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Long-term effectiveness of sowing high and low diversity seed mixtures to enhance plant community development on ex-arable fields

Leps, J ; Dolezal, J ; Bezemer, T M ; Brown, V K ; Hedlund, Katarina LU orcid ; Igual, A M ; Bracht Jörgensen, Helene LU ; Lawson, C S ; Mortimer, S R and Peix Geldart, A , et al. (2007) In Applied Vegetation Science 10(1). p.97-110
Abstract
Questions: How is succession on ex-arable land affected by sowing high and low diversity mixtures of grassland species as compared to natural succession? How long do effects persist?

Location: Experimental plots installed in the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.



Methods: The experiment was established on ex-arable land, with five blocks, each containing three 10 m x 10 m experiment tal plots: natural colonization, a low- (four species) and high-diversity (15 species) seed mixture. Species composition and biomass was followed for eight years.



Results: The sown plants considerably affected the whole successional pathway and the effects persisted during the... (More)
Questions: How is succession on ex-arable land affected by sowing high and low diversity mixtures of grassland species as compared to natural succession? How long do effects persist?

Location: Experimental plots installed in the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.



Methods: The experiment was established on ex-arable land, with five blocks, each containing three 10 m x 10 m experiment tal plots: natural colonization, a low- (four species) and high-diversity (15 species) seed mixture. Species composition and biomass was followed for eight years.



Results: The sown plants considerably affected the whole successional pathway and the effects persisted during the whole eight year period. Whilst the proportion of sown species (characterized by their cover) increased during the study period, the number of sown species started to decrease from the third season onwards. Sowing caused suppression of natural colonizing species, and the sown plots had more biomass. These effects were on average larger in the high diversity mixtures. However, the low diversity replicate sown with the mixture that produced the largest biomass or largest suppression of natural colonizers fell within the range recorded at the five replicates of the high diversity plots. The natural colonization plots usually had the highest total species richness and lowest productivity at the end of the observation period.



Conclusions: The effect of sowing demonstrated dispersal limitation as a factor controlling the rate of early secondary succession. Diversity was important primarily for its 'insurance effect': the high diversity mixtures were always able to compensate for the failure of some species. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Applied Vegetation Science
volume
10
issue
1
pages
97 - 110
publisher
Opulus Press
external identifiers
  • wos:000245934700012
  • scopus:34250213956
ISSN
1402-2001
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3011ebc6-eb5c-4103-bc43-4727caa9c288 (old id 168645)
alternative location
http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=res-loc&uri=urn%3Aap%3Apdf%3Adoi%3A10.1658%2F1402-2001(2007)10%5B97%3ALEOSHA%5D2.0.CO%3B2
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:37:40
date last changed
2022-07-01 08:18:33
@article{3011ebc6-eb5c-4103-bc43-4727caa9c288,
  abstract     = {{Questions: How is succession on ex-arable land affected by sowing high and low diversity mixtures of grassland species as compared to natural succession? How long do effects persist? <br/><br>
Location: Experimental plots installed in the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Methods: The experiment was established on ex-arable land, with five blocks, each containing three 10 m x 10 m experiment tal plots: natural colonization, a low- (four species) and high-diversity (15 species) seed mixture. Species composition and biomass was followed for eight years.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Results: The sown plants considerably affected the whole successional pathway and the effects persisted during the whole eight year period. Whilst the proportion of sown species (characterized by their cover) increased during the study period, the number of sown species started to decrease from the third season onwards. Sowing caused suppression of natural colonizing species, and the sown plots had more biomass. These effects were on average larger in the high diversity mixtures. However, the low diversity replicate sown with the mixture that produced the largest biomass or largest suppression of natural colonizers fell within the range recorded at the five replicates of the high diversity plots. The natural colonization plots usually had the highest total species richness and lowest productivity at the end of the observation period.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Conclusions: The effect of sowing demonstrated dispersal limitation as a factor controlling the rate of early secondary succession. Diversity was important primarily for its 'insurance effect': the high diversity mixtures were always able to compensate for the failure of some species.}},
  author       = {{Leps, J and Dolezal, J and Bezemer, T M and Brown, V K and Hedlund, Katarina and Igual, A M and Bracht Jörgensen, Helene and Lawson, C S and Mortimer, S R and Peix Geldart, A and Rodriguez Barrueco, C and Santa Regina, I and Smilauer, P and Van Der Putten, W H}},
  issn         = {{1402-2001}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{97--110}},
  publisher    = {{Opulus Press}},
  series       = {{Applied Vegetation Science}},
  title        = {{Long-term effectiveness of sowing high and low diversity seed mixtures to enhance plant community development on ex-arable fields}},
  url          = {{http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=res-loc&uri=urn%3Aap%3Apdf%3Adoi%3A10.1658%2F1402-2001(2007)10%5B97%3ALEOSHA%5D2.0.CO%3B2}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}