Vegetation in clear-cuts depends on previous land use: a century-old grassland legacy.

ABSTRACT: Plant species richness in central and northern European seminatural grasslands is often more closely linked to past than present habitat configuration, which is indicative of an extinction debt. In this study, we investigate whether signs of historical grassland management can be found in clear-cuts after at least 80 years as coniferous production forest by comparing floras between clear-cuts with a history as meadow and as forest in the 1870s in Sweden. Study sites were selected using old land-use maps and data on present-day clear-cuts. Species traits reflecting high capacities for dispersal and persistence were used to explain any possible links between the plants and the historical land use. Clear-cuts that were formerly meadow had, on average, 36% higher species richness and 35% highe

SUBMITTER: Jonason D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4267867 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature