Új cikkünk a Frontiers of Plant Science-ben

Erdős László és Török Péter megosztott elsőszerzőségével elfogadták közlésre cikkünket a Frontiers of Plant Science szaklapban. A cikk rámutat az erdőssztyeppek példáján, hogy az "ökológiai átmeteket" jelentő élőhelyek konzervációja nem irányulhat az átmeneti élőhelyek egyes diszkrét komponenseinek (az erdőssztyeppek esetében az fás illetve a gyepes alkotóelem) egymástól függetlenül zajló megőrzésére, hanem az átmeneti élőhelyek integratív konzervációjára van szükség. A cikk a közeljövőben szabadon elérhető lesz a folyóirat honlapján. A közlemény összefoglalója az alábbiakban olvasható.

Beyond the forest-grassland dichotomy: the gradient-like organization of habitats in forest-steppes

Erdős L., Török P., Szitár K., Bátori Z., Tölgyesi Cs., Kiss J., Bede-Fazekas Á., Kröel-Dulay Gy.

Featuring a transitional zone between closed forests and treeless steppes, forest-steppes cover vast areas and have outstanding conservation importance. The components of this mosaic ecosystem can conveniently be classified into two basic types, forests and grasslands. However, this dichotomic classification may not fit reality as habitat organization can be much more complex. In this study, our aim was to find out if the main habitat types can be grouped into two distinct habitat categories (which would support the dichotomic description), or a different paradigm better fits this complex ecosystem. We selected six main habitats of sandy forest-steppes, and, using 176 relevés, we compared their vegetation based on species composition (NMDS ordination, number of common species of the studied habitats), relative ecological indicator values (mean indicators for temperature, soil moisture, and light availability), and functional species groups (life-form categories, geoelement types, and phytosociological preference groups). According to the species composition, we found a well-defined gradient, with the following habitat order: large forest patches – medium forest patches – small forest patches – north-facing edges – south-facing edges – grasslands. A considerable number of species were shared among all habitats, while the number of species restricted to certain habitat types was also numerous, especially for north-facing edges. The total (i.e., pooled) number of species peaked near the middle of the gradient, in north-facing edges. The relative ecological indicator values and functional species groups showed mostly gradual changes from the large forest patches to the grasslands. Our results indicate that the widely used dichotomic categorization of forest-steppe habitats into forest and grassland patches is too simplistic, potentially resulting in a considerable loss of information. We suggest that forest-steppe vegetation better fits the gradient-based paradigm of landscape structure, which is able to reflect continuous variations.

Keywords: tree-grass ecosystems, forest-grassland mosaics, forest edge, Functional species groups, Spatial heterogeneity, Coenocline,

Új cikk a Restoration Ecology-ban

Megjelent Kiss Réka elsőszerzőségével legújabb cikkünk a Restoration Ecology hasábjain. A cikk része annak a különszámnak, amely a gyepi biodiverzitás helyreállítási lehetőségeit járja körül és várhatóan ebben az évben fog megjelenni az újságban. A cikk szabadon letölthető a folyóirat honlapján. A cikk összefoglalója az alábbiakban olvasható.

Establishment gaps in species-poor grasslands: artificial biodiversity hotspots to support the colonization of target species

Kiss R., Deák B., Tóthmérész B., Miglécz T., Tóth K., Török P., Lukács K.,  Godó L., Körmöczi Zs., Radócz Sz., Kelemen A., Sonkoly J., Kirmer A., Tischew S., Švamberková E., Valkó O.

Sowing of grass seed mixtures is a feasible and cost-effective method for landscape-scale grassland restoration. However, sowing only grasses usually leads to species-poor and dense swards, where the establishment of target forbs is hampered by microsite and propagule limitation. To overcome these limitations and increase the diversity of species-poor sown grasslands we developed a novel method by creating ‘establishment gaps’. We used tillage to open gaps of 1-m2, 4-m2 and 16-m2 size in the dense grass sward of six species-poor restored grasslands in the Great Hungarian Plain. We sowed high-diversity seed mixtures of 35 native species into all gaps. We analyzed vegetation development during the first five years after setting up the trial. We also studied the colonization dynamics of the sown species along four 20-m transects around each gap, resulting in a total of 1440 plots of 1-m2 size that were studied. Our results indicated that most of the sown species were able to establish permanently in the gaps. The total cover and the cover of perennial sown species increased and the cover of short-lived sown species decreased independently of gap size. There was only a moderate level of weed abundance in the gaps, and weed cover decreased over the years. The sown target species started to colonize the species-poor grasslands surrounding the gaps within five years. The highest number of species and individuals dispersed from the 4-m2 gaps, as they had a more stable development than smaller gaps and were exposed to lower grazing pressure than large ones.