Application of CSR- and LHS-strategies for the distinction of differently managed grasslands

Abstract

In 1975, the ‘Fallow experiments in Baden-Württemberg’ were set up by K.-F. Schreiber to identify management treatments suitable for the conservation of extensively used grasslands. Management treatments included grazing, mulching, controlled burning and abandoning. The management treatments were applied continuously since 1975. The focus of this study is two-fold: First, different management treatments should be compared in their proportion of CSR-strategies (Nature 250 (1974) 26). Second, LHS-strategies (Plant Soil 199 (1998) 213) are applied to test if the treatment effects may also be predicted with three easily measurable traits. CSR- as well as LHS-strategies were found to differ predominantly between the study sites. Significant differences between the management treatments could be identified when the effect of habitat properties was removed arithmetically. Through CSR-strategies the treatments grazing, mulching twice a year, mulching every second year and succession could be distinguished. With LHS-strategies grazing, mulching twice a year and succession could be differentiated.