Search

The European temperate forest zone has great importance, in terms of maintaining the habitats of not only forests but also anthropogenous grasslands, which were formed as a result of habitat reconstruction. These habitats have great importance, by means of nature conservation, landscape use, economy, and forest and grassland use. The mosaic-like habitat complexes that consist of these grasslands and forest patches help to increase biodiversity and supply the habitat for forest game. In this survey, changes in the vegetation of the temperate forests (Fagetum) of the Mátra Mountains of Hungary were investigated after reconstruction. In 2012, shrub cutting was carried out in the area of Parádóhuta, and then three different management methods (abandoning, mowing, and grazing) were utilized. Our goals were the following: to perform a vegetation survey of the sample areas (i); surveying the natural regeneration of the grassland and analyzing its biodiversity, nature conservation, and economical value (ii); and analyzing the vegetation in terms of nature conservation and valuing its life form spectrum, economy values, and livestock-feeding ability (iii). According to our results, systematic mowing and a less-intensive grazing had a significantly positive effect on biodiversity and the coverage of species, thus increasing the naturalness of the studied grassland habitats, while wild game were able to act as ecological engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial patterns of ecosystem processes constitute significant sources of uncertainty in greenhouse gas flux estimations partly because the patterns are temporally dynamic. The aim of this study was to describe temporal variability in the spatial patterns of grassland CO2 and N2O flux under varying environmental conditions and to assess effects of the grassland management (grazing and mowing) on flux patterns. We made spatially explicit measurements of variables including soil respiration, aboveground biomass, N2O flux, soil water content, and soil temperature during a 4-year study in the vegetation periods at grazed and mowed grasslands. Sampling was conducted in 80 × 60 m grids of 10 m resolution with 78 sampling points in both study plots. Soil respiration was monitored nine times, and N2O flux was monitored twice during the study period. Altitude, soil organic carbon, and total soil nitrogen were used as background factors at each sampling position, while aboveground biomass, soil water content, and soil temperature were considered as covariates in the spatial analysis. Data were analyzed using variography and kriging. Altitude was autocorrelated over distances of 40–50 m in both plots and influenced spatial patterns of soil organic carbon, total soil nitrogen, and the covariates. Altitude was inversely related to soil water content and aboveground biomass and positively related to soil temperature. Autocorrelation lengths for soil respiration were similar on both plots (about 30 m), whereas autocorrelation lengths of N2O flux differed between plots (39 m in the grazed plot vs. 18 m in the mowed plot). Grazing appeared to increase heterogeneity and linkage of the spatial patterns, whereas mowing had a homogenizing effect. Spatial patterns of soil water content, soil respiration, and aboveground biomass were temporally variable especially in the first 2 years of the experiment, whereas spatial patterns were more persistent (mostly significant correlation at p < 0.05 between location ranks) in the second 2 years, following a wet year. Increased persistence of spatial patterns after a wet year indicated the recovery potential of grasslands following drought and suggested that adequate water supply could have a homogenizing effect on CO2 and N2O fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]