La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Management effects on the vegetation and soil seed bank of calcareous grasslands: An 11-year experiment
Auteurs :	Hans Jacquemyn, Auteur ; Carmen Van Mechelen, Auteur ; Rein Brys, Auteur ; Olivier Honnay, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Biological Conservation (144(1) JAN 2011)
Article en page(s) :	416-422
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	Calcareous grasslands, most of which are man made and therefore depend on some kind of human interference for their maintenance, are among the most species-rich communities on Earth at a small scale. For many centuries, most of these grasslands have been used as extensive pasture. However, after 1900, and particularly from 1940 onwards, livestock grazing has declined throughout Europe leading to the abandonment of low intensity grasslands over large areas. To conserve the remaining grasslands or to restore recently abandoned grasslands, better insights about the effects of grassland management on above and belowground species diversity are needed. Here, we describe the results of an 11-year experiment to investigate the role of grassland management (grazing, mowing and abandonment) in determining species composition and diversity both in the aboveground vegetation and the seed bank of a calcareous grassland in Belgium. Species diversity declined by about 60%

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