Abstract
Traditional haymaking has created exceptionally high levels of plant species diversity in semi-natural grasslands of the Carpathian Mountains (Romania), the maintenance of which is jeopardized by recent abandonment and subsequent vegetation succession. We tested the hypothesis that the different life history strategies of dominant grasses cause different patterns of diversity loss after abandonment of traditional haymaking in two types of meadow. Although diversity loss rate was not significantly different, the mechanism of loss depended on the life history of dominant species. In meadows co-dominated by competitive stress-tolerant ruderals, diversity loss occurred following the suppression of dominant grasses by tall forbs, whereas in meadows dominated by a stress-tolerant competitor, diversity loss resulted from increased abundance and biomass of the dominant grass. We conclude that management for species conservation in abandoned grasslands should manipulate the functional turnover in communities where the dominant species is a weaker competitor, and abundance and biomass of dominant species in communities where the dominant species is the stronger competitor.
Highlights
Traditional landscapes are currently becoming a focus of biodiversity conservation efforts [1]
There was a marginal interaction of Potential direct incident solar radiation (PDIR) with replicates, with low elevation abandoned Tor Grass meadows having higher PDIR and lower richness (19.6±1.2) than their mowed Tor Grass counterparts on terraces (33.0±2.1)
The mountain hay meadows in the Carpathian Mountains are a highly diverse anthropogenic grassland ecosystem that is threatened by cessation of traditional management
Summary
Traditional landscapes are currently becoming a focus of biodiversity conservation efforts [1]. Anthropogenic temperate grasslands attain global plant species maxima at scales ≤50 m2 [2]. Such high levels of diversity evolved during extended periods of traditional small-scale farming practices, but have been lost over the last century in most of Europe because of major socio-economic changes and unsustainable land use policies and practices. Much research effort is being focused on understanding the reasons for the high vascular plant diversity in traditionally managed meadows and the major species loss following abandonment [5]. Studies in various habitat types have shown that the identity of dominant species is critical to species diversity [6], compositional stability [7] and ecosystem functions [8]. In spite of our growing knowledge of these processes, the effects of dominant species on diversity loss from these extremely diverse, abandoned meadows, has received little study [12]
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