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Abstract
In Central Europe, submontane grassland plant biodiversity is currently threatened by management intensification as well as by the cessation and abandonment of management activities (extensive grazing and mowing). Although the vegetation of Central European grasslands has been well described by phytosociological papers, there is still a need to improve our understanding of the effect of both management and environment on species richness and community composition. We studied submontane grassland communities in Central Slovakia. Our study showed that both environmental variables and management were important for shaping the submontane grassland species richness and floristic composition. Plant species richness showed a weak negative relationship with soil pH. When grassland management types were analyzed individually, the amount of phosphorus, nitrogen, pH, and altitude were all found to be significantly correlated with plant species richness or diversity. Management type and local environmental factors (i.e., incoming solar radiation) both determined community composition.
Highlights
Seminatural submontane grasslands are recognized as valuable habitats with extraordinarily high species richness and, despite their relatively small extent, they belong to representative landscape elements in many European countries [1,2,3]
Almost all the PASTURE sites were characterized by the presence of Festuca rubra, Agrostis capillaris, and Anthoxanthum odoratum
Using correspondence analysis (CCA), we found a significant relationship between plant community compos tion and the selected explanatory variables and management type, which explained 45% of the total variation in plant community composition
Summary
Seminatural submontane grasslands are recognized as valuable habitats with extraordinarily high species richness and, despite their relatively small extent, they belong to representative landscape elements in many European countries [1,2,3]. They often host many characteristic and diagnostic plant species, typical for this type of biotope and provide many important ecological and environmental services (e.g., nutrients cycles, erosion control, provision of habitats, etc.) [4,5,6]. The abandonment of grazing or mowing followed by progressive succession or afforestation is often considered to be a threat to local or regional biodiversity [15,16,17]
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