Medium-term success of revegetation methods for high-mountain grassland reclamation in the Montseny Biosphere Reserve (NE Spain)

Abstract

High mountain dry siliceous grasslands of the Montseny Mountains in NE Spain affected by tourism and grazing were revegetated in 1999. Four revegetation techniques and two commercial seed mixtures were tested in two experiments and compared 7 years after their application. The first experiment evaluated a mixture of seeds pre-grown on turf patches. The second evaluated another seed mixture applied using three different seeding methods: (1) hand sown; (2) hydroseeding (high-pressure spray technique for applying a homogeneous slurry of seed and mulch); and (3) hydroseeding combined with transplantation of a single species extracted from the surrounding natural grassland. The success of revegetation treatments was analyzed in relation to vegetation cover, plant height and density, grass production, floristic composition, species richness and Shannon index. The results indicate that several techniques succeeded in establishing vegetation cover, but none were sufficient to achieve full restoration. Seeding treatments achieved high vegetation cover but did not result in the floristic composition of native grasslands. Plots with the transplantation of a native fescue displayed the highest proportion of native species.

Keywords:

• Mediterranean
• hand sowing
• hydroseeding
• transplant
• native species
• protected area

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the cooperation and ongoing support from staff members in Montseny Biosphere Reserve, especially J. Barber, J. Argemí, and J. Rota. We are also grateful to the following people who made this study possible: M.J. Broncano, A. López, L. Morgui, J.M. Serra, and A. Sorolla as well as to W. Simonson for the language revision. Financial support was provided by the Natural Parks Service of the Barcelona Provincial Council.

Nomenclature: Bolós et al. (1986) and Biodiversity data bank of Catalonia (1993).