To Establish a Healthy Forest: Restoration of the Forest Herb Layer on a Reclaimed Mine Site

Research Highlights: Thermophilous oak forests are among the most species-rich forest ecosystems in Central Europe. In the temperate zone, they evolved from mixed deciduous forests due to centuries-long livestock grazing. The abandonment of traditional forms of landscape use resulted in a constant decline in the number of patches of these communities, their area and species richness, which has been ongoing for decades and calls for their urgent conservation. The commonly used approaches to the conservation of this community are the reestablishment of grazing or mechanical removal of undergrowth. However, there are a limited number of works comparing their effects on the forest herb layer separately and in combination. Background and Objectives: The purpose of our research was to evaluate the effectiveness of grazing, mechanical brush removal and their combination for the conservation of the oak forest herb layer. Materials and Methods: Our work was based on a fully crossed experimental design set in a 60-year-old oak forest. The individual and combined influences of sheep grazing and brush cutting on forest floor vegetation were compared to control plots. We surveyed plant species twice—before the application of treatments and one year later on 600 one-square-meter subplots selected randomly in the limits of twelve fenced 20 m × 20 m treated and untreated study plots. Results: Both grazing by sheep and mechanical removal served well for total plant species richness and their cover, if applied separately. But these effects were not additive—plant species richness and plant cover on plots with combined treatment did not differ from plots, where just a single treatment was applied. Application of both treatments (but separately) had positive influence on species cover of the target group of plants typical to xerothermic oak forests and non-target species of mixed deciduous forests. Mechanical removal allowed also for successful control of woody species. Active conservation measures resulted also in negative effects—we observed increase in the species richness and cover of ruderal species on grazed plots. Conclusions: Both tested methods can be used for active conservation of open oak forest understorey vegetation. The method of active conservation should be chosen depending on the goal and the species composition of the forest floor and undergrowth found at the beginning of the restoration process, however, combining of these treatments does not bring any extra advantage. In our opinion a monitoring of the reaction of vegetation on treatments is of paramount importance.

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The Allelopathic Potentials of the Non-Native Invasive PlantMicrostegium vimineumand the NativeAgeratina altissima: Two Dominant Species of the Eastern Forest Herb Layer

Northeastern Naturalist ◽

10.1656/045.019.0211 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 297-312 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Brian F. Corbett ◽

Janet A. Morrison

Keyword(s):

Dominant Species ◽

Herb Layer ◽

Native Invasive ◽

Forest Herb

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Impact of the Former Vineyard Land Use on the Productivity of Secondary Forest Herb Layer in the Little Carpathians (SW Slovakia)

Ekológia (Bratislava) ◽

10.1515/eko-2016-0020 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 253-262

Author(s):

Lukáš Zima ◽

Jozef Kollár ◽

Ivana Vykouková

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Roman Empire ◽

Secondary Forest ◽

Production Quality ◽

Total Biomass ◽

Herb Layer ◽

Synanthropic Species ◽

Shallow Soils ◽

The Impact ◽

Forest Herb

AbstractThe Little Carpathians Mountains include a vineyard region with long tradition that dates back up to the Roman Empire period (and according to some opinions, even earlier). In the late 19th century, it was strongly impacted by the phylloxera epidemic, and the vineyard area has significantly reduced here. Large areas of the former vineyards are covered by forests, which mostly have formed spontaneously, but some of them were also planted. This contribution is focused on the impact of the former vineyard land use on the productivity (aboveground, belowground, and total biomass) of such forest herb layer. Research included also the forests, which occupy rocky mounds formed by rock gathering and their placement on the vineyard borders. There were sampled by following four stands, mostly differed by tree composition, origin, age, and succession stage: (i) up to 100 years old spontaneously formed thermophilous acidophilous oak forest on the former vineyard on the granite substrate, (ii) up to 100 years old spontaneously formed oak-dominated forest on the rocky (granite) mounds (borders between the former vineyards formed by rock gathering), (iii) 40–60 years old planted ash stands on the gneiss bedrock, and (iv) 40–60 years old planted ash-dominated stands on the rocky (gneiss) mounds. According to our results, the former land use modified original relief, where the former vineyards have modified soil profile and new relief forms rocky mounds were created. These mounds with no or just shallow soils are usually much less covered by vegetation, thus production of herb layer biomass is lower here than in the adjacent former vineyards. Moreover, rocky mounds show a higher ratio of synanthropic species and apophytes than the adjacent former vineyards, and same as for ratio of therophytes. The younger the stands on the former vineyards, the higher is the ratio of synanthropic species, apophytes, and therophytes. On the other hand, when estimating the production quantity, the values of herb layer production on the former vineyards are similar to those in natural oak-hornbeam forests found in the Little Carpathians Mts. and the adjacent regions, except for the rocky mounds covered by old oak forests, which are less productive. In other words, the former vineyard land use affects the herb layer production quality rather than quantity.

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