoration treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:1:p:149-:d:1022557

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