NATURAL-SITE VALUE OF EXTENSIVELY USED SKO SZEWSKIE MEADOWS WALORYZACJA SIEDLISKOWA I FLORYSTYCZNA EKSTENSYWNIE UŻYTKOWANYCH ŁĄK SKOSZĘ W SKICH

ROCZNIKI GLEBOZNAWCZE TOM LXII NR 2 WARSZAWA 2011: 357-364 MACIEJ ROGALSKI EDWARD NIEDŹWIECKI 2, RYSZARD MALINOWSKI 2, DOROTA MUSIELAK MARCIN ŻOLĘDZIEWSKI PAULINA GRADZIK *, MARIA TRZASKOŚ 3 NATURAL-SITE VALUE OF EXTENSIVELY USED SKO SZEWSKIE MEADOWS WALORYZACJA SIEDLISKOWA I FLORYSTYCZNA EKSTENSYWNIE UŻYTKOWANYCH ŁĄK SKOSZĘ W SKICH 'Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Szczecin University departm ent of Soil Science, West Pomeranian University of Technology 3 Department of Grassland Science, West Pomeranian University of Technology Abstract: Multi-hectare grasslands, situated on organic soils along the Szczecin Lagoon, have been included into protective areas under the Habitat and Bird Directives. To protect these habitats, extensive grazing o f the Konik Polski horses, Scottish Highland cattle, Limousine beef cattle and cutting-grazing management is carried out since 2003. The objective o f the present study, carried out for four years (2007-2010), was to determine the soil properties o f selected meadow communities with regard to their floristic characteristics. The results were focused on the communities dominated by Calam agrostis epigejos and Holcus lanatus, occurring on the area grazed by horses. In addition, the Phalaris arundinacea community, utilized by cutting and cattle grazing was also analyzed. The total content o f macroelements in the soil was highly diverse. The level o f soluble phosphorus was relatively low and the content o f potassium was typical o f organic soils. The total content o f sodium and magnesium was low, whereas the content o f calcium was much more favourable. Among trace elements, the contents o f iron, manganese, copper, cobalt and nickel are at a natural level. In the part o f meadow soils with Holcus lanatus, accumulation o f zinc and lead was observed, which points to slight soil contamination. The conducted analysis o f the flora showed that the number o f species o f the family Poaceae ranged from 13 taxons in the wood small reed community to 10 in the meadow soft grass community. Dicotyledonous plants had the greatest representation on the reed canary grass meadow. A four-year period o f extensive grazing by horses benefited the expansion o f such grasses as: P oa pratensis, D actylis glom erata, Elymus repens, A grostis capillata and Calam agrostis canescens. There was a progressive decrease in grass species like: Calam agrostis epigejos, D escham psia caespitosa or Holcus lanatus. The cutting-pasturing use o f the reed canary grass meadow had a positive effect on the expansion o f meadow blue grass and quack grass. Under these conditions the number o f reed canary grass and meadow foxtail was reduced. K ey w ords: extensive grazing, chemical properties o f soil, meadow communities Słowa kluczowe: ekstensywny wypas, właściwości chemiczne gleb, zbiorowiska łąkowe

358 M. Rogalski et al INTRODUCTION The studies were conducted on the area of Skoszewskie Meadows, adjacent to the Szczecin Bay, the lowest IV terrace of the Odra Flood-plain [Karczewski 1968]. According to Jasnowski [1962] this terrace constitutes a vast complex of lowmoor peat of the Czarnocinski Basin lying extremely low in relation to the waters of the Bay of Szczecin (1km from the Bay peat level reaches 0.5 m above sea level and 0.8-2 km from it.) The thickness of peat deposit varies from only 35 cm near the Bay of Szczecin to the maximum of 2 m. Deposit profile is mostly composed of wood peat and bog peat in its upper part (reed, reed-sedge, sedge). Soil drainage totally stopped the growth of peat deposits and as a result of decession process the developed peat transformed into muck or muckous soils. For many years they had been used as grassland, primarily meadows, for the needs of local population. Skoszowskie Meadows were most intensively used by the State Farms and after they ceased to exist, were set aside, which with the lack of agricultural practices and devastation of hydro-melioration system caused the growth of communities of the order Molinietalia, Phragmitetalia and Magnocaricetalia [Kochanowska et al. 2007]. At present, this area has been included in the protected areas related to the Habitat and Bird within Natura 2000 programme. In order to maintain the communities of meadow vegetation and favourable nesting-sites for avifauna the parts of meadows adjacent to the Bay of Szczecin are being used for extensive cattle grazing, breeding Polish ponies and for rotation utilisation, cutting-pasturing [Bahonko et al. 2004, Musielak 2006, Musielak, Rogalski 2006]. These are long-term operations and therefore the aim of the present study is to determine the usefulness of the soils and covering them meadow communities to the needs of applied ways of grassland use. MATERIAL AND METHODS The present geobotanical studies were initiated in 2002 on the area of ca 600 ha and their first stage was the designation of suitable sites for intensive grassland management. In the year 2003 the sites for one-cut and sporadic grazing or round-the-clock and a yearlong grazing by horses (stocking density 0.3-0.5 SD/ha), Scottish Highland cattle (stocking density 0.3-0.6 SD/ha); and seasonal, from spring to autumn, grazing of beef cattle-limousine (stocking density 0.5-0.6 SD/ha) were separated. Under these conditions a preliminary attempt at determining natural effects resulting from active conservation forms of permanent grassland under study i.e. their natural and economic value, was undertaken. In this paper, the study results concerning the community dominated by wood small reed (Calamagrostis epigejos), meadow soft grass group (Holcus lanatus), syntaxa, occurring on the area grazed by horses have been presented. In addition, the reed canary grass association (Phalaris arundinacea) under a cutting- grazing system was also analysed. The syntaxa were distinguished on the basis of phytosociological studies, supplemented with an estimation method [Mannetje 2001]. Every year, on chosen, representative, permanent areas the examinations were repeated in the period June - July and in September. Apart from that, complete lists of vascular plant species were made.

The natural-sites value o f extensively used skoszewskie meadows 359 Therefore, it was possible to determine the changes in the examined phytocenoses caused by management. A special attention was paid to the response of particular species [Kochanowska et al. 2007 ]. Species terminology was adopted after Mirek et al. [1995]. Numerous boreholes made it possible to localize 3 representative soil pits. Two of them were situated near the Smiecka Kepa, about 150-200 m from the Bay flood bank and the third one 500m from the Bay, 200 m from the Czamocinski Canal. The first soil pits was made on the community with wood small reed, the second one on the area dominated by meadow soft grass and the third one by reed canary grass rushes. After finding morphological features, soil samples from particular soil horizons were taken for laboratory studies. Soil ph, organic matter content, the content of soluble in HN0+HC104 macroelements (K, P, Mg, Ca, Na) and microelements (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, Pb, Cd) were determined. Ca, K and Na content was obtained by flame photometry, P-colorometrically and trace elements and Mg using atomic absorption spectrophotometer Unicam Solar 929. The soil content of elements soluble in HC1 at the concentration 0.5 mol dm'3 was used to calculate their percentages in their total content. RESULTS The structure of soil profile affords to distinguish two kinds of soils: muck soils with the predominant subtype: peat-mud-muck soil and muck soils with a sporadically found in the vicinity of the Bay of Szczecin, subtype of muckous soils [Systematyka Gleb Polski 1989]. Irrespective of typology these soils (Table 1) are characterised by: - a great degree of silting, especially near the Bay of Szczecin, - sandy subsoil (from fine to coarse and medium sand) at the depth of 30-80 cm; - a relatively high content of organic matter (over 50% on average) in the peat parentrock with a varying amount in the mud-muck horizons, - strongly acid or acid reaction, especially in the upper part of the profile. The total content of macroelements is highly diverse. The level of phosphorus soluble in HNO +HCIO is relatively low. In the case of potassium, except for the sandy subsoil, from 0.J3 to 3.78 g kg"1 dry matter were found, which is the typical content of organic soils of Western Pomerania. There is hardly any solubility of this element in HC1 at the concentration of 0.5 mol dm"1 (Table 2). As this is observed on many meadows of Western Pomeranian province the need for potassium supplementation arises [Niedzwiecki et al. 2002, 2004]. The total amount of sodium and magnesium, in the light of other organic Pomeranian soils is low, whereas the content of calcium, due to its great solubility in 0.5 mol-dm'1 HC1, is much more favourable (Table 1 and 2). Among trace elements, the contents of iron, manganese, copper, cobalt and nickel are at a natural level. In the part of meadow soils by the Bay of Szczecin, in the community with Holcus lanatus, the accumulation of zinc (to 700.3 mg kg'1 dry matter) and lead (to 174.6 mg kg"1 dry matter) was observed, which points to a slight soil contamination with heavy metals [ Kabata-Pendias, Pendias 1999]. Both zinc and lead are characterised by a high solubility in HC1 at the concentration 0.5 mol dm"3, (to 82.6% and 68.6%, respectively) (Table 2). Thus, it seems necessary to analyse the chemical composition of

TABLE 1. Reaction and contents o f organic matter and elements soluble in mixture o f concentrated H N 0 3+HC104 Soil horizons Depth PHkc, Losses on ignition [cm] [%] K g k g 1 d.m Mucky soli: subtype muckous soil (community with Calamagrostis epigejos) P mg* kg 1 d.m Mg Ca N a Fe Mn Zn Cu Co Ni Pb Cd A(Mm)i 0-20 4.0 7.3 1.75 1.47 1.25 8.11 0.21 16416 1060 256.0 25.7 14.0 12.5 62.4 2.20 A(Mm)i 20-30 3.3 9.0 2.16 0.58 1.59 1.30 0.10 21936 794 259.3 30.7 15.5 10.1 83.1 0.99 AC 30-40 4.8 1.1 0.23 0.09 0.21 0.60 0.02 1264 29 162.3 0.7 0.5 0.5 1.2 0.05 C 40-90 4.2 1.9 0.18 0.12 0.15 0.59 0.03 1080 117 180.3 2.3 1.3 0.9 15.6 i... 0.22 Muck soil: subtype peat-mud-muck soil (domination Holcus lanatus) Mm 0-10 3.3 26.1 3.78 0.52 3.02 2.92 0.24 36280 612 388.5 52.0 18.4 19.4 123.6 1.42 Mm 10-30 3.3 13.0 3.75 0.51 3.58 2.41 0.18 51504 917 386.1 60.1 25.1 21.4 174.6 2.36 Mm 30-45 4.5 8.8 3.30 0.40 2.94 4.57 0.19 35592 1145 700.3 41.5 22.9 22.0 122.7 3.03 Ot 45-80 4.9 56.9 0.63 0.23 2.06 28.84 0.17 8735 763 313.3 8.3 3.3 10.6 17.6 0.63 Muck soil: subtype peat-mud-muck soil (community with Phalaris arundinacea) Mm 0-10 4.8 52.5 0.41 0.55 0.59 17.73 0.14 9445 279 62.3 9.9 1.8 2.6 33.7 0.69 Mm 10-25 5.1 51.9 0.44 0.55 0.64 25.48 0.17 14615 391 28.1 9.9 1.9 3.7 42.4 0.57 Ot 25-35 4.8 47.1 0.33 0.15 0.44 20.87 I10.18 12810 137 16.0 5.8 2.6 2.1 7.0 0.50 D 35-80 3.6 1.2 0.11 0.04 0.10 0.55 0.04 1517 11.3 13.7 1.2 1.4 0.5 3.2 0.05 360 M. Rogalski et al

The natural-sites value o f extensively used skoszewskie meadows 361 TABLE 2. Percentages o f elements soluble in 0.5 mol dm-3 HC1 in their total content in soil horizons to 30 cm Soil horizons Depth [cm] K P Mg Ca N a Fe Mn Zn Cu Co N i Pb Cd Mucky soli: subtype muckous soil (community with Calamagrostis epigejos) A(Mm)i 0-20 8.6 31.9 11.2 90.7 60.4 42.8 35.6 76.4 56.4 24.1 45.0 62.0 54.5 A(Mm)i 20-30 2.7 59.2 6.9 78.6 14.6 21.9 32.0 72.5 55.7 23.7 28.7 59.2 78.3 Muck soil: subtype peat-mud-muck soil (domination Holcus lanatus) Mm 0-10 3.5 69.4 13.9 73.7 33.4 29.2 70.3 60.7 40.2 49.3 36.0 68.6 87.9 Mm 10-30 2.0 45.2 9.3 74.6 25.5 29.6 45.9 66.4 53.4 35.8 35.3 66.1 57.2 Muck soil: subtype peat-mud-muck soil (community with Phalaris arundinacea) Mm 0-10 27.8 49.7 45.3 77.4 69.3 37.7 68.4 81.0 30.3 34.1 59.3 54.6 73.9 Mm 10-25 15.2 55.0 37.1 83.7 73.1 36.7 81.0 82.6 20.2 39.7 57.1 153.2 78.9 the vegetation cover on this area, since elevated amounts of trace elements pose a threat to people and animals [ Kabata-Pendias, Pendias 1999; Kabata-Pendias et al. 1993; Krol et al. 2007; Kucharczyk et al. 2003]. The conducted analysis of the flora showed that the amount of the species of the family Poaceae ranged from 13 taxons in the community with wood small reed to 10 in the meadow soft grass community. The number of papilionaceous species was very small, from 2 to 3 representatives. Dicotyledonous plants had the greatest representation on the reed canary grass meadow (Fig. 1). A four-year period of extensive grazing by horses benefited the expansion of such grasses as: Poa pratensis, Dactylis glomerata, Elymus repens, Agrostis capillata and Calamagrostis canescens. Besides, in the community with Holcus lanatus, the number of Agrostis gigantea and Festuca rubra increased and perennial rye-grass appeared in the wood small reed community. There was a progressive decrease in grass species like: Calamagrostis epigejos, Deschampsia caespitosa or Holcus lanatus. The cutting-pasturing use of the reed canary grass meadow had a positive effect on the expansion of meadow blue grass and quack grass. Under these conditions the number of reed canary grass, wood small reed and meadow foxtail was reduced. No response to grassland use was observed in Alopecurus geniculatus and Festuca arundinacea on pastures and Holcus lanatus on meadows. On the sites used for grazing the number of white clover increased whereas there was a drop in the number of meadow vetchling and common clover. In the community with meadow soft grass the share of spreading rush substancially enhanced. The response of other species of vascular plants varied. Dicotyledonous plants such as Cardaminepratensis, Epilobium hirsutum, Polygonum lapathifolium, Ranunculus acris, R. sceleratus in great numbers appeared in reed canary rushes. Grazing clearly limited the occurrence of Urtica dioica, Cirsium arvense and Galeopsis tetrahit.

3 62 M. Rogalski et al Community with C alam agrostis epigejos FIGURE 1. Number of permanent, appearing and disappearing species in flora of examined communities Even extensive management forms brought about the decrease in the number o f sedge, common nettle or com thistle species which had thrived on abandoned, wet meadows. The invasion o f these species in meadow vegetation cover is observed after meadows are no longer used [Grynia 1996; Kochanowska et al. 1995, 2007; Niedźwiecki, Trzaskoś 1999]. It should be emphasised that the physiognomy o f grassland under study has changed. N ot so long ago uncut, flowering and fruiting meadows, frequently with corn thistle monoculture, reed canary rushes and sedge dominated as it was reported by Kochanowska et al. [1995] and Kochanowska and Rygielski [1994].

The natural-sites value o f extensively used skoszewskie meadows 363 CONCLUSIONS On the examined area it was found that: 1. Muck or muckous soils are characterised by a great degree of silting, a relatively high organic matter content in the peat parent material, sandy subsoil, strongly acid or acid reaction and the total macroelement content typical of organic soils of Western Pomerania. 2. Elevated content of lead and zinc under the meadow soft grass community, points to the need for analysing the concentrations of these elements in vegetation cover since it is used for grazing. 3. Konik polski grazing contributed to the growth of valuable meadow grass species such as: Poapratensis, Dactylis glomerata, or even Elymus repens. 4. Under the influence of animals the number of such species as: Calamagrostis epigejos, Deschampsia caespitosa and Holcus lanatus reduced but on the other hand, the expansion of spreading rush should be taken into account under such conditions. 5. One, late cutting of reed canary rushes, coupled with grazing had positive effects on the floristic diversity of this community. This regime was beneficial to the development of meadow bluegrass and quackgrass but first of all, dicotyledonous plants. Streszczenie: Wielohektarowe użytki zielone, położone na glebach organicznych nad Zalewem Szczecińskim, zostały włączone do obszarów chronionych w ramach Dyrektywy Siedliskowej i Ptasiej. W celu ochrony tych siedlisk, od 2003 roku, prowadzi się na nich ekstensywny wypas koników polskich, szkockiego bydła górskiego, bydła mięsnego rasy Limousin oraz użytkowanie kośno-pastwiskowe. Celem prezentowanych badań, prowadzonych przez cztery lata (2007-2010) było określenie właściwości gleb wybranych zbiorowisk łąkowych na tle charakterystyki szaty roślinnej. W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badań dotyczące zbiorowisk zdominowanych przez Calam agrostis epigejos i Holcus lanatus, występujących na obszarach wypasanych przez koniki polskie. Ponadto zbiorowisko z Phalaris arundinacea użytkowane kośno-pastwiskowo z wypasem bydła, było także analizowane. Ogólna zawartość w glebie makroelementów była bardzo zróżnicowana. Poziom rozpuszczalnego fosforu był stosunkowo niski a zawartość potasu okazała się typową dla gleb organicznych. Ogóle stężenie sodu i magnezu było niskie, w przeciwieństwie do zawartości wapnia. Spośród pierwiastków śladowych, zawartość żelaza, manganu, miedzi, kobaltu i niklu była znacznie korzystniejsza. N a glebie pod zbiorowiskiem z Holcus lanatus, zaobserwowano kumulację cynku i ołowiu, co świadczy o niewielkim skażeniu gleby. Przeprowadzone analizy flory wykazały liczba gatunków z rodziny Poaceae wahała się od 13 w zbiorowisku z trzcinnikiem piaskowym do 10 na łące kłosówkowej. Dwuliścienne były najliczniej reprezentowane w zbiorowisku z m ozgą trzcinowatą. Ekstensywny wypas koni, przez cztery' lata, sprzyjał ekspansji takich traw jak: Poa pratensis, D actylis glom erata, Elymus repens, Agrostis capillata i Calam agrostis canescen, a ustępowaniu Calam agrostis epigejos, Descham psia caespitosa i Holcus lanatus. Użytkowanie kośno-pastwiskowe łąki m ozgowej, wpływało korzystnie na wzrost udziału wiechliny łąkowej i perzu właściwego. W takich warunkach ustępowała m ozga trzcinowata i wy czyniec łąkowy. REFERENCES BAHONKO M., PALACZ R., ROGALSKI M. 2004: Wpływ wypasu na zbiorowiska roślinne oraz awifaunę trwałych użytków zielonych Basenu Czamocińskiego. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego, 131: 27-30. GRYNIA M. 1996: Kierunki zmian szaty roślinnej zbiorowisk łąkowych w Wielkopolsce. Rocz. AR Poznań, 284 Roi. 47: 125-127. JASNOWSKI M. 1962: Budowa i roślinność torfowisk Pomorza Szczecińskiego. Szczecińskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Wydz. Nauk Przyrodniczo-Rolniczych, Szczecin, t 10: 340 ss.

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