- COMPARISON OF SPECIES COMPOSITION BETWEEN DIFFERENT GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT TREATMENTS - 99 Applied Vegetation Science 5: 99-106, 2002 © IAVS; Opulus Press Uppsala. Printed in Sweden Abstract. To identify management treatments suitable for the conservation of extensively managed grasslands, the 'Fallow experiments in Baden-Württemberg’ were set up in 1975. In this investigation, species composition of the grazing, mow- ing, mulching, controlled burning and unmanaged (succes- sion) treatments were analysed after 25 yr of continuous management in Arrhenatherum elatius and Bromus erectus grasslands. Through ordination analyses it was found that species composition is strongly dependent on the management treatment. The first axis, identified by ordination analysis, essentially corresponded to a gradient of decreasing distur- bance frequency. Controlled burning resulted in a unique species composition. Grazing, mowing and mulching twice a year were found to be most suitable for the conservation of unimproved, species-rich grasslands. Keywords: Controlled burning; Grazing; Mowing; Mowing compatibility; Mulching; Succession. Nomenclature: Oberdorfer (1994). Introduction Grasslands were an integral part of the semi-natural landscape of central Europe. Most of these grassland communities originated from human land use, many species are adapted to specific managements such as grazing, burning and cutting and suffer from abandon- ment (Ellenberg 1996). Since the 1960s these exten- sively managed pastures and meadows have declined in abundance due to abandonment, agricultural inten- sification or afforestation (Schiefer 1981; Bakker 1989; Korneck et al. 1998; Poschlod & Schuhmacher 1998 and literature therein). The communities mainly af- fected by abandonment are Arrhenatherum eletius and Bromus erectus grasslands. Conservation of these spe- cies-rich grasslands is an important task in nature conservation (Korneck et al. 1998). Comparison of species composition between different grassland management treatments after 25 years Moog, D. 1* ; Poschlod, P. 1,2 ; Kahmen, S. 1,2 & Schreiber, K.-F. 3 1 Nature Conservation II, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-University, D-35032 Marburg, Germany; 2 Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, University of Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany; 3 Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany; * Corresponding author; E-mail d.moog@gmx.de The problem of fallowing was particularly pressing during the 1970s. The fourth author was commissioned by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to initiate a long-term grassland manage- ment study, called the ‘Fallow experiments in Baden- Württemberg’, which is still running today. The focus of this experiment was twofold. 1. Different management regimes should be compared for their suitability in preventing the establishment of shrubs, reducing the amount of accumulated litter and conserving character- istic plant communities. Management treatments in- cluded mowing, mulching, grazing and controlled burn- ing applied at different intervals. 2. The course of suc- cession after abandonment should be investigated over a range of habitats. In the present study the effect of management re- gimes on species composition was analysed after 25 yr. The effects of management on habitat characteristics was of particular interest and treatments were compared with respect to indicator values for moisture, soil reac- tion, nutrient status and light after Ellenberg et al. (1992). To classify plant species with respect to their sensitivity to mowing Briemle & Ellenberg (1994) developed an indicator value for mowing compatibility and defined it for a number of plant species. However, no test of the applicability of this has been published until now. This study examined differences in the indicator value for mowing compatibility between management treatments. The implications of the results are discussed from a nature conservation point of view.