Grassland recovery on soil-filled drainage channels in the Hortobágy National Park
Abstract
Elimination of drainage channels offers a viable solution for increasing landscape connectivity and eliminating landscape scars. We studied the spontaneous vegetation recovery of alkaline grasslands on 1-year-old and 6-year-old soil-filled drainage channels in the Hortobágy National Park. We asked the following questions. (i) How fast is the increase of Festuca pseudovina cover after soil-filling of the channels? (ii) How fast is the decrease of short-lived weed cover after soil-filling of the channels? (iii) How fast is the recovery of alkaline grasslands after soil-filling of the channels? We found that in the vegetation of the 6-year-old filled channels, Festuca pseudovina was present with high cover scores, similar to figures detected in studies where the species was sown in grassland restoration
projects. We detected a very low cover of short-lived weeds (0.3-2.7%) in the vegetation of the 6-year-old filled channels. We found that grassland recovery on filled channels was fast, since their low surface-perimeter ratio likely supported the immigration of target species from the adjacent natural grasslands. Our findings suggest that for the restoration of such narrow landscape scars, where propagule input of target species is warranted from the adjacent natural grasslands, spontaneous grassland recovery can be a feasible and cost-effective restoration option.
References
Albert, Á. J., Kelemen, A., Valkó, O., Miglécz, T., Csecserits, A., Rédei, T., Deák, B., Tóthmérész, B. & Török, P. (2014): Trait-based analysis of spontaneous grassland recovery in sandy oldfields. – Appl. Veg. Sci. 17: 214–224.
Blomqvist, M. M., Vos, P., Klinkhamer, P. G. L. & ter Keurs, W. J. (2003): Declining plant species richness of grassland ditch banks – a problem of colonisation or extinction? – Biol. Conserv. 109: 391–406.
Bodó, I. & Salamon, F. (1976): A Hortobágy mezőgazdasága. – In: Kovács Gné, & Salamon F. (szerk.): Hortobágy – A nomád Pusztától a Nemzeti Parkig. Natura Kiadó, Budapest. pp. 115–178.
Borhidi, A. (1995): Social behaviour types, the naturalness and relative ecological indicator values of the higher plants in the Hungarian Flora. – Acta Bot. Hung. 39: 97–181.
Coulson, S. J., Bullock, J. M., Stevenson, M. J. & Pywell, R. F. (2001): Colonization of grassland by sown species: dispersal versus microsite limitation in responses to management. – J. Appl. Ecol. 38: 204–216.
Cousins, S. A. O., Olsson, H. & Eriksson, O. (2007): Effects of historical and present fragmentation on plant species diversity in semi-natural grasslands in Swedish rural landscapes. – Landscape Ecol. 22: 723–730.
Csecserits, A., Szabó, R., Halassy, M. & Rédei, T. (2007): Testing the validity of successional predictions on an old-field chronosequence in Hungary. – Com. Ecol. 8: 195–207.
Deák, B., Török, P., Kapocsi, I., Lontay, L., Vida, E., Valkó, O., Lengyel, Sz. & Tóthmérész, B. (2008): Szik- és löszgyep-rekonstrukció vázfajokból álló magkeverék vetésével a Hortobágyi Nemzeti Park területén (Egyek-Pusztakócs). – Tájökol. Lapok 6: 323–332.
Deák, B. & Kapocsi, I. (2010): Természetvédelmi célú gyepesítés a gyakorlatban: Mennyibe kerül egy hektár gyep? – Tájökol. Lapok 8: 395–409.
Deák, B., Valkó, O., Török, P. & Tóthmérész, B. (2014a): Solonetz meadow vegetation (Beckmannion eruciformis) in East-Hungary – an alliance driven by moisture and salinity. – Tuexenia 34: 187–203.
Deák, B., Valkó, O., Tóthmérész, B., Török, P. (2014b): Alkali marshes of Central-Europe ¬ Ecology, Management and Nature Conservation. – In: Shao H-B (szerk.) Salt Marshes: Ecosystem, Vegetation and Restoration Strategies. Nova Science Publishers, pp. 1–11.
Deák, B., Valkó, O., Török, P., Kelemen, A., Miglécz, T., Szabó, Sz., Szabó, G. & Tóthmérész, B. (2015a): Micro-topographic heterogeneity increases plant diversity in old stages of restored grasslands. – Basic Appl. Ecol. 16: 291–299. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2015.02.008.
Deák, B., Valkó, O., Török, P., Kelemen, A., Tóth, K., Miglécz, T. & Tóthmérész, B. (2015b): Reed cut, habitat diversity and productivity in wetlands. – Ecol. Complex. 22: 121–125. doi:10.1016/j. ecocom.2015.02.010
Freund, L., Eichberg, C., Retta, I. & Schwabe, A. (2014): Seed addition via epizoochorous dispersal in restoration: an experimental approach mimicking the colonization of bare soil patches. – Appl. Veg. Sci. 17: 74–85.
Halassy, M. (2001): Possible role of the seed bank in the restoration of open sand grassland in old fields. – Com. Ecol. 2: 101–108.
Horváth, R., Magura, T., Szinetár, Cs., Eichardt, J. & Tóthmérész, B. (2013): Large and least isolated fragments preserve habitat specialist spiders best in dry sandy grasslands in Hungary. – Biodivers. Conserv. 22: 2139–2150.
Hutchings, M. J. & Booth, K. D. (1996): Studies on the feasibility of re-creating chalk grassland vegetation on ex-arable land. I. The potential roles of the seed bank and the seed rain. – J. Appl. Ecol. 33: 1171–1181.
Lengyel, Sz., Varga, K., Kosztyi, B., Lontay, L., Déri, E., Török, P. & Tóthmérész, B. (2012): Grassland restoration to conserve landscape-level biodiversity: a synthesis of early results from a large-scale project. – Appl. Veg. Sci. 15: 264–276.
Lepš, J. & Šmilauer, P. (2003): Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data Using CANOCO. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 373 p.
Király, G. (szerk.) (2009): Új magyar füvészkönyv. Magyarország hajtásos növényei. – Határozókulcsok. Jósvafő: Aggteleki Nemzeti Park Igazgatóság. 616 p.
Magura, T., Ködöböcz, V. & Tóthmérész, B. (2001): Effects of habitat fragmentation on carabids in forest patches. – J. Biogeogr. 28: 129–138.
Molnár, Zs. & Botta-Dukát, Z. (1998): Improved space-for-time substitution for hypothesis generation: secondary grasslands with documented site history in SE-Hungary. – Phytocoenologia 28: 1–29.
Penksza, K., Tasi, J., Szentes, Sz. & Centeri, Cs. (2008): Természetvédelmi célú botanikai, takarmányozástani és talajtani vizsgálatok a Tapolcai és Káli-medence szürkemarha és bivaly legelőin. – Gyepgazd. Közl. 6: 47–53.
Penksza, K., Szentes, Sz., Loksa, G., Dannhauser, Cs. & Házi, J. (2010): A legeltetés hatása a gyepekre és természetvédelmi vonatkozásai a Tapolcai- és a Káli-medencében. – Term. Közlem. 16: 25–49.
Prach, K. & Řehounková, K. (2008): Spontaneous vegetation succession in gravel-sand pits: a potential for restoration. – Restor. Ecol. 16: 305–312.
Török, P., Matus, G., Papp, M. & Tóthmérész, B. (2008): Secondary succession in overgrazed Pannonian sandy grasslands. – Preslia 80: 73–85.
Török, P., Matus, G. Papp, M. & Tóthmérész, B. (2009): Seed bank and vegetation development of sandy grasslands after goose breeding. – Folia Geobot. 44: 31–46.
Török, P., Deák, B., Vida, E., Valkó, O., Lengyel, Sz. & Tóthmérész, B. (2010): Restoring grassland biodiversity: Sowing low-diversity seed mixtures can lead to rapid favourable changes. – Biol. Conserv. 143: 806–812.
Török P., Vida E., Deák B., Lengyel Sz. & Tóthmérész B. (2011): Grassland restoration on former croplands in Europe: an assessment of applicability of techniques and costs. – Biodivers. Conserv. 20: 2311–2332.
Török P., Miglécz T.,Valkó O., Kelemen A., Deák B., Lengyel Sz. & Tóthmérész B. (2012): Recovery of native grass biodiversity by sowing on former croplands: Is weed suppression a feasible goal for grassland restoration? – J. Nat. Conserv. 20: 41–48.
Török, P., Valkó, O., Deák, B., Kelemen, A. & Tóthmérész, B. (2014): Traditional cattle grazing in a mosaic alkali landscape: Effects on grassland biodiversity along a moisture gradient. – PLoS ONE 9: e97095.
Valkó, O., Vida, E., Kelemen, A., Török, P., Deák, B., Miglécz, T., Lengyel, Sz. & Tóthmérész, B. (2010): Gyeprekonstrukció napraforgó- és gabonatáblák helyén alacsony diverzitású magkeverék vetésével. –Tájökol. Lapok 8: 53–64.
Valkó, O., Tóthmérész, B., Kelemen, A., Simon, E., Miglécz, T., Lukács, B. & Török, P. (2014): Environmental factors driving vegetation and seed bank diversity in alkali grasslands. – Agric. Ecosys. Environ. 182: 80–87.
