Plant functional structure varies across different management regimes in submontane meadows

Abstract

Seminatural grasslands are among the most biodiverse habitats in Europe, and they have great conservation value. However, in recent decades, they have been threatened by either intensive fertilization or afforestation or, conversely, by abandonment due to changes in agricultural practices. The impact of management, its frequency or intensity on seminatural grassland communities is traditionally evaluated through views on the composition of communities and their diversity. A better understanding of the functioning of plants in managed grassland ecosystems could be achieved by considering plant functional traits (PFTs). In this study, we investigated whether sites with different management practices differ from each other in terms of the representation of the main PFTs. We studied a permanent plot series of 30 grassland sites in central Slovakia that had been managed or abandoned for over 10 years. Individual management consisted of low-intensity mowing (MGM), medium-intensity grazing (MGP), and abandonment (MGA). Hemicryptophytes, perennials, and semi-rosette species were dominant under all management regimes. We found significant differences in the coverage of the studied PFTs among the sites managed by phytomass removal (mowing, grazing) and abandoned sites. Compared with the MGA sites, mowed and grazed sites were characterised by high proportional coverages of species with medium plant heights (0.3–0.6 m), rosette species, and graminoids. The MGA sites presented high coverages of species with high plant heights (> 0.6 m), competitors, phanerophytes, forbs, geophytes, species with vegetative and seed reproduction types, species with long flowering periods (3 months or more), and species with summer green leaves. The MGM sites supported species with large seeds (seed mass > 2 mg), reproduction type by seed (seeds), and species with short flowering times (1–2 months), whereas the MGP sites supported species with small plant heights (plant height < 0.3 m) and species with persistent green leaves. The communities of submontane Carpathian meadows with different types of management differ in terms of the representation of selected plant functional traits, especially between managed and abandoned sites. This approach is useful not only for understanding the mechanisms involved in the application of different management methods but also for predicting changes in the responses of the functional properties of plants when abandoning grassland habitats.