La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Composition and structure of vegetation at the boundary between ex-arable fields and steppe in the plain of La Crau (Bouches-du-Rhone)
Auteurs :	Elise Buisson, Auteur ; Thierry Dutoit, Auteur ; Christiane Rolando, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Ecologia Mediterranea (30(1, Sp. Iss. SI) 2004)
Article en page(s) :	71-84
Résumé :	Melon cultivation (1965-1985) greatly disturbed the composition, structure and species richness of the steppe vegetation, in the plain of La Crau, where a patch of the only Mediterranean steppe in France remains. In order to assess the autogenic restoration of ex-melon fields, three fields, all adjacent to a patch of steppe, were studied On each field, vegetation, seed bank, seed rain, seed dispersal by ants and some habitat variables were sampled along three transects perpendicular to field boundaries. Our results show that, 20 years after the abandonment of cultivation, only a few steppe species had colonised the first three meters of field margins. The autogenic restoration of ex-melon fields is thus extremely slow. We discuss possibilities for ecological restoration by sowing or transplanting keystone species in order to identify the factors responsible for this limited autogenic restoration.

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