Enriching plant diversity in grasslands by large-scale experimental sward disturbance and seed addition along gradients of land-use intensity

Aims The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is among the most active areas of ecological research. Furthermore, enhancing the diversity of degraded ecosystems is a major goal in applied restoration ecology. In grasslands, many species may be locally absent due to dispersal or microsite limitation and may therefore profit from mechanical disturbance of the resident vegetation. We established a seed addition and disturbance experiment across several grassland sites of different land use to test whether plant diversity can be increased in these grasslands. Additionally, the experiment will allow us testing the consequences of increased plant diversity for ecosystem processes and for the diversity of other taxa in real-world ecosystems. Here we present details of the experimental design and report results from the first vegetation survey one year after disturbance and seed addition. Moreover, we tested whether the effects of seed addition and disturbance varied among grassland depending on their land use or pre-disturbance plant diversity. Methods A full-factorial experiment was installed in 73 grasslands in three regions across Germany. Grasslands were under regular agricultural use, but varied in the type and the intensity of management, thereby representing the range of management typical for large parts of Central Europe. The disturbance treatment consisted of disturbing the top 10 cm of the sward using a rotavator or rotary harrow. Seed addition consisted of sowing a high-diversity seed mixture of regional plant species. These species were all regionally present, but often locally absent, depending on the resident vegetation composition and richness of each grassland. Important findings One year after sward disturbance it had significantly increased cover of bare soil, seedling species richness and numbers of seedlings. Seed addition had increased plant species richness, but only in combination with sward disturbance. The increase in species richness, when both seed addition and disturbance was applied, was higher at high land-use intensity and low resident diversity. Thus, we show that at least the early recruitment of many species is possible also at high land-use intensity, indicating the potential to restore and enhance biodiversity of species-poor agricultural grasslands. Our newly established experiment provides a unique platform for broad-scale research on the land-use dependence of future trajectories of vegetation diversity and composition and their effects on ecosystem functioning.

Arapaho National Forest (N.F.), Roosevelt National Forest (N.F.), Long Draw Reservoir, land use authorization : environmental impact statement.

*There is a Dapp for this EIS which is shared by, and listed under, the Joe Wright Reservoir EIS (FS-CO-940313). A change in this file's call number should be changed in the NOTE section of the Wright Reservoir file.

Impact assessment of the Virginia Railway Express Commuter Rail on land use development patterns in northern Virginia.

Federal Transit Administration, Washington, D.C.

Economic incentives for land use control /

"February 1977."

Planning methodologies for analysis of land use/water quality relationships /

Mode of access: Internet.

Agricultural land use water quality interaction : problem abatement, project monitoring, and monitoring strategies /

Mode of access: Internet.

Soil biology as related to land use practices : proceedings of the VII International Soil Zoology Colloquium of the International Society of Soil Science (ISSS) /

Item 473-B-1

Integrated land use/air quality/water quality control study for Sonoma County, California /

Mode of access: Internet.

A summary of existing rural land use legislation in Minnesota /

"February 1937."

Metropolitan America in transition: implications for land use and transportation planning.

Mode of access: Internet.

Clearwater County, Minnesota preliminary report of county land-use planning committee 1940.

Prepared by County Committee in cooperation with County Extension Service, University of Minnesota and Bureau of Agricultural Economics U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Cass County, Minnesota preliminary report of county land-use Committee 1939.

Prepared by County Committee in cooperation with County Extension Service, University of Minnesota and Bureau of Agriculture Economics U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Encouraging public transportation through effective land use actions.

Metro, Seattle, Wash.

Urban transportation and land use: final report.

Transportation Department, Office of University Research, Washington, D.C.

Land use and urban development impact of BART: interpretive summary of the final report.

Transportation Department, Washington, D.C.