Mowed Sites Research Articles

Suchozemští plži kontinentálních zaplavovaných luk u řeky Labe mezi Lysou nad Labem a Mělníkem [Terrestrial gastropods of the continental flooded meadows by Elbe river between Lysá nad Labem and Mělník

Mollusc fauna in three localities of continental flooded meadows in Úpor-Černínovsko Nature Reserve and in Káraný – Hrbáčkovy tůně Nature Reserve in the Middle Polabí lowland were studied. No species of conservation importance were found there, and most of the species found belong to generalists. The sites form a gradient from un-mowed to completely mowed meadow. Management resulted in a decrease in species diversity and, conversely, an increase in abundance towards the completely mowed site characterized by a high abundance of Vertigo pygmaea, species of early succession stage.

Effects of seasonal grazing and annual mowing on floristic composition and plant diversity in the Saral rangeland, Kurdistan, Iran

This study examined the impact of long-term (40 years) seasonal grazing and annual scythe mowing on changes in plant diversity, floristic composition and plant functional groups in the cold semi-arid rangelands of Mangahul-Zardawan located in Saral, Kurdistan. In this investigation, 900 plots (2 m2) were sampled in grazed (450 plots) and mowed sites (450 plots) to measure vegetation and plant characteristics. Data were collected in two consecutive growing seasons from late May to early June in 2017 and 2018. Both years recorded below average rainfall. The results showed that after 40 years, seasonal grazing compared to scythe mowing increased canopy cover and species richness of different functional groups including annuals, perennial grasses, perennial forbs and total vegetation. On the other hand, both the total above-ground plant material and the palatability index were higher for the mowed than the grazed sites, although scythe mowing had caused the Boraginaceae family to disappear. Based on these results, the mean of total plant material (above-ground live + standing dead + litter) was substantially higher in the mowed area, where two-year mean totals were 271 g/m2 compared with 216 g/m2 for the grazed area. In terms of a three-level palatability classification (high, medium and low), only the plants with moderate palatability differed in contribution between the sites, with mowed sites having a significantly greater proportion of this class than the grazed sites. Our results suggested that in the long term, grazing can maintain species richness and the typical floristic composition of rangelands; but when socio-economic issues have priority, mowing has more advantages. In rangelands with the same ecological and geographic conditions, users and managers can choose the most appropriate management approach based on their long- and short-term policies.

Carbon uptake changed but vegetation composition remained stable during transition from grazing to mowing grassland management

Grasslands could play an important role in supporting livestock, in carbon sequestration and in biodiversity conservation. Different grassland managements may change the vegetation composition of grasslands, which could alter these ecosystem services. We studied the effects of grazing vs. mowing on the vegetation composition (2012–2016) and on the carbon uptake (2011–2013) of sandy grasslands in Hungary to study if the vegetation composition differs and if it does, whether it affects carbon uptake. To observe differences in vegetation composition between the two types of management regimes we performed fine-scale vegetation survey in adjacent grazed and mowed sites. We compared species compositions and vegetation diversity indices between the management regimes based on permutational ANOVA, mixed effect model and information theory models. We used fine-scale vegetation survey because it has the potential to indicate vegetation changes within six years as changes in species richness and diversity are usually detected after 10–20 years. Carbon uptake was measured in parallel with eddy covariance technique at both sites. In spite of the contrasting management regimes the vegetation composition was stable (no differences observed in the diversity indices), while carbon uptake was significantly greater in the grazed (sink: +1 ± 0.7 t C ha−1 year−1) compared to the mowed site (source: -0.3 ± 0.6 t C ha−1 year−1). The vegetation was heterogeneous (patchy) and had a high species richness at both sites (grazed: 91 species ha−1, mowed: 90 species ha−1) which might have contributed to the stability of the vegetation composition. We concluded that differences in carbon uptake existed between the grazed vs. mowed sites due to biomass removal intensity with no differences in the vegetation composition.

Texas Blackland Prairie restoration on old-field vegetation using seeding, mowing, and burning

This study compares degraded old-field grass-dominated pasture response to over-seeding with native tallgrass prairie species with the management practices of burning, mowing and a no-treatment control. Treatments were randomly allocated in a 2 × 3 factorial design with at least six replicate 40 m × 40 m plots. In the third year after treatment species richness increased for seeded vs. unseeded plots (18.9 vs. 14.4 species per plot; p < 0.01) and for mowed or control vs. burned plots (17.4 vs. 15.2 species per plot; p < 0.05). Also, tiller densities of planted tallgrasses increased somewhat to 12% of old-field grass tiller densities (p = 0.001). Multivariate analysis (ANOSIM) the third season following planting indicated some dissimilarity between seeded and unseeded plots (R = 0.32; p = 0.002). After 9 years dissimilarity between seeded and unseeded communities had increased (R = 0.83; p = 0.001) but species richness was similar (p > 0.27). Seeded tallgrasses comprised 44% biomass in seeded vs. 3% in unseeded plots, while seeded forbs comprised 16% biomass in seeded vs. 4% in unseeded plots (p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis of seeded-burned and seeded-mowed sites indicated some dissimilarity (R = 0.25; p = 0.002) with tallgrass biomass being 55% greater (p = 0.001) on mowed sites than controls and 117% greater than burned sites. Tallgrass prairie species planting success may be enhanced with well-timed mowing but harmed by burning when plants are young.

Effect of different land-use on occurrence and morphological traits of Carex buxbaumii (study from Biebrza National Park, Poland)

Carex buxbaumii is rare sedge of moist to wet meadows, marshes and fens. The population trends and detailed habitat requirements of this species remain unknown. In Poland, C. buxbaumii belongs to EN category of IUCN, while is even more endangered in other European countries. The knowledge on this species is limited, but probably it needs active protection for its maintenance. It is also known that plants respond morphologically to changes in the site conditions which may help to determine the ways of effective method of their conservation. Therefore, we examined the frequency and morphology of Carex buxbaumii growing in a sward of fen-grasslands i) abandoned for 15 years, ii) mowed, or iii) grazed by Konik horses. The description of the occurrence and of the morphological reaction to the differentiation in land–use type of C. buxbaumii is presented against the background of changes in vegetation cover that occurred in 2010–2016 in the examined fen-grassland.There was stated that C. buxbaumii grew on peat soils, of high content of organic matter and Ca+2. The type of land-use significantly differentiated both the frequency and morphology of C. buxbaumii. In the mowed site C. buxbaumii grew as an element of the Molinion vegetation and appeared there with 100% frequency. The individuals growing in the mowed site had the longest shoots, the longest inflorescence brackets, and the longest terminal spikes. In the site grazed by Koniks, C. buxbaumii was a component of Scheuchzerio–Caricetea nigrae vegetation, while its frequency of C. buxbaumii was 87%. The shoots there were the shortest, and in general, the morphology was the most differentiated. In the abandoned site C. buxbaumii abundance amounted 46%, and the individuals were smaller than those under the mowing regime but larger than those grazed by Koniks. In that site, the previous vegetation with high proportion of the Molinion and Phragmitetea species was replaced by Alnetea glutionosae vegetation, represented mainly by trees and shrubs. We have shown that the best conditions for the development of the C. buxbaumii population in the examined fen-grasslands are created under an extensive mowing regime.

Higher soil respiration under mowing than under grazing explained by biomass differences

Different management practices may change the rate of soil respiration, thus affecting the carbon balance of grasslands. Therefore, we investigated the effect of grazing and mowing on soil respiration along with its driving variables (soil water content, soil temperature, above and below ground biomass, vegetation indices and soil carbon) in adjacent treatments (grazed and mowed) at a semi-arid grassland in Hungary (2011–2013). The average soil respiration over three years was higher in the mown (6.03 ± 4.07 µmol CO2 m−2 s−1) than in the grazed treatment (5.29 ± 3.50 µmol CO2 m−2 s−1). While soil water content and soil temperature did not differ between treatments, mowing resulted in 20 % higher soil respiration than grazing, possibly due to 17 % higher average above ground biomass in the mowed than in the grazed treatment. Inclusions of vegetation index VIGreen in the soil respiration model in addition to abiotic drivers improved the explained Rs variance by 16 % in the mowed and by 5 % in the grazed site, respectively. VIGreen alone proved to be a simple and fast indicator of soil respiration (r2 = 0.31 at grazed, r2 = 0.44 at mowed site). We conclude that soil respiration is responsive to the combined effect soil water content, soil temperature, biomass and soil carbon content as affected by the management (grazing vs. mowing) practice.

Effect of reintroduced manual mowing on biodiversity in abandoned fen meadows

AbstractWetlands have recently become of high environmental interest. The restoration effects on habitats like fens are one of the main topics of recent restoration ecology, especially due to their interconnection with other ecosystems. We studied the manual mowing effect on abandoned fen using the response of three study taxa: diurnal butterflies, flower-visiting beetles and vascular plants. Our results showed that butterflies seems to be quickly-responding indicator taxon for evaluation and that restored management had a positive effect on both species richness and composition of this insect group. The results indicated that the manual mowing effect could be rapid. In comparison with the surrounding landscape, we found that: (i) the manually mowed site was most similar to strictly protected area, (ii) some species of high conservation value could reach higher abundance in restored than protected site, and (iii) manual mowing could bring a new type of habitat (i.e., spatial heterogeneity) compared to the other management types (abandonment, conservation and agri-environmental mowing). The main implication seems to be optimistic for practice: The manual mowing of long-term abandoned fen is leading to the creation of habitat with high conservation value in a relatively short time.

SOIL CO2 FLUX IN GRASSLAND, AFFORESTED LAND AND RECLAIMED COALMINE OVERBURDEN DUMPS: A CASE STUDY

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to measure the in situ soil CO2 flux from grassland, afforested land and reclaimed coalmine overburden dumps by using the automated soil CO2 flux system (LICOR‐8100® infrared gas analyzer, LICOR Inc., Lincoln, NE). The highest soil CO2 flux was observed in natural grassland (11·16 µmol CO2 m−2s−1), whereas the flux was reduced by 38 and 59 per cent in mowed site and at 15‐cm depth, respectively. The flux from afforested area was found 5·70 µmol CO2 m−2s−1, which is 50 per cent lower than natural grassland. In the reclaimed coalmine overburden dumps, the average flux under tree plantation was found to be lowest in winter and summer (0·89–1·12 µmol CO2 m−2s−1) and highest during late monsoon (3–3·5 µmol CO2 m−2s−1). During late monsoon, the moisture content was found to be higher (6–7·5 per cent), which leads to higher microbial activity and decomposition. In the same area under grass cover, soil CO2 flux was found to be higher (8·94 µmol CO2 m−2s−1) compared with tree plantation areas because of higher root respiration and microbial activity. The rate of CO2 flux was found to be determined predominantly by soil moisture and soil temperature. Our study indicates that the forest ecosystem plays a crucial role in combating global warming than grassland; however, to reduce CO2 flux from grassland, mowing is necessary. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Burning and mowing Wyoming big sagebrush: Do treated sites meet minimum guidelines for greater sage‐grouse breeding habitats?

AbstractWyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata wyomingensis) treatments are often implemented to improve breeding habitat for greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a species of considerable conservation concern. In 2008 and 2009, we measured vegetation structure available to sage‐grouse for breeding at 19 sites that were prescribed burned during 1990–1999 and 2000–2006, 6 sites that were mowed during 2000–2006, and 25 paired, untreated reference sites in the Bighorn Basin of north‐central Wyoming, USA. We compared minimum guidelines for canopy cover and height of Wyoming big sagebrush and perennial grass in arid greater sage‐grouse breeding habitat (Connelly et al. 2000b) to measurements at our sampling sites. Sagebrush canopy cover and height at reference sites met the minimum guidelines. Sagebrush canopy cover at burned and mowed sites did not meet the minimum guideline, except for sites mowed on aridic soils measured during 2009. Burned and mowed (3 of 4 cases) sagebrush did not meet minimum height for breeding up to 19 yr and 9 yr post‐treatment, respectively. Perennial grass canopy cover and height met the minimum guidelines for breeding habitat at reference, burned, and mowed sites. Burning increased grass canopy cover, but not height, compared to reference sites in 2 of 8 instances. Because burning, but not mowing, infrequently enhanced grass cover, but not height, and sagebrush structure was reduced by both practices for long periods, managers should consider how treatments may negatively affect Wyoming big sagebrush communities for sage‐grouse and consider other practices, including continued nontreatment and improved livestock grazing, to increase grass cover and height. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.