Abstract
The sword lily Gladiolus palustris Gaudin is protected on European level and listed in Annexes II and IV of the EC Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC. It grows in nutrient-poor, calcareous meadows in central and eastern Europe. Tree encroachment in montane meadows of the European Alps as a result of recent land use changes and the abandonment of traditional farming practices threaten the survival of this species. Conservation-driven mowing is considered a feasible conservation measure for maintaining high species diversity in abandoned semi-natural grasslands. To assess the effects of ten years of biennial mowing on a grassland community in the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park, Italy (Site of Community Importance, Natura 2000 network), ten 25 m2 plots were established whereby four plots were placed in the mowed area, four in the non-mowed area and two in a small non-mowed patch of grassland inside the mowed area. In each plot the following variables were recorded, total percentage of plant cover, percentage cover of woody species, percentage cover of herbaceous species, percentage cover and number of flowering ramets of G. palustris and a complete list of species and their percentage abundance. Mowed plots showed a higher species richness than non-mowed plots. The number of G. palustris flowering ramets and percentage cover increased manifold in mowed plots compared to non-mowed plots. The resumption of mowing for conservation purposes undertaken by the managing authority halted the process of tree encroachment and avoided a drastic change in plant composition. Periodic mowing (every second or third year) was demonstrated to be a cost-effective conservation measure in non-productive grasslands to keep grasses at bay in favour of forbs of high conversation value.
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Acknowledgements
Mowing activities in Mt. Grave are performed thanks to national funding provided by Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare (direttiva ministeriale ex cap. 1551). This study was funded by Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park in the context of European ‘Habitat’ directive 92/43/CEE monitoring. Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Pavia within the CRUI-CARE Agreement. We are indebted to rangers (Reparto Carabinieri Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi) of Pedavena and Candaten (BL) for logistic support during the field survey. The Grant of Excellence Departments, MIUR-Italy (articolo 1, commi 314–337 legge 232/2016) is gratefully acknowledged for the support to one of the authors (Prof. Thomas Abeli). Moreover, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.
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Canella, M., Poloniato, G., Lasen, C. et al. Benefits of conservation-driven mowing for the EU policy species Gladiolus palustris Gaudin in mountain fen meadows: a case-study in the European Alps. J. Mt. Sci. 17, 2097–2107 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-019-5781-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-019-5781-4