Abstract
During the last century, semi-natural grasslands have become reduced by almost 90% in Sweden. Short-lived species (annuals, biennials) show the fastest decline in abundance in the initial stages of degradation of semi-natural grasslands. The aim is to study local and regional dynamics of annual plant species living in fragmented semi-natural grasslands. How does the dynamics at the patch scale relate to the dynamics at the local and regional scale? How synchronised are the dynamics of local populations? Knowledge of how plant populations behave in different scales and how plant populations are affected by local conditions or landscape changes, such as fragmentation, is of importance both in a general ecological context and for conservation of plants in fragmented landscapes. Besides demographic studies of annual plant populations in remnant habitat fragments varying in size and isolation, an experimental approach will be made to examine the colonisation ability of the species. There is still little data on this important population process.
Sweden