Plant species decline due to abandonment of meadows cannot easily be reversed by mowing. A case study from the southern Alps

Abstract. We resumed mowing in two plots of ca. 100 m2 in an abandoned meadow dominated by Brachypodium pinnatum on the slope of Monte Generoso (Switzerland). We monitored species composition and hay yield using point quadrats and biomass samples. Species frequencies changed little during 10 yr (1988–1997) while hay yields showed large fluctuations according to mean relative humidity in April-June. We performed a seed-addition experiment to test whether the establishment of meadow species is limited by lack of diaspores or favourable microsites for germination and recruitment from the seed bank. We sowed ca. 12 000 seeds of 12 species originating from a nearby meadow individually in plots of a 4 × 6 unbalanced Latin square with four treatments, burning, mowing, mowing and removal of a layer of decayed organic matter, and a control. We monitored the fate of seedling individuals for 24 months. Seedlings of all species were established and survived for 12 months, 10 species survived during at least 24 months, some reached a reproductive stage. Species responded to different qualities of microsites provided by the different treatments thus required different regeneration niches. Spontaneous long-distance immigration was insignificant. We conclude that the former species composition of abandoned meadows cannot easily be restored by mowing alone because many plant species of meadows do not have persistent seed banks and immigration over distances of more than 25 m and successful establishment is very unlikely.

Tab. 1: Number and percentage of glacier movements in the Austrian Alps between 1960 and 1975

The statistical record of the length of Austrian glaciers is continued with an improved classification scheme. The tendency of increasing glacier advance is maintained since 1965. 54 glaciers, or 58 % of the 93 observed, were advancing in 1975. A relation that is noticed between the behavior of the terminus and mean air temperature of the ablation period is discussed in qualitative terms.

OS Planos Municipais de Educaçao no Tocantins : Arqueologia dos processos de construçao e perspectivas de regime de colaboraçao e da gestao democrática

O trabalho apresenta resultados de pesquisa acerca das políticas de educaçao no Brasil, do princípio regime de colaboraçao e da gestao da educaçao, apresentando, neste momento, aspectos da trajetória sociopolítica da elaboraçao ou adequaçao dos Planos Municipais de Educaçao (PMEs), deflagrada em 2013 pelo MEC/SASE, com as possibilidades de efetivaçao do regime de colaboraçao e da gestao democrática. Sua abordagem é qualitativa, de caráter teórico-empírico e exploratório, abarcando a documentaçao relativa aos PMEs dos Municípios. No Tocantins, até o início do ano de 2014, um georreferenciamento demonstra que dos 139 Municípios, apenas seis elaboraram seus PMEs. Neste contexto, predomina a visao de administraçao municipal restrita às suas instituiçoes escolares e ao tempo de sua gestao, sem relaçao ou articulaçao com metas nacionais comuns com vistas à materializaçao do Sistema Nacional de Educaçao. Deste processo, destaca-se o significativo movimento sociopolítico em torno do planejamento da educaçao no século XXI, enfrentado o desafio de definir o objetivo comum da educaçao brasileira. Entretanto, há ideias que merecem ser investigadas, como a sua concepçao de gestao e planejamento e as formas de colaboraçao estabelecidas