Fast grassland recovery from viable propagules after reintroducing traditional mowing management on a steep slope
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Abstract:
Semi-natural grasslands on steep slopes often show high plant species diversity. These grasslands were traditionally maintained through mowing and/or grazing. The traditional management practices help to maintain species diversity, whereas land abandonment reduces diversity by increasing competition from dominant species and reducing seedling recruitment. The reintroduction of management can reverse species diversity declines, but suitable grassland restoration programs are scarce in Japan. To study the effect of short-term abandonment on seedling ecology, we monitored the vegetation of a Susogari grassland that had been abandoned for 3 years; the grassland occupies a steep slope (ca. 50°) on a hillside above paddy fields, and was traditionally mown. We monitored the vegetation before abandonment, in the 3rd year of abandonment, and in the 1st and 2nd years after restoration of mowing management. Emergence and survival of seedlings was monitored for 18 months after reintroduction of management. We monitored 1,183 seedlings of grassland species and non-target annuals in ten 1-m 2 plots. After mowing was reintroduced, most grassland species reappeared or increased in the first and second years. Few seedlings of perennial plants and no seedlings of annuals flowered. An exotic species, Solidago altissima , had a lower survival rate (10%) than grassland species (>30%), and all but two grassland species survived over the 18-month period. Although vegetation composition was not fully recovered, our findings suggest that a steep slope acts as a strong filter that inhibits the establishment of non-target species while enhancing persistence of target grassland species.Keywords:
Propagule
Grassland Degradation
Restoration Ecology
Propagule
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Alsidium corallinum C. Agardh from the Mar Grande of Taranto (Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea) reproduced primarily by propagules. These were starch-filled branchlets subtended by little-pigmented axes, which reached the maximum length of 6 mm with a diameter of about 300 μm. Propagules could both be branched up to three orders and form other propagules in their turn. On mature plants propagules originated by the transformation of the ultimate order branch whereas on over-wintering plants they derived from the transformation of lower order branches. On some individuals, some tetrasporangial branchlets grew as propagules after having formed a variable number of tetrasporangia. Some propagules also formed tetrasporangia. Generally, propagules detached above the little-pigmented axis which successively regenerated a new propagule. In the field, propagules settled on various substrata and propagule-derived plantlets were often observed. As the other species of Alsidium do not form propagules, propagule production by A. corallinum may be considered as a specific character.
Propagule
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Grassland Degradation
Restoration Ecology
Grassland ecosystem
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