Applied Vegetation Science 17 (2014) 193–200 SPECIAL FEATURE: ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION Vegetation succession in restoration of disturbed sites in Central Europe: the direction of succession and species richness across 19 seres Karel Prach, Klara Rehounkova, Kamila Lencova, Alena J ırova, Petra Konvalinkova, Ond rej Mudrak, Vojtech Student, Zdenek Vanecek, Lubom ır Tichy, Petr Pet r ık, Petr Smilauer & Petr Pysek Keywords Ordination; Restoration; Species number; Succession; Target species Nomenclature Kuba ´ t et al. (2002) Received 26 February 2013 Accepted 12 July 2013 Co-ordinating Editor: Lawrence Walker Prach, K. (corresponding author, prach@prf.jcu.cz), Rehounkova, K. (klara.rehounkova@ gmail.com), Lencova, K. (Lencova.Kamila@seznam.cz), J ırova, A. (cralenka@yahoo.co.uk), Konvalinkova, P. (petra.konvalinkova@ cmsterk.cz), Student, V. (student@prf.jcu.cz), Vanecek, Z. (vanecz00@prf.jcu.cz) & Smilauer, P. (petrsm@jcu.cz): Faculty of Science USB, Brani sovska 31, CZ-37005, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic Prach, K. , Rehounkova, K. , J ırova, A. & Mudrak, O. (ondrej.mudrak@centrum.cz): Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dukelska 135, CZ-37981, T rebon, Czech Republic Tichy, L. (tichy@sci.muni.cz): Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotla rska 2, CZ-61137, Brno, Czech Republic Pet r ık, P. (petr_petrik@seznam.cz) & Pysek, P. (pysek@ibot.cas.cz): Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-252 43, Pr uhonice, Czech Republic Pysek, P.: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, CZ-128 44, Prague 2, Czech Republic Abstract Questions: (1) How do seres differ with respect to vegetation changes? (2) What are the directions of succession? (3) How do species numbers change? (4) How do target species, i.e. those typical of natural and semi-natural vegetation, participate in succession? (5) Are spontaneously developed successional stages acceptable from the point of view of ecosystem restoration? Location: Extracted peatlands, bulldozed sites in forests destroyed by air pollu- tion, an emerged bottom of a water reservoir, corridors of former Iron Curtain, artificial fishpond islands and barriers, sedimentary basins, spoil heaps from mining, stone quarries, forest clearings, road verges, sand and gravel-sand pits, ruderal urban sites, river gravel bars and abandoned arable fields, located in various parts of the Czech Republic in Central Europe. Methods: Phytosociological releves were recorded in 10–25 m 2 plots located in the centre of representative successional stages defined by their age, ranging from 1 to 100 yrs. In total, we obtained 2392 vegetation samples containing 951 species. We performed DCA ordination to compare 19 seres. Desirable target species were considered as those representing (semi)-natural vegetation and all Red List species. Results: The seres studied are more similar in their species composition in the initial and early stages, in which synathropic species prevail, than in the later stages when the vegetation differentiates. This divergence is driven mainly by local moisture conditions. In most cases, succession led to woodland, which usu- ally established after ca. 20 yrs. In very dry or wet places (with limited presence of woody species) open vegetation developed, often highly valuable from the restoration and conservation point of view. The total number of species and the number of target species increased in the majority of seres with successional age. Conclusions: The vegetation in the sites studied formed a continuum along a moisture gradient and by successional age. The individual seres largely over- lapped in their species composition; the sere identity was not significant. Sponta- neous succession usually proceeded towards woodland, except at very dry or wet sites, and generally appeared to be an ecologically suitable way of ecosystem restoration of disturbed sites because target species became dominant over time. Introduction Numerous different seres have been described from vari- ous parts of the world, often in remarkable detail (Walker & del Moral 2003). There is, nevertheless, still a lack of studies that compare a number of seres over a broad geographic scale in a rigorous, quantitative way (Prach et al. 1993, 2001, 2007, 2013; Anderson 2007; Prevosto Applied Vegetation Science Doi: 10.1111/avsc.12064 © 2013 International Association for Vegetation Science 193