Plant functional groups, conservation values and ecosystem
services
All the plots disturbed in 2019 were disturbed again in 2020, while all
plots intact in 2019 remained intact also in 2020. The effect of
disturbance was significant on all the studied parameters (Table 1).
Total vegetation cover, cryptogam cover and the cover of perennial
graminoids were smaller in the disturbed plots than in the intact
grasslands, while perennial forbs, short-lived forbs and short-lived
graminoids were more abundant in the disturbed plots (Figure 3A-F). The
disturbed plots were characterised by larger Shannon diversity
(Figure 4A) and smaller
naturalness score (Figure 4B) than the intact grasslands. Forage quality
(Figure 4C) decreased and specific leaf area (Figure 4D) increased as a
result of the disturbance. Plant species tended to have longer flowering
period in the disturbed plots (Figure 4E). The cover of
insect-pollinated plants was larger in the disturbed plots compared to
the intact grasslands (Figure 4F).
We identified significant interaction terms (Table 1) which shows that
the effect of disturbance on the vegetation characteristics were
mediated by year (in case of 7 variables), season (in case of 7
variables), or the interaction of year and season (in case of 6
variables). Vegetation changes were consistent in the intact grasslands
across the study years and seasons.