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- Title
Restoration of a Cirsio-Molinietum Fen Meadow on an Agriculturally Improved Pasture.
- Authors
Tallowin, J. R. B.; Smith, R. E. N.
- Abstract
Abstract The objective of this study was to identify soil nutrient availability conditions that would allow the establishment of key species of the Molinia caerulea-Cirsium dissectum fen meadow. The restoration site was a species-poor agriculturally improved pasture that had received no inorganic fertilizer for greater than 13 years. Treatments designed to reduce site fertility included: cutting and removal of herbage, cultivation, fallowing and topsoil removal. Straw and/or lignitic-clay were incorporated as soil amendment treatments. Cirsio-Molinietum species were either sown or planted as seedlings on treated plots. Neither soil nitrogen nor potassium availability, per se, appeared to limit the establishment of Cirsio-Molinietum species, whereas enhanced phosphorus availability did. Removal of the top 15–20 cm of soil reduced the total soil phosphorus amount by about 85 percent and depleted plant P availability. Nutrient-poor and relatively calcium-enriched soil exposed by topsoil removal allowed the development of a community with affinities to the Cirsio-Molinietum typical fen meadow. Redundancy analysis indicated the existence of marked vegetational gradients within the topsoil removal treatments that were influenced by the straw and the lignitic-clay amendments. The way in which these two amendments influenced edaphic conditions were unclear. Where the topsoil was not removed the vegetation became dominated by a few competitive species and although many of the planted Cirsio-Molinietum species were still present after four years, they were found only in trace amounts. Removal of most of the soil organic matter was a practical success in that it created suitable edaphic conditions for all the planted Cirsio-Molinietum species to remain well established.
- Subjects
SOIL ecology; SOIL conservation; RESTORATION ecology
- Publication
Restoration Ecology, 2001, Vol 9, Issue 2, p167
- ISSN
1061-2971
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1046/j.1526-100X.2001.009002167.x