Changes in landscape composition of differently irrigated hay meadows in an arid mountain region. Issue 2 (21st October 2014)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Changes in landscape composition of differently irrigated hay meadows in an arid mountain region. Issue 2 (21st October 2014)
- Main Title:
- Changes in landscape composition of differently irrigated hay meadows in an arid mountain region
- Authors:
- Riedener, Eliane
Melliger, Ramona L.
Rusterholz, Hans‐Peter
Baur, Bruno
Hölzel, Norbert - Abstract:
- <abstract abstract-type="main" id="avsc12141-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Questions</title> <p>Does the recent change from traditional to sprinkler irrigation result in alterations in the surrounding landscape of species‐rich hay meadows in an arid Swiss mountain region? Are landscape composition and landscape heterogeneity important determinants of plant diversity in these meadows?</p> </sec> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Location</title> <p>Southwestern Switzerland.</p> </sec> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>We surveyed vascular plant species in six traditionally and six sprinkler‐irrigated hay meadows. Plant species were divided into grassland specialists and generalists. Individual landscape traits were assessed in circular areas with radii of 50 and 100 m around each meadow in a field survey. Aerial photographs were used to measure the percentage area covered by different habitat types in the present and prior to the installation of sprinklers at the same spatial scale as in the field surveys. The potential effects of irrigation technique and present‐day landscape features on the plant diversity and species composition of hay meadows were examined with GLM and NMDS.</p> </sec> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Landscape composition was more diverse for traditionally than for sprinkler‐irrigated<abstract abstract-type="main" id="avsc12141-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Questions</title> <p>Does the recent change from traditional to sprinkler irrigation result in alterations in the surrounding landscape of species‐rich hay meadows in an arid Swiss mountain region? Are landscape composition and landscape heterogeneity important determinants of plant diversity in these meadows?</p> </sec> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Location</title> <p>Southwestern Switzerland.</p> </sec> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>We surveyed vascular plant species in six traditionally and six sprinkler‐irrigated hay meadows. Plant species were divided into grassland specialists and generalists. Individual landscape traits were assessed in circular areas with radii of 50 and 100 m around each meadow in a field survey. Aerial photographs were used to measure the percentage area covered by different habitat types in the present and prior to the installation of sprinklers at the same spatial scale as in the field surveys. The potential effects of irrigation technique and present‐day landscape features on the plant diversity and species composition of hay meadows were examined with GLM and NMDS.</p> </sec> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Landscape composition was more diverse for traditionally than for sprinkler‐irrigated meadows, but did not differ prior to the installation of sprinklers. Total plant species richness and the number of specialists were negatively affected by the distance to the closest haystack. Generalists were positively influenced by a variety of different small‐scale landscape traits in the surroundings, whereas the percentage area covered by woodland had a negative effect. Finally, hay meadows irrigated with sprinklers had an increased number of generalist plant species.</p> </sec> <sec id="avsc12141-sec-0005" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>This study showed that the small‐scale surroundings, and to some extent the type of irrigation, are important for the conservation of plant diversity of these meadows. Furthermore, the study suggests that the installation of sprinklers was associated with a homogenization of the landscape, which facilitates land use. Extensive management should be promoted by compensation payments for farmers to prevent intensification.</p> </sec> </abstract> … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Applied vegetation science. Volume 18:Issue 2(2015:Apr.)
- Journal:
- Applied vegetation science
- Issue:
- Volume 18:Issue 2(2015:Apr.)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 18, Issue 2 (2015)
- Year:
- 2015
- Volume:
- 18
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2015-0018-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 242
- Page End:
- 251
- Publication Date:
- 2014-10-21
- Subjects:
- Plant ecology -- Periodicals
Plant communities -- Periodicals
Plant populations -- Periodicals
Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Periodicals
581.705 - Journal URLs:
- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1654-109X ↗
http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-journals-list&issn=1402-2001 ↗
http://www.jstor.org/journals/14022001.html ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/avsc.12141 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1402-2001
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 1580.113100
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 3259.xml