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Environmental control of species richness and composition in upland grasslands of the southern Czech Republic

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Abstract

Biodiversity of Central European semi-natural upland grasslands is steadily declining, due to either abandonment or management intensification. Although there are several descriptive overviews of their vegetation, quantitative information on the relationship between their species richness or composition and environmental factors is still scarce. We sampled upland grasslands in the southern part of the Czech Republic in order to determine the main soil variables affecting diversity of their vegetation. The relationships between species richness and environmental variables were tested using correlation analysis and regression trees, and the relationship between species composition and environment using detrended correspondence analysis and canonical correspondence analysis. Of soil variables, species richness of vascular plants was most strongly affected by phosphorus and, less so, by potassium and organic matter, with higher richness in habitats with less phosphorus, potassium, and organic matter. Grasslands on soils with pH < 4.6 were species-poor, but across the rest of the pH range richness was independent of pH. Most bryophyte species were present on low-pH soils poor in calcium and phosphorus and on organic soils. Red List species were best represented in fen meadows on organic soils with high calcium and low pH. Major determinants of floristic composition were soil moisture, nutrient availability, and soil pH. This study shows that conservation management of these grasslands should focus on reducing phosphorus input and protecting groundwater discharge areas from drainage.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Rob Marrs for various advice and for making laboratory analyses possible during the Erasmus stay of K.M. in the Applied Vegetation Dynamics Laboratory of the University of Liverpool, and David Zelený for calculation of the modified permutation tests for Ellenberg Indicator Values. This study was funded by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic (MSM0021622416).

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  1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, Brno, CZ-611 37, Czech Republic

    Kristina Merunková & Milan Chytrý

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  1. Kristina Merunková
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  2. Milan Chytrý
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Correspondence to Kristina Merunková.

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Merunková, K., Chytrý, M. Environmental control of species richness and composition in upland grasslands of the southern Czech Republic. Plant Ecol 213, 591–602 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-012-0024-6

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