The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants
Question: How does nutrient addition and seeding affect revegetation of seed plants, and are the effects differing among the stages of the regeneration pathway? Location: Two roads restored in 2002, located in Hjerkinn firing range, in lower alpine zone of Dovrefjell, Norway.Methods: Abundance of sp...
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ftntnutrondheimi:oai:ntnuopen.ntnu.no:11250/244969 2023-05-15T16:02:19+02:00 The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants Hoff, Ellen Torsæter Bente Jessen, Graae Hagen, Dagmar Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Fakultet for naturvitenskap og teknologi, Institutt for biologi 2011 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/244969 eng eng Institutt for biologi 505173 ntnudaim:6589 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/244969 39 ntnudaim:6589 MBI Biologi Økologi Master thesis 2011 ftntnutrondheimi 2019-09-17T06:49:08Z Question: How does nutrient addition and seeding affect revegetation of seed plants, and are the effects differing among the stages of the regeneration pathway? Location: Two roads restored in 2002, located in Hjerkinn firing range, in lower alpine zone of Dovrefjell, Norway.Methods: Abundance of species and functional types (dwarf shrubs, forbs and graminoids) in four stages of the regeneration pathway (seed rain, seed bank, field seedlings and established vegetation) was recorded seven years after road reconstruction in treatment plots (with nutrient addition, nutrient + seed addition and no treatment). Results: The graminoid Deschampsia cespitosa dominated the vegetation and seed rain in fertilized plots, while the seeded Festuca rubra still dominated the seeded + fertilized plots. The germinable seed bank was lowest in the seeded + fertilized treatment, while the control plots had the highest number of seedlings germinating in the field. Dwarf shrubs had a high germination rate in the field, despite low rates in the seed rain and seed bank. The highest rate of dwarf shrub seedlings was in control plots, while the frequency of dwarf shrubs in the established vegetation increased with nutrient addition. Forbs had species specific responses.Conclusions: Both treatments that included nutrients were dominated by graminoids, with a higher vegetation cover and frequency of dwarf shrubs than the control plots. While graminoids are the most efficient seed producers, they are less able to germinate and survive as seedlings. Dwarf shrubs accounted for a high proportion of germinating seedlings in the field, but the low frequencies of dwarf shrubs in the established control plot vegetation suggest either low seedling survival or an ongoing successional change. It remains to be revealed if the high recruitment of dwarf shrubs in the control plots will speed up the establishment of the typical dwarf shrub cover similar to the surrounding vegetation and hereby indicate that unassisted recovery is the fastest way to restore alpine dwarf shrub heath. Master Thesis Dovrefjell NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Dovrefjell ENVELOPE(13.500,13.500,79.000,79.000) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftntnutrondheimi |
language |
English |
topic |
ntnudaim:6589 MBI Biologi Økologi |
spellingShingle |
ntnudaim:6589 MBI Biologi Økologi Hoff, Ellen Torsæter The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants |
topic_facet |
ntnudaim:6589 MBI Biologi Økologi |
description |
Question: How does nutrient addition and seeding affect revegetation of seed plants, and are the effects differing among the stages of the regeneration pathway? Location: Two roads restored in 2002, located in Hjerkinn firing range, in lower alpine zone of Dovrefjell, Norway.Methods: Abundance of species and functional types (dwarf shrubs, forbs and graminoids) in four stages of the regeneration pathway (seed rain, seed bank, field seedlings and established vegetation) was recorded seven years after road reconstruction in treatment plots (with nutrient addition, nutrient + seed addition and no treatment). Results: The graminoid Deschampsia cespitosa dominated the vegetation and seed rain in fertilized plots, while the seeded Festuca rubra still dominated the seeded + fertilized plots. The germinable seed bank was lowest in the seeded + fertilized treatment, while the control plots had the highest number of seedlings germinating in the field. Dwarf shrubs had a high germination rate in the field, despite low rates in the seed rain and seed bank. The highest rate of dwarf shrub seedlings was in control plots, while the frequency of dwarf shrubs in the established vegetation increased with nutrient addition. Forbs had species specific responses.Conclusions: Both treatments that included nutrients were dominated by graminoids, with a higher vegetation cover and frequency of dwarf shrubs than the control plots. While graminoids are the most efficient seed producers, they are less able to germinate and survive as seedlings. Dwarf shrubs accounted for a high proportion of germinating seedlings in the field, but the low frequencies of dwarf shrubs in the established control plot vegetation suggest either low seedling survival or an ongoing successional change. It remains to be revealed if the high recruitment of dwarf shrubs in the control plots will speed up the establishment of the typical dwarf shrub cover similar to the surrounding vegetation and hereby indicate that unassisted recovery is the fastest way to restore alpine dwarf shrub heath. |
author2 |
Bente Jessen, Graae Hagen, Dagmar Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Fakultet for naturvitenskap og teknologi, Institutt for biologi |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Hoff, Ellen Torsæter |
author_facet |
Hoff, Ellen Torsæter |
author_sort |
Hoff, Ellen Torsæter |
title |
The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants |
title_short |
The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants |
title_full |
The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants |
title_fullStr |
The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Effect of Restoration Treatments on the Regeneration Pathway in Alpine Seed Plants |
title_sort |
effect of restoration treatments on the regeneration pathway in alpine seed plants |
publisher |
Institutt for biologi |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/244969 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(13.500,13.500,79.000,79.000) |
geographic |
Dovrefjell |
geographic_facet |
Dovrefjell |
genre |
Dovrefjell |
genre_facet |
Dovrefjell |
op_source |
39 |
op_relation |
505173 ntnudaim:6589 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/244969 |
_version_ |
1766397894682738688 |