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Impact of hemiparasitic Rhinanthus angustifolius and R. minor on nitrogen availability in grasslands

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Abstract

Root hemiparasites like Rhinanthus angustifolius C.C. Gmel and R. minor L. have a potential to accelerate the restoration of semi-natural grasslands because they may decrease above-ground biomass of the vegetation. This, in turn, may be beneficial for species diversity. It is known that hemiparasites often accumulate high nutrient concentrations in their above-ground parts, resulting in high quality litter. Because of the short life cycle of many parasitic plants, litter is released early in the season and the main part is not removed from the grassland by hay-making. This has been shown to yield an increased nutrient availability locally. We performed an introduction experiment with R. angustifolius and R. minor in three semi-natural grasslands in Flanders (Belgium). In the second year after sowing, the above-ground nitrogen (N) content of the grasses and of the potential host vegetation (excluding the hemiparasite), was increased in the parasitized plots. The reduction of grass (and legume) above-ground biomass in parasitized plots resulted in a decrease in the total above-ground N uptake of grasses, host and total vegetation (ex- and including the parasite, respectively) of the parasitized plots compared to the control. Furthermore, with a tracer experiment (15N), we demonstrated that the N from the added tracer was relatively less available in parasitized plots, suggesting larger soil N pools in these treatments. This is probably the consequence of increased mineralization, resulting from the high-quality, parasitic litter. Further experiments should be conducted to investigate the impact of hemiparasitic Rhinanthus spp., e.g. on the availability of other nutrients such as phosphorus.

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Abbreviations

Ndff:

the fraction of N in the plant derived from the 15N labelled fertilizer

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Acknowledgements

Eric Gillis and Jan Vermeulen (ISOFYS) are gratefully acknowledged for technical assistance and Jan Bries (Soil Service of Belgium) for calculation of the NDC-values. E.A. held a grant from the Fund for Scientific Research (F.W.O.-Vlaanderen). We further acknowledge the financial support by the ministry of the Flemish Community, Department of Environmental and Nature Policy (AMINABEL).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Forest, Nature and Landscape, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Els Ameloot & Martin Hermy

  2. Faculty of Biosciences and Landscape Architecture, University College Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

    Greet Verlinden

  3. Laboratory of Applied Physical Chemistry (ISOFYS), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Pascal Boeckx

  4. Laboratory of Forestry, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Kris Verheyen

Authors
  1. Els Ameloot
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  2. Greet Verlinden
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  3. Pascal Boeckx
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  4. Kris Verheyen
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  5. Martin Hermy
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Correspondence to Els Ameloot.

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Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 6 Analysis results for % N and atom% 15N per functional plant group per plot in the non-enriched plots
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Table 7 Analysis results for % N and atom% 15N per functional plant group per plot in the 15N-enriched plots
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Ameloot, E., Verlinden, G., Boeckx, P. et al. Impact of hemiparasitic Rhinanthus angustifolius and R. minor on nitrogen availability in grasslands. Plant Soil 311, 255–268 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9640-2

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