Seasonality promotes grassland diversity: Interactions with mowing, fertilization and removal of dominant species

0504938 - BÚ 2020 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Doležal, Jiří - Lanta, Vojtěch - Mudrák, Ondřej - Lepš, Jan
Seasonality promotes grassland diversity: Interactions with mowing, fertilization and removal of dominant species.
Journal of Ecology. Roč. 107, č. 1 (2019), s. 203-215. ISSN 0022-0477. E-ISSN 1365-2745
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA17-19376S; GA ČR(CZ) GA17-05506S
Institutional support: RVO:67985939 ; RVO:60077344
Keywords : biodiversity decline * diversity-productivity relationship * functional traits * grassland management * plant resource-use strategy * seasonal dynamics * specific leaf area (SLA) * water use efficiency
OECD category: Ecology; Plant sciences, botany (BC-A)
Impact factor: 5.762, year: 2019
Method of publishing: Open access

Current biodiversity declines in species-rich grasslands are connected with the cessation of management, eutrophication and the expansion of dominant grass species. One of the theoretical mechanisms limiting biodiversity loss is the ability of subordinate species to avoid competitive exclusion by seasonal niche separation from dominant species. Here, we explore how seasonality underpins the maintenance of diversity in temperate meadows under different management regimes and competition intensities in relation to species functional traits. We studied eight different communities in a long-term meadow experiment that manipulated mowing, fertilization and dominant species (Molinia caerulea) removal. In each community, species-specific trait and biomass data were taken five times during the year to test whether seasonal variation in species composition and functional strategies enable species to coexist.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0296539