Seminatural grassland management by mowing of Calamagrostis epigejos in Hungary

Abstract

Regeneration of seminatural grasslands are often threatened by the invasion of Calamagrostis epigejos, which can slow down or arrest secondary succession. Here we report the results of a 9-year mowing experiment designed to suppress the spread of C. epigejos in mid-successional grasslands in Hungary. The experimental design consisted of 16 permanent plots of 3 × 3 m. Half of the plots were mowed twice a year (in June and September), the other half was left as control. Vegetation was sampled in 2 × 2 m quadrates before mowing in each year between 2001 and 2009. The effects of mowing were tested using repeated–measure analyses of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey HSD for post hoc tests. Significant decrease of C. epigejos appeared after 2 years of mowing. Species richness increased after 4 years, while diversity after 8 years. By this time the target native species Brachypodium pinnatum become dominant. Similar trends appeared in the control plots during spontaneous succession but at much slower rates. Our results suggest that C. epigejos disappears spontaneously in secondary grassland succession after ca. 40–50 years. However, mowing twice a year can speed up this process by opening a “colonization window” to the valuable target species. For successful control, mowing should be maintained for approximately 8 years.

Keywords:

• abandoned vineyards
• biodiversity
• forest-steppe zone
• secondary meadow steppe
• spontaneous succession
• restoration

Acknowledgments

We thank Margit Dávid for assistance during the field work. Imelda Somodi, Klára Virágh, Péter Sály and Alessandro Brozzi provided valuable comments to our work. We acknowledge the general support of the Duna-Ipoly National Park. The research was supported by the Hungarian National Science Foundation (OTKA K 72561).