Deák et al. (2015) Basic and Applied Ecology

Balázs Deák, Orsolya Valkó, Péter Török, András Kelemen, Tamás Miglécz, Szilárd Szabó, Gergely Szabó, Béla Tóthmérész (2015): Micro-topographic heterogeneity increases plant diversity in old stages of restored grasslands. Basic and Applied Ecology, in press. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2015.02.008

Abstract

It is a truism in ecology that environmental heterogeneity increases diversity. Supporting field studies are mostly concerned with a large-scale topographic heterogeneity, ranging from a couple of meters to landscape-scale gradients. To test the role of fine-scale micro-topography on plant diversity, we studied the initial vegetation of recently filled (1-year-old), and established vegetation on old (7-year-old) soil-filled channels in an alkali landscape, East-Hungary. We hypothesised that (i) recently filled channels are characterised by a high cover of ruderal species and high species diversity and (ii) high micro-topographic heterogeneity increases the diversity of species and plant strategy types (mixed C-S-R categories) in early stages but later on this effect diminishes. We found that diversity of species and plant strategy types was higher in recently filled channels compared to old filled channels. Micro-topographic heterogeneity had no effect on the studied vegetation parameters in recently filled channels. Conversely, in old filled channels higher micro-topographic heterogeneity resulted in higher diversity and lower cover of the dominant grass Festuca pseudovina. Higher micro-topographic heterogeneity resulted in increased ruderality and decreased stress-tolerance, but it did not increase the diversity of plant strategy types. In contrast with former studies, we found that a couple of centimeters of micro-topographic heterogeneity had no effect on vegetation in recently filled channels, but supported a high diversity in old filled channels. An important practical implication of our study is that in grassland restoration projects, micro-topographic heterogeneity has a crucial role in sustaining biodiversity.

Keywords

Alkali landscape, C-S-R strategies, Elevation, Functional diversity, Grassland restoration, Plant trait, Soil disturbance, Succession, Topography

Valkó et al. (2013) Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Orsolya Valkó, Béla Tóthmérész, András Kelemen, Edina Simon, Tamás Miglécz, Balázs András Lukács, Péter Török (2013): Environmental factors driving seed bank diversity in alkali grasslands. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.06.012


Abstract
For an effective conservation and management in grasslands it is essential to understand mechanisms sustaining biodiversity. To gain knowledge is especially crucial in stressed grasslands harbouring a unique flora and fauna, like alkali grasslands. Aboveground vegetation, seed bank and environmental factors were studied in three stands of the following alkali grassland types: (i) Artemisia dry alkali grasslands at highest elevations; (ii) Puccinellia high and (iii) Puccinellia low grasslands at medium to low elevations, and (iv)Juncus wet alkali grasslands at the lowest elevations. We tested the following hypotheses: (i) Seed bank species diversity and density are the highest in the most stressed grassland types, where regeneration by seeds could have a major importance in sustaining vegetation diversity. (ii) Seed bank density of hygrophytes increases with decreasing elevation, because the cover of hygrophytes in the vegetation increases with decreasing elevation. The mean seed bank density ranged from 30,104 up to 51,410 seeds/m2, which is higher than in most dry grasslands. Both the lowest seed bank density and diversity were detected in the most stressed Puccinellia high grasslands; Spergularia salina was the only abundant seed bank species (possessing at least 1000 seeds/m2). These results not supported our first hypothesis. We detected the highest seed densities of almost all hygrophyte species in the lowest-elevatedJuncus grasslands. But, we did not find a significant monotonous correlation between elevation and the overall hygrophyte seed bank density; because most of the hygrophyte species were missing from the seed bank at the medium-elevated, but most saline Puccinellia grasslands. Thus, our results only partly supported the second hypothesis. In total we detected more species in the seed bank than in the aboveground vegetation which emphasises that seed bank plays an important role in sustaining the diversity of alkali grasslands. However, characteristic graminoids possessed no considerable seed bank, except for Juncus compressus (up to 38,619 seeds/m2). We can conclude that persistence and establishment of most alkali grassland species are not supported by the local persistent seed bank.


Keywords
Elevation, Salt marsh, Salinity, Seed density, Seedling emergence, Dispersal