Sowing different mixtures in dry acidic grassland produced priority effects of varying strength

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Several longer-term assembly studies on ex-arable land have found that species that arrive first at a disturbed site can play a key role in the further development of the community and that this priority effect influences aboveground productivity, species diversity and stability of the grassland communities that develop. Restoration of nutrient poor, species rich grasslands is often limited by seed dispersal as well as the accessibility of suitable microsites for establishment. Sowing species (i.e. creating priority effects for further assembly) may help overcome such dispersal barriers, but the potential of using priority effects for restoration has not been tested in this type of dry grassland. We tested the hypothesis that sowing two different seed mixtures used for dry acidic grassland restoration onto a sandy substrate (which formed an equivalent to a primary succession) would create priority effects, and that these priority effects would be sustained over a number of years. We followed community assembly and measured aboveground productivity for four years after sowing. We found that priority effects caused by sowing of differently diverse mixtures did also occur in dry acidic grassland habitat, but that how persistent they were over time depended on the response variable considered. Priority effects on species number were not as strong as found in previous ex-arable land studies, whereas priority effects for aboveground productivity were still visible after 4 years. In addition, functional composition of the community still reflected the composition of the seed mixtures 4 years later. Our results suggest that priority effects can occur in nutrient-poor dry acidic grassland but in contrast to more nutrient-rich sites the breadth of responses affected may not be as wide.

Original languageEnglish
JournalActa Oecologica
Volume53
Pages (from-to)110-116
Number of pages7
ISSN1146-609X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11.2013
Externally publishedYes

Recently viewed

Activities

  1. Sachverständiger in öffentlicher Anhörung zur Reform des Kapitalanleger-Musterverfahrensgesetzes
  2. Nachhaltigkeit in der phasenübergreifenden Kooperation mittels Etablierung von Kooperationsräumen
  3. Orchestrating temporal macro-structures through temporal work: Insights from the Edinburgh Festival
  4. Bearbeitung von Problemlöseaufgaben unterstützt durch papier- und videobasierter Lösungsbeispiele
  5. Die Asozialität des Privaten. Richard Sennetts Kritik an der Intimisierung der öffentlichen Sphäre.
  6. Sustainable entrepreneurship and the transformation of industries: The case of the apparel industry
  7. Beyond the ius in bello: On the Discursive Preconditions of the Dissociative Mentality of Total War
  8. The role of video-conferencing software in the communicative constitution of power in virtual teams
  9. Schnittstellen zwischen Menschen und Musiken: Paradigmenwechsel im Kontext post-digitaler Musikpraxis
  10. Evaluierung des Deutschen Museums von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik (DM) in München
  11. Care und Caring als integraler Bestandteil der künstlerischen Praxis in der Frauensiedlung Loheland
  12. Adoption of Preferences for Redistribution by Immigrants or Cultural Persistence. Evidence from GSOP
  13. Hartmut Langes Novelle "Die Bildungsreise". Parodistische Verabschiedung oder Renaissance einer Gattung?
  14. Vortrag: "Paralympischer Spitzensport: Rollstuhlbasketball aus einer differenztheoretischen Perspektive"
  15. Symposium zur Zivil- und strafrechtliche Haftung von Unternehmen für Menschenrechtsverletzungen - 2015

Publications

  1. Mathematische Modellierung eines Raumes zur Nutzung in einem dynamischen Cyber-Physischen System
  2. Managing increasing environmental risks through agrobiodiversity and agrienvironmental policies
  3. Delivering community benefits through REDD plus : Lessons from Joint Forest Management in Zambia
  4. Experimental evidence for stronger cacao yield limitation by pollination than by plant resources
  5. Combined pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy in the treatment of mild to moderate major depression?
  6. Australian Graziers value sparse trees in their pastures: A viewshed analysis of Photo-elicitation
  7. Nachhaltiges Unternehmertum: Unterschätzter Nachhaltigkeitstransformator von Märkten und Regionen
  8. Remote Sensing of Bush Encroachment on Commercial Cattle Farms in Semi-Arid Rangelands in Namibia
  9. The Use of Environmental and Social Standards by German First-Tier Suppliers of the Volkswagen AG
  10. Key competencies in sustainability in higher education - toward an agreed-upon reference framework
  11. Effectiveness of guided and unguided low-intensity internet interventions for adult alcohol misuse
  12. Douglas-fir seedlings exhibit metabolic responses to increased temperature and atmospheric drought
  13. In search of the knowledge triangle for regional sustainable development: the role of universities
  14. Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning
  15. Story-Grammar-Bewusstheit im Zentrum von Literarischem Lernen und Poetischem Schreiben in der Sek. I.
  16. Competition response of European beech Fagus sylvatica L. varies with tree size and abiotic stress
  17. How production-theory can support the analysis of recycling systems in the electronic waste sector
  18. Tree diversity effects on litter decomposition are mediated by litterfall and microbial processes
  19. A framework for disentangling ecological mechanisms underlying the island species–area relationship
  20. Distracted by the unthought - Suppression and reappraisal of mind wandering under stereotype threat
  21. Health literacy and mental health of school principals. Results from a German cross-sectional survey
  22. The feeling thinking talking intervention with teachers advances young children's emotion knowledge
  23. EU-Richtlinienvorschlag für eine Gemeinsame Körperschaftsteuer-Bemessungsgrundlage (GKB) vom 25.10.2016
  24. Implemented Wavelet Packet Tree based Denoising Algorithm in Bus Signals of a Wearable Sensorarray
  25. Bleibt alles anders!? Sozialformen, Unterrichtsphasen und echte Lernzeit im kaufmännischen Unterricht