Species Introduction in Grassland Restoration

New nature by sowing? The current state of species introduction in grassland restoration, and the road ahead

Petter Hedberg and Wiktor Kotowski

Journal for Nature Conservation
Volume 18, Issue 4, December 2010, Pages 304-308

Here is a good paper from Polish researchers on restoration ecology. The paper is authored by Dr Petter Hedberg and Dr Wiktor Kotowski. Both of them are from the Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Institute of Botany, University of Warsaw, Poland

In this paper the researchers reviews the current status of species introduction into semi-natural grasslands, and summarizes the results of published literature in this field.

The review shows that restoration through species introduction is an effective method of establishing dispersal limited species but concludes that we are yet to make use of the fact that Functional Diversity can add to restoration.

 The authors say no single study in their  search has followed up species introduction by measuring any of the currently available indices of functional diversity. According to the researchers this approach is necessary to gain knowledge on what traits are likely to be sorted out in species introduction cases in various environments.