Applied Vegetation Science && (2013)
The natural regeneration of calcareous grassland at a landscape scale: 150 years of plant community re-assembly on Salisbury Plain, UK John W. Redhead, John Sheail , James M. Bullock , Andrea Ferreruela , Kevin J. Walker & Richard F. Pywell
Keywords Agri-environment; Chalk grassland; Chronosequence; GIS; Historic land use; Indicator species; Restoration Nomenclature Stace C. 2010. New Flora of the British Isles, 3rd Ed. Cambridge University Press Received 9 August 2013 Accepted 1 October 2013 Co-ordinating Editor: Lauchlan Fraser
Redhead, J.W. (corresponding author,
[email protected]), Sheail, J. (
[email protected]), Bullock, J.M. (
[email protected]) & Pywell, R.F. (
[email protected]): NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK Ferreruela, A. (
[email protected]): Forestal Catalana, Sabino Arana 34, 1r1a, 08028, Barcelona, Spain Walker, K.J. (
[email protected]): Botanical Society of the British Isles, 97 Dragon Parade, Harrogate, HG1 5DG, UK
Abstract Questions: What is the time-scale for natural regeneration of calcareous grassland? Is this time-scale the same for individual plant species, plant community composition and functional traits? Location: Defence Training Estate Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, UK. Methods: We investigated the rate of natural regeneration of species-rich calcareous grassland across a 20 000-ha landscape. We combined a large-scale botanical survey with historic land-use data (6–150 yrs before present) and examined differences between grassland age classes in the occurrence of individual plant species, plant community composition and plant community functional traits.
Results: Many species showed a significant association with grasslands over 100 yrs old. These included the majority of those defined elsewhere as calcareous grassland indicators, although some appeared on grasslands
