Speaker
Description
Plant regeneration plays a crucial role for the persistence and stability of plant populations and species diversity. Grasslands are mostly dominated by perennial, herbaceous species. These species can follow different life- histories. Perennial, herbaceous species mostly reproduce by sexually produced seeds, which often is complemented by clonal reproduction
In managed grasslands, plants have to cope with different disturbances, such as the removal of aboveground biomass, either by grazing livestock or mowing. Such disturbances alter biotic interactions and may limit opportunities for regeneration. Seed limitation in grasslands with high land- use intensity could occur because of early or frequent mowing, before seeds are produced or mature enough to successfully germinate. On the other hand, additional fertilization could increase seed production, especially in grass species.
To investigate the effect of land- use intensity on the seed production of grassland species, we studied seed in the land- use experiment of the so- called “Biodiversity Exploratories”. The Biodiversity Exploratories are three large- scale research areas in Germany, in which long- term biodiversity research takes place differently managed agricultural grasslands. Seed traps consisting of artificial grass patches were installed on a total of 45 grasslands with paired plots of “normal” and experimentally manipulated land- use intensities. Seed traps remained on the plots from early spring to late summer 2023. Collected seeds were transferred to substrate for germination. After germination, seedlings were identified to species and counted. Preliminary results show a slightly higher number of seedlings emerging from seed traps installed on grassland plots with reduced land- use intensity and simultaneously additional fertilization, while species numbers did not vary dependent on land- use intensity.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
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