Recovery of subalpine dwarf shrub heath after neighbour removal
and fertilization |
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Authors: | Brancaleoni Lisa Gerdol Renato |
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Institution: | (1) Dipartimento delle Risorse Naturali e Culturali, Università di Ferrara, Corso Porta Mare 2, I-44100 Ferrara, Italia |
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Abstract: | We tested if subalpine heath vegetation in northern Italy recovered after experimental perturbation of soil nutrient availability
(fertilization) and species composition (removal of co-dominant dwarf shrubs). Species cover was assessed non-destructively
before the start of the treatments (1995), at the end of the treatments (1999) and 4 years after the treatments ended (2003).
Shrub removal had rather modest effects on heath vegetation, except for mosses which decreased significantly in removal plots.
Fertilization decreased the cover of shrubs, mosses, and some graminoids but increased the cover of Festuca rubra. Fertilization converted heath to grassland, but the response of graminoid species was individualistic. Fertilization decreased
vascular species richness and evenness, probably through negative effects of shading and litter accumulation on plant growth
or recruitment. The vegetation had not recovered completely 4 years after the perturbations had stopped. This suggests that,
in contrast to rapid responses to species removal and fertilization, recovery from these perturbations was rather slow, presumably
because recovery was affected by long-term biotic interactions and species controls on ecosystem properties. |
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Keywords: | Competition Empetrum Facilitation Removal Vaccinium |
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