Effects of local factors on plant species richness and composition of Alpine meadows

The determinants of plant species richness and composition of meadows are often mutually related, showing joint effects on plant diversity. Thus, the specific objective of this paper was to evaluate the relative importance of soil, topography, and field management explanatory variables on plant species richness and composition of mown meadows in an area of the Southern Alps. The data consisted of 159 taxa sampled during the summer of 2003 in 56 10 × 10 m2 sampling plots. For each plot, 25 explanatory variables were recorded. The variation in species richness and composition was divided into the three sets of explanatory variables using a variation partitioning method. Species richness was mostly controlled both by the short-term effect of nitrogen fertilisation, and, as stressed by studies in other landscape contexts in Europe, by the long-term effect of soil phosphorus accumulation. The decrease of plant species number on the most fertile meadows was the consequence of the dominance of few competitors or ruderals, which prevented the establishment of small stress-tolerant species. In contrast to species richness, plant species composition presented an important pure effect of topography (altitude and slope). Species composition depended on several topography, soil, and field management factors. Thus, for both conservation and restoration of species-rich hay meadows, it is necessary to maintain a low level of soil P content, and to prevent the abandonment of parcels on steep slopes and in marginal areas, because these hosted the highest level of plant diversity.