Abstract
The project focuses on plant population dynamics and species diversity within arable-to-grassland successions on Öland and in S Germany – in local landscapes for which there are detailed (GIS) historical databases on land-use structure. Data will be collected from established grasslands (of known age) and from early successional habitats that are not yet classifiable as grassland. Early successional sites will be dated (interviews with landowners). We will produce a modern land-use/vegetation map for the Jordtorp area that will be added to the existing database (with land-cover maps extending back to 1723) and will also investigate the potential use of high resolution satellite data in the monitoring of grassland quality. An earlier phase of the project indicated that several species that are characteristic components of grasslands with a long historical continuity on Öland also have high frequencies in relatively young grasslands. We will explore the chronology of species-establishment and density changes in species-populations on different spatial scales within arable-to-grassland successional chronosequences. To what extent are alpha and beta diversity related to grassland age/successional stage? Do we need to change our perspectives on the management of species diversity in old grasslands to include the dynamics of species-populations in early successional grasslands? On a European scale, we will seek generalities by comparing results from Öland with those from S Germany.
Sweden