Experimental establishment of a declining dry-grassland flagship species in relation to seed origin and target environment

نویسندگان

  • Birgit Seifert
  • Markus Fischer
چکیده

Supporting species persistence may involve (re)connecting suitable habitats. However, for many declining species habitat suitability and drivers of establishment are poorly known. We addressed this experimentally for a declining flagship species of dry grasslands in Germany, Armeria maritima subsp. elongata. In three regions, we sowed seeds from each of eight source populations back to their origin and to eight apparently suitable, but currently unoccupied, habitats close to the source populations. Overall, seeds germinated and seedlings established equally well in occupied and potential sites indicating that suitable habitats are available, but lack seed input. Germination and establishment varied among sowing sites. Moreover, seeds from populations of lower current connectivity established less well in new sites, and establishment was more variable among seeds from smaller than from larger populations, possibly reflecting genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation. Further, establishment across different new environments differed between seeds from different populations. As this was neither related to a home-away contrast nor to geographic or environmental distance between sites it could not clearly be attributed to local adaptation. To promote long-term persistence within this dry-grassland meta-population context we suggest increasing the density of suitable habitats and supporting dispersal connecting multiple sites, e.g. by promoting sheep transhumance, to increase current populations and their connectivity, and to colonise suitable habitats with material from different sources. We suggest that sowing experiments with characteristic species, including multiple source populations and multiple recipient sites, should be used regularly to inform connecting efforts in plant

برای دانلود رایگان متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Roles of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Soil Abiotic Conditions in the Establishment of a Dry Grassland Community

BACKGROUND The importance of soil biota in the composition of mature plant communities is commonly acknowledged. In contrast, the role of soil biota in the early establishment of new plant communities and their relative importance for soil abiotic conditions are still poorly understood. AIMS AND METHODS The aim of this study was to understand the effects of soil origin and soil fungal communi...

متن کامل

Grassland habitat restoration: lessons learnt from long term monitoring of Swanworth Quarry, UK, 1997–2014

Habitat restoration projects are often conducted when prior use or extraction of natural resources results in land degradation. The success of restoration programmes, however, is variable, and studies that provide evidence of long term outcomes are valuable for evaluation purposes. This study focused on the restoration of vegetation within a limestone quarry in Dorset, UK between 1997 and 2014....

متن کامل

Effects of 10-Year Management Regimes on the Soil Seed Bank in Saline-Alkaline Grassland

BACKGROUND Management regimes for vegetation restoration of degraded grasslands can significantly affect the process of ecological succession. However, few studies have focused on variation in the soil seed bank during vegetation restoration under different management regimes, especially in saline-alkaline grassland habitats. Our aim was to provide insights into the ecological effects of grassl...

متن کامل

Recruitment limitation constrains local species richness and productivity in dry grassland.

Species coexistence and local-scale species richness are limited by the availability of seeds and microsites for germination and establishment. We conducted a seed addition experiment in seminatural grassland at three sites in southern Switzerland and repeated the experiment in two successive years to evaluate various circumstances under which seed limitation and establishment success affect co...

متن کامل

Ecological resistance, seed density and their interactions determine patterns of invasion in a California coastal grassland.

Relatively little experimental evidence is available regarding how ecological resistance and propagule density interact in their effects on the establishment of invasive exotic species. We examined the independent and interactive effects of neighbour cover (biotic resistance), winter vs. spring water addition (abiotic resistance) and seed density on the invasion of the European perennial grass ...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2010