National Research, Development and Innovation Office of Hungary(PD-123997)
Prémium Posztdoktori Ösztöndíj(PPD008/2017) Támogató: MTA Prémium
Momentum Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences(MTA Lendület_2020-56)
A significant proportion of Europe’s species-rich grasslands are semi-natural habitats.
They have a long history of traditional management. Several studies have been carried
out to conserve them, resulting in the establishment of subsidised conservation management
schemes. On the other hand, many of these conservation management schemes have failed
to provide locally adaptive solutions to maintain the diversity and functional status
of species-rich grasslands. In addition, few studies have compared the conservation
effectiveness of different levels of management complexity. The levels of management
complexity in our study are based on how different management types (e.g. grazing
and mowing etc.) and how different herbage removal intensities (e.g. lower and higher
grazing intensities) are combined within and between years. To investigate this, we
compared the overall effects of management complexity, herbage removal intensity and
management type on plant diversity, plant functional type dominance relationships
and plant physiognomy. Our field sampling was carried out in the sandy meso-xeric
grasslands of the Turján Region of the Great Hungarian Plain (Central Hungary). We
sampled nine 2 m × 2 m plots per grassland site (n = 12), recorded all the rooted
plant species and estimated their percentage cover in each plot. High level of management
complexity had significant positive effects on plant diversity, grazing had positive
effects on plant diversity and phanerophyte density, while the studied levels of herbage
removal intensity had no effect on diversity, plant functional types or plant physiognomy.
In parallel, mowing and/or low levels of management complexity had some negative effects
on conservation value (e.g. lower Shannon and Simpson diversity). In this landscape,
the dominance of grazing and the more complex management is more optimal than relatively
homogeneous mechanical mowing. The choice of management type and intensity is an important
tool in the conservation management system of this landscape, but so too is its appropriate
application in space and time. Through a detailed analysis of the effects of management
complexity levels compared to management types and herbage removal intensity levels,
we provide a new opportunity to make grassland management practices more effective
for conserving biodiversity in this region, but it would be important to investigate
these in different landscapes and conditions.
