Abstract
Inland saline habitats of the Pannonian Lowland are highly threatened by drainage and lack of regular management, especially on their northern distribution limit. We studied the impact of abandonment on the dynamics and survival of saline vegetation through a 4-year field experiment on permanent plots in SW Slovakia (the northern part of the Pannonian Lowland). The examined grassland, alliance of Puccinellion limosae was grazed by sheep. Our results unambiguously confirmed that inland saline vegetation responds to the cessation of such natural disturbance very quickly. Species richness and number of halophytes in the scale of 0.01 m2 decreased by half already two years after the abandonment. The most obliged species to grazing was Hordeum geniculatum. This obligate halophyte dependent on disturbance has markedly disappeared on the non-grazed plots, while Elytrigia repens expanded. Moderate grazing is an important requirement for maintenance of halophytic vegetation.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Silvia Herianová and Scott Burgess for language revision. The study was supported by the grant of the Slovak Ministry of Education VEGA No. 2/0001/16 with additional support of LIFE10 NAT/SK/083 (project partner DAPHNE – Institute of Applied Ecology, Bratislava).
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©2016 Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Articles in the same Issue
- Synthesis of multifunctional γ-PGA-based superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging and controlled drug release
- Organic solvent stable protease isolation and characterization from organic solvent tolerant strain of Lysinibacillus sphaericus PAP02
- The impact of grazing absence in inland saline vegetation – a case study from Slovakia
- How dose of biochar and biochar with nitrogen can improve the parameters of soil organic matter and soil structure?
- Water repellent effects of manure amended soils on organic matter decomposition, C retention, and respired CO2-C
- Rainfall interception in a disturbed montane spruce (Picea abies) stand in the West Tatra Mountains
- ASL16 gene, a member of AS2/LOB family, is essential for lateral root formation in Arabidopsis
- Meiobenthic Assemblages from the Southwestern Coast of the Black Sea, İğneada (Turkey)
- Oviposition by selected water mite (Hydrachnidia) species from Lake Skadar and its catchment
- Parasitic mesostigmatid mites (Acari) – common inhabitants of the nest boxes of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in a Polish urban habitat
- Mayfly (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) assemblages of a regulated perennial Mediterranean river system in the Western Balkans
- Distribution and ecology of the flightless bush-cricket Poecilimon schmidtii at its northern range margin
- Sexual size monomorphism and body variation in the fat dormouse Glis glis in Slovakia
Articles in the same Issue
- Synthesis of multifunctional γ-PGA-based superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging and controlled drug release
- Organic solvent stable protease isolation and characterization from organic solvent tolerant strain of Lysinibacillus sphaericus PAP02
- The impact of grazing absence in inland saline vegetation – a case study from Slovakia
- How dose of biochar and biochar with nitrogen can improve the parameters of soil organic matter and soil structure?
- Water repellent effects of manure amended soils on organic matter decomposition, C retention, and respired CO2-C
- Rainfall interception in a disturbed montane spruce (Picea abies) stand in the West Tatra Mountains
- ASL16 gene, a member of AS2/LOB family, is essential for lateral root formation in Arabidopsis
- Meiobenthic Assemblages from the Southwestern Coast of the Black Sea, İğneada (Turkey)
- Oviposition by selected water mite (Hydrachnidia) species from Lake Skadar and its catchment
- Parasitic mesostigmatid mites (Acari) – common inhabitants of the nest boxes of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in a Polish urban habitat
- Mayfly (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) assemblages of a regulated perennial Mediterranean river system in the Western Balkans
- Distribution and ecology of the flightless bush-cricket Poecilimon schmidtii at its northern range margin
- Sexual size monomorphism and body variation in the fat dormouse Glis glis in Slovakia