Publication
Title
Wet meadow restoration in Western Europe : a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of several techniques
Author
Abstract
Techniques such as rewetting, topsoil removal, diaspore transfer or combinations of these are increasingly applied in fen meadow and flood meadow restoration in Western Europe. In this paper, we present a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of the commonly used meadow restoration methods. We use the change in 'saturation index' to evaluate the degree of success. The index reflects the completeness of restored communities in comparison to regional target communities. Meadow restoration has limited success in most cases, with an average increase in species richness below 10% of the regional species pool. Restoration success was partly determinated by the starting situation. The more species-rich the starting situation, the higher the saturation index after restoration but, at the same time, the smaller the increase in the number of target species due to restoration. Top soil removal and diaspore transfer were found to contribute most to restoration success. A combination of top soil removal and diaspore transfer and a combination of all three techniques appeared to be the most effective measure and resulted in an increase in the saturation index of up to 16%. Rewetting alone had no measurable effect on restoration success.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Biological conservation. - Liverpool
Publication
Liverpool : 2007
ISSN
0006-3207
DOI
10.1016/J.BIOCON.2007.08.024
Volume/pages
140 :3-4 (2007) , p. 318-328
ISI
000251210800012
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 03.01.2013
Last edited 23.08.2022
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