How does continuity in grassland management after ploughing affect plant community patterns?

Ley cultivation by ploughing and fertilising constitute a severe impact on plant community patterns in semi-natural subalpine communities. Since the 1950s, such cultivation have been an important part of the agroecosystem in subalpine areas in Norway, and regularly practised. Today, several former l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plant ecology 1999-11, Vol.145 (1), p.59-74
Main Authors: Austrheim, G, Olsson, G.A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural ecosystems
Biodiversity
botanical composition
Bryophytes
Cryptogams
Cultivation
ecological succession
Flowers & plants
Grasses
Grassland management
Grasslands
grazing
Growing season
Heterogeneity
land use
Lichens
nitrates
Norway
Pasture management
patterns
phosphates
Plant communities
Plant diversity
Plant ecology
Plant species
Plants
Plowing
range management
soil chemistry
soil fertility
spatial distribution
Species
Species diversity
subalpine grasslands
Vascular plants
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Summary:Ley cultivation by ploughing and fertilising constitute a severe impact on plant community patterns in semi-natural subalpine communities. Since the 1950s, such cultivation have been an important part of the agroecosystem in subalpine areas in Norway, and regularly practised. Today, several former leys are left for grazing management. Plant species diversity and heterogeneity was studied in subalpine grasslands in Valdres, southern Norway (ca. 950 m a.s.l.) at different successional phases after ploughing. Fourteen sites (100 m(2)) varying from recently ploughed grasslands (3-5 years at phase 1) to unploughed sites were used to construct a temporal gradient by a space for time substitution. Small-scale species diversity (0.25 m(2)) of vascular plants increased continuously with the time since last ploughing, while the variation in gamma-diversity was minor among late successional phases 3-5 (>23-28 years, 32-39 years and unploughed sites) after an evident increase from phase 1-3. The number of exclusive species peaked within unploughed sites (10), and included perennial herbs (Antennaria alpina, Hieracium auricula, Viola canina), spore-producing species (Botrychium lunaria, Selaginella selagionides) and woody life-forms. Species diversity of cryptogams was low at both a small and large scale within successional phases 1 and 2 (
ISSN:1385-0237
1573-5052
DOI:10.1023/A:1009804509239