LIFE to AlvarsAction C.4. Restoration of habitat

through seed sowing

Final report

MTÜ Elurikas EestiKõrgemäe, SoitsjärveTartu vald, Tartumaa

ESTONIA+372 53 480 861info@elurikas.ee

2018

Table of Contents 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................3 2 LIFE to Alvars. Restoration of habitat through seed sowing.................................................5 3 Brush harvesting....................................................................................................................6

Harvester.............................................................................................................................6 Collecting seeds...................................................................................................................7

Collection time..................................................................................................................7Selection of donor site.......................................................................................................8Processing collected seeds.................................................................................................8Sowing...............................................................................................................................9Botanical overview and seed germination test..................................................................9

4 Green hay spreading.............................................................................................................12Mowing from donor site..................................................................................................12Collecting green hay from donor site..............................................................................13Spreading green hay to restoration site............................................................................13Botanical overview of green hay donor site....................................................................13

5 Detailed description of activities in Neeme project area.....................................................14 6 Detailed description of activities in Kurese project area.....................................................15

2

1 IntroductionAs a part of the LIFE to Alvars project (LIFE13NAT/EE/000082), two different seed distribution methods were used to introduce characteristic species to previously heavily overgrown alvar grassland sites. From the 25 project sites, Neeme site in north-western Saaremaa island and Kurese site in Estonian mainland (see Fig. 1) where chosen as test areas of seed distributing.

Following is the outtake from project proposal:

In heavily overgrown sites, seeds of alvar grassland specialist species will be sown following the restoration. In number of sites, dense juniper cover has already formed so that no herbaceous vegetation has remained under the scrub. Invasion of ruderal species and development of annual communities on restored sites will delay the formation of perennial alvar grassland vegetation as well as lead to undesirable and unexpected appearance of the sites following the vegetation. The latter may hinder the restoration enthusiasm of local people. For minimizing the invasion of ruderal species following the clearance, we will use several techniques which will hasten the colonization of habitat specific alvar species. Specifically, we will use following approaches: 1) collecting of seeds from nearby good-quality sites and sowing them to restored sites by using specific brush harvester (as well as handcollecting for specific species); 2) spreading the hay from nearby good-quality sites for transporting the seeds and covering the bare soil before the establishment of perennial species. We already have consulted and will continue the collaboration with the participants of Central Europe Programme project SALVERE (Semi-natural grassland as a source of biodiversity improvement, www.salvereproject.eu), who have gained a lot of practical know-how and scientific evidence of most successful methods for biodiversity improvement during restoration. Outcome and usability of different seed-sowing methods will be monitored by the scientists from University of Tartu and the results will be published in scientific literature and in handbook.

Sowing of the seeds of alvar grassland species will be carried out as a part of restoration process in most overgrown sites. This restoration method has not been used in Estonia nor in alvar grasslands previously, thus it will provide lot’s of valuable information for successful restoration of alvar grasslands in the future. The different methods for seed sowing will be scientifically monitored and results will be published in scientific literature as well as in best-practice handbook.

ACTION C.4: Restoration of habitat through seed sowingDescription (what, how, where and when):

Seeds of characteristic alvar grassland (6280*) species will be obtained from nearby (less than 10 km) wellpreserved, good-quality, species rich and ungrazed alvar grassland (6280*) habitat patches by using green hay strewing and brush harvesting method. Collection of green hay will take place at the second half of the vegetation period, and the hay cut from the donor site will be instantly transported to recipient site and strewed with standard density

3

indicated in the literature. Due to the hard conditions on alvar grasslands (6280*) (lot’s of stones, very low vegetation height) the mowing has to be carried out by hand. Both donor andrecipient sites will be botanically described and their environmental conditions tested (soil parameters, moisture). Additionally, brush-harvesting (known also as seed stripping) is carried out with special machinery (brush-harvester), complemented with hand-picking of seeds of the species that are not easily collectable by seed stripping (e.g. low-growing perennials and ephemeral species). Seed collection by brush harvesting will be carried out several times during vegetation period to obtain as diverse mixture as possible. Obtained seed mixture is dried, purified and stored until sowing. Collected seeds will be tested for species composition and germination to estimate the establishment success in recipient site. Sowing of the seed mixture will be carried out by using seed drill, compatible with ATV (as capable and light-weight vehicle), and by hand (using hand-held seed broadcaster), when necessary. In total, ca 4.5 hectares of grasslands will be sown. The success of the seed application will be monitored during and following the project period.

Reasons why this action is necessary:

The seed sowing has not been used as a restoration technique on Estonian alvars before. Some of the areas have been overgrown for more than 30 years and in these conditions vegetation will return slowly after the area is restored. In order to enhance this process seed sowing is used in many areas in Europe successfully. Small scale seed sowing and monitoringwould show if this method would be suitable to use in larger scale on restored alvar meadows.

Expected results (quantitative information when possible):

Both donor and recipient sites will be botanically thoroughly described. In total, 4,5 hectares of grasslands will be sown with different methods. The success of the seed application will be monitored during and following the project period.

4

2 LIFE to Alvars. Restoration of habitat through seed sowingTwo different methods where used in Life to Alvars project:

Brush harvesting of native seeds is an increasingly used restoration practice. With special machinery, seeds are collected from good quality habitat and sowed to restored area. This method has been successfully used in restoration projects to restore and re-create grassland habitats in Central Europe, Canada, USA and in Australia.

Spreading green hay from good-quality habitats to restored habitats is another method of seed distribution. While more recently used in restoration, practice of spreading hay to degraded places to restore species rich vegetation has been historically applied by farmers, thus it can be considered as part of indigenous local knowledge in Europe.

Both methods were used for the first time in Estonia in habitat restoration. Aim of the work during the LIFE of Alvars project was to test the applicability and necessity of seed sowing methods during alvar grassland restoration.

5

Figure 1: Life to Alvars project areas.

3 Brush harvesting

HarvesterThere are some commercially produced seed harvesters available in the market. There is a major producer in UK (Logic Ltd.), in Australia (Kimseed) and in Canada (Praire Habitats). However, none of the available harvesters were fully suitable for working on alvar grasslands,as they were designed for local conditions in the respective countries. In all named cases, harvesters were not able to collect seeds from low growing plant species (lower than 10 cm). As alvar grassland vegetation is often very low, these machines would have required substantial modifications or adding hand-picked seeds from low-growing plants. Both solutions would have done works more expensive, time consuming and thus ineffective.This was the reason why Nordic Botanical Ltd, an Estonian company focused on organizing conservation works, developed a special brush-seed harvester suited for the project purposes. Resulting machine is capable of collecting seeds as low as from ground level (1-2 cm height) and thanks to on-the-go hydraulic lifting system, also from as high as 1 m high. The harvester has hydraulically driven 1.35 m wide brush that can be used in both rotation directions, clockwise to collect seeds from higher plants and counterclockwise to collect seeds from low growing plants. The wall dividing collection brush and hopper can be easily adjusted for according to rotation direction (see Fig. 2).The speed of the brush can be controlled by hydraulic pump engine speed. For collection, rotational speed between 1 and 3 revolutions per second was used. The brush can be stopped or raised when there are unwanted plants (e.g weeds or non-native species) and raised when there are stones or stumps on the way.

For seed collecting, brush harvester is mounted behind an all-terrain vehicle (ATV). All the harvester's controls are situated on the ATV, thus there is no need to stop the machine for any operational changes (e.g. for lifting or stopping the brush) which makes harvester very flexible and suitable for using in alvar grasslands which can be very stony. Harvester does not run directly behind the ATV, but on the side, enabling to collect seeds from herb layer that is undisturbed by the ATV tires.

6

Figure 2: Working principle of Nordic Botanical Ltd brush seed harvester.

Collecting seedsCollection time

The seeds of different plants species ripe at different times. Although the harvester allows to collect seeds several times from the same area, there are some minor damages to the vegetation (tire tracks, damaged flowers) that lower the yield of the next harvest. The bigger

7Figure 3: Process of seed harvesting from donor site and sowing on restoration site.

seed yield is dependent on the local climate conditions as well and that's why selecting the best time is site specific.For the Life to Alvars project, the seeds where collected twice from the donor sites of both test areas. First in the August and second time in September (see dates from chapter X). Seed yield in September was a lot lower than one in August because of the seeds of grasses had already dispersed. To raise the effectiveness of the harvesting and avoid damage caused by previous harvesting, autumn collection sites where chosen selected other than summer sites (see Fig. 6 and 7). The seed collection requires good weather as the airflow generated by harvester is not able to carry wet seeds.

Selection of donor site

Donor site selection is very important component of seed collection process. We set an aim to select most suitable seed collection areas (donor sites) based on following criteria:

• is good-quality (species rich, characteristic species) alvar grassland;• has been ungrazed at the year of seed collection;• does not have rocks, stumps, ruts, bushes, stone fences, other fences etc.;• is not among the driest alvar grasslands (for bigger yield);• has large area;• has good access from road;• is not far from restoration area (max 10 km);• the owner is co-operative.

It was hard to find alvars that would have matched all the above-mentioned criteria. While land-owners were very cooperative, and all other criteria were more-or-less met, the biggest problem of alvar grasslands were rocks, stumps and tractor tire ruts that where often hidden by the grass. This slowed the collection speed down considerably and resulted in technical problems with machinery. Most of the collection sites were found outside of project areas, butin the vicinity (max 10 km). For details, see sections 4 and 5.Because of different obstacles the area of collection site was usually not entirely used for collection. The actual collection area was calculated by GPS tracking by multiplying the length of the GPS track with the width of the harvester (1.35 m). As the seed yield from alvarsis usually lower than other types of meadows, seeds were collected from bigger areas than anticipated in the project proposal (see sections 4 and 5 for details).

Processing collected seeds

The harvester collects all the material that is loose enough. In addition to seeds, collected material consist a proportion other plant parts as well. When harvester hopper was full of plant material, it was opened and all the collected material was spread to 2*3 m plastic sheet. Although most of the collected material is already dry, there are always some raw plant fragments that can cause mold to develop on the packed material. Thus, the collected material was dried on the plastic sheet for at least 12 hours on the site. There are always some (sometimes quite a lot) of insects, spiders, snails etc. also collected by the harvester. By lettingthe material to dry on site allows animals to escape.To make sowing easier and more even, seeds were separated from stalks and leaves by using robust sieve with 20*20 mm screen. This reduced the amount of stalks considerably but allows intact flower heads to pass through. For some species, flower heads will become ripe after collection or even after sowing on the restoration site.Finally, seeds where packed into Big-Bags and sown to restoration site. The Neeme restoration site was sown right after collection (1 to 2 days), Kurese restoration site was not

8

restored until spring 2018, so seeds that were collected on 2017 were stored until spring 2018 in cool barn.

Sowing

The measuring of the sowing area was done by GPS on the restoration site and the area was chosen to be as homogeneous as possible. Seeds were transported to restoration site and divided to equal proportions to make sure there is enough seeds to sow all the measured area of 1.25 ha on each site. As collected seeds are different in size and other characteristics, it was not possible to sow them with seed drill or even a mechanical broadcaster. Moreover, brush harvested material also consist small quantities of straw that could have jammed the sowing machinery. Cleaning the seed further would have reduced also the amount of flower heads, seed pods etc, that also contain seeds. We carried out the sowing by hand. With a help of the wind, the sowing density turned out to be very even.The seeds of Neeme area where sown shortly after collecting twice, once in august and once in September. The sowing in Kurese area was done in spring 2018. The seeds collected from Kurese area in August and in September weremixed and sown as one seed mixture.

Botanical overview and seedgermination test

All donor sites and sowing areas werebotanically described by researchers fromUniversity of Tartu. All species present in donorsites were identified, results are presented inTable 2.Germination tests where carried out during thespring of 2018 (06.04 - 10.06) in the

9

Table 1: Results of seed germination test. Sum of seedlings in three repetitions per site.

Project site NEEME KURESE

Species

Au

gust

Sep

tem

be

r

Au

gust

Sep

tem

be

r

Achillea millefolium 0 5 1 3

Agrostis stolonifera 0 120 0 0

Anthyllis vulneraria 0 0 1 0

Arabidopsis thaliana 0 0 1 1

Asperula tinctoria 0 4 0 0

Briza media 27 53 155 850

Carum carvi 0 0 16 0

Centaurea jacea 0 8 5 5

Cerastium fontanum 29 1 6 0

Dactylis glomerata 59 5 270 207

Daucus carota 0 36 0 0

Deschampsia cespitosa 20 131 30 60

Festuca ovina 1000 465 0 0

Festuca pratensis 16 0 58 0

Festuca rubra 3100 1460 420 420

Filipendula vulgaris 4 8 50 1

Galium album 0 5 87 1500

Galium boreale 0 15 1 0

Leontodon autumnalis 0 31 3 2

Leucanthemum vulgaris 59 32 35 4

Medicago lupulina 0 0 9 10

Pimpinella saxifraga 0 37 0 0

Plantago lanceolata 38 1 45 42

Plantago major 4 0 1 0

Plantago media 1 0 41 5

Poa compressa 2 0 20 0

Poa pratensis 0 0 17 0

Ranunculus acris 10 1 26 2

Ranunculus polyanthemos 22 31 5 0

Rumex acetosa 11 1 0 0

Senecio jacobea 0 75 0 0

Sesleria caerulea 65 2 0 0

Solidago virgaurea 0 2 0 0

Tragopogon pratensis 0 0 27 0

Trifolium medium 0 1 0 0

Trifolium pratense 1 1 7 11

Trifolium repens 0 0 2 0

Valeriana officinalis 1 13 0 0

TOTAL 4469 2544 1339 3123

Figure 4: Seed germination test in Tartu University greenhouse.

greenhouses of Tartu University by Liis Kasari and Elisabeth Prangel. Brush harvested seeds from each donor area were grown in the boxes at the size of 22*29 cm. Each donor site and each collection period (August and September) had 3 repetitions. The boxes where filled with mixture of sand and soil at the depth of 3 cm. 5 g of harvested seed mixture was sown on eachbox. All germinating plant species were identified over the period of 3 months. Germinated individuals were identified and removed from the boxes until no new individuals germinated. Results are presented in Table 1.

10

11

Table 2: Plant species of seed harvesting and green hay collecting sites.Site name NEEME KURESE Site name NEEME KURESE

Method green hay green hay Method green hay green hayAchillea millefolium 1 1 1 1 Herniaria glabra 1Acinos arvensis 1 1 Hieracium murorum 1Agrimonia eupatoria 1 1 1 Hieracium umbellatum 1 1 1 1Agrostis capillaris 1 Hypericum perforatum 1 1 1 1Agrostis stolonifera 1 1 1 Inula salicina 1 1 1Alchemilla vulgaris 1 1 1 Juncus articulatus 1Allium oleraceum 1 Juniperus communis 1Alopecurus pratensis 1 1 Knautia arvensis 1 1Anemone sylvestris 1 Lathyrus pratensis 1Angelica sylvestris 1 Lathyrus pratensis 1 1 1Antennaria dioica 1 1 1 Leontodon autumnalis 1 1 1Anthemis tinctoria 1 Leontodon hispidus 1 1Anthoxanthum odoratum 1 Leucanthemum vulgaris 1 1 1Anthriscus sylvestris 1 1 1 1 Linum catharcticum 1 1 1Anthyllis vulneraria 1 1 1 1 Lotus corniculatus 1 1 1Aquilegia vulgaris 1 Luzula multiflora 1Arabis hirsuta 1 Lyhins flos-cuculi 1Arenaria serpyllipholia 1 Medicago falcata 1 1Arrhenatherum elatius 1 1 Medicago lupulina 1 1 1 1Artemisia campestris 1 Medicago sativa 1 1Artemisia rupestris 1 Medicago x varia 1Asperula tinctoria 1 Molinia caerulea 1 1Brachypodium pinnatum 1 Myosotis aevensis 1Briza media 1 1 1 Odontites vulgaris 1Bunias orientalis 1 Origanum vulgaris 1Calamagrostis epigeios 1 Phalaris arundinacea 1Campanula glomerata 1 1 Phleum pratense 1Campanula patula 1 Pilosella officinarum 1 1 1Campanula persicifolia 1 Pilosella sp 1 1 1 1Campanula rotundifolia 1 Pimpinella saxifraga 1 1 1 1Carduus crispus 1 1 Plantago lanceolata 1 1 1 1Carex caryophyllea 1 Plantago major 1 1Carex flacca 1 1 1 Plantago maritima 1Carex flava 1 Plantago media 1 1 1Carex hirta 1 Poa angustifolia 1 1 1 1Carex muricata 1 Poa compressa 1 1 1Carex ornithopoda 1 1 Polygala amarella 1 1Carex spicata 1 Polygala comosa 1Carex tomentosa 1 1 Polygonatum odoratum 1Carlina vulgaris 1 Potentilla anserina 1 1Carum carvi 1 Potentilla argentea 1Centaurea jacea 1 1 1 1 Potentilla erecta 1 1Centaurea scabiosa 1 1 Potentilla reptans 1 1 1 1Centaurium litorale 1 Potentilla tabernaemontani 1 1Cerastium fontanum 1 1 1 Primula veris 1 1 1Chaenorhinum minus 1 Prunella vulgaris 1 1 1Cirsium acaule 1 1 1 Ranunculus acris 1 1 1Cirsium arvense 1 1 Ranunculus polyanthemos 1 1Cirsium vulgare 1 1 Rhinanthus angustifolius 1 1 1Clinopodium vulgare 1 Rubus caesus 1 1Convolvulus arvensis 1 1 Rumex acetosa 1 1Crepis tectorum 1 Rumex crispus 1Dactylis glomerata 1 1 1 1 1Daucus carota 1 1 1 1 Sagina nodosa 1 1Deschampsia cespitosa 1 1 Senecio jacobea 1 1 1Echium vulgare 1 Sesleria caerulea 1 1 1Equisetm pratense 1 Silene nutans 1Equisetum arvense 1 Silene vulgaris 1 1Erigeron acer 1 Sisymbrium supinum 1Falcaria vulgaris 1 Solidago virgaurea 1 1 1Festuca ovina 1 1 1 Sonchus arvensis 1Festuca pratensis 1 Stellaria graminea 1Festuca rubra 1 1 1 1 Taraxacum officinalis 1 1 1 1Filipendula ulmaria 1 Thymus serpyllum 1Filipendula vulgaris 1 1 1 1 Torilis japonica 1Fragaria vesca 1 1 1 1 Tragopogon pratensis 1 1 1Fragaria viridis 1 1 1 1 Trifolium hybridum 1 1Galium album 1 1 1 1 Trifolium montanum 1 1 1Galium boreale 1 1 1 Trifolium pratense 1 1 1 1Galium verum 1 1 1 1 Trifolium repens 1 1 1Geranium sanguineum 1 Valeriana officinalis 1 1Geranium sylvativum 1 Verbascum thapsus 1Geum rivale 1 Veronica chamaedrys 1 1 1Geum urbanum 1 1 Veronica officinalis 1 1 1Gymnadenia conopsea 1 Veronica spicata 1 1 1Helictotrichon pratense 1 1 1 Veronica teucrium 1Helictotrichon pubescens 1 1 Vicia cracca 1 1 1 1Hepatica nobilis 1 Vicia sepium 1Heracleum sibiricum 1 1 Viola rupestris 1

CONTINUES ON RIGHT Total species 45 24 58 25

seed harvesting

seed harvesting

seed harvesting

seed harvesting

Rumex thyrsiflorus

Green hay spreadingMowing from donor site

Even if ungrazed, herb layer of alvar grasslands is characteristically very low (5-10 cm) and sparse with sometimes bare limestone bedrock showing. As alvar grasslands have historically been grazed, and also due to natural conditions, alvar grasslands often have small-scale

12Figure 5: Process of green hay collecting from donor site and spreading on restoration site.

heterogeneous relief and by rocks, old stone fences, bushes, stumps etc. Thus, alvar grasslands are very challenging for mowing, damage occurs to tools and machinery and the hay yield is very low.At the same time, there are always hay meadows in the vicinity of alvars that are situated on deeper soil compared to alvars (which are characterised by very shallow soil of up to 10-20 cm), and they are often botanically very similar to alvars, but the environmnetal conditions favor mowing and the yield is higher than in alvars. Near both restoration areas we selected such meadow, based on occurrence of characteristic alvar species. We used tractor with a common agricultural mower for gathering the hay as the hand mowing, described in project proposal, is so slow that the hay dryies and many seeds will fall before collection. The mowing of 2 ha meadow took less than an hour both in Neeme and in Kurese.

Collecting green hay from donor site

After mowing, hay was raked by hand rake into piles and collected from the ground using hayfork. As the restoration site was some distance from the hay mowing site (see Fig 6 and Fig 7), the hay was packed to Big-Bags. To make filling of bag easier, special metal frame was built. The filled Big-Bags consisted about 1.5 m3 of slightly hand compressed green hay. Big-Bags where transported to restoration site with small track, six at a time (see Fig. 5).

Spreading green hay to restoration site

Big-Bags with hay were transported within restoration site with ATV and its trailer. Before spreading, bags were placed evenly to restoration site and mapped with a GPS to ensure equalspreading. Bags where emptied as soon as possible (within few hours) to avoid the wet material to warm up and potentially damage seeds. When all the hay was transported, the hay was spread using rakes and hay forks. As the hay is naturally making small bundles, the seed it contains is probably sown not as even as with seed collected by seed harvester.

Botanical overview of green hay donor site

Green hay donor areas were visited by botanists from University of Tartu during summer 2017 (Neeme area) and 2018 (Kurese area) and all plant species were identified. Species list of donor sites is presented in Table 2.

13

4 Detailed description of activities in Neeme project areaFor Neeme restoration site, seed harvesting with brush harvester was carried out on donor sites in 1 - 4 of August 2017 and on 11th of September 2017. Seeds were brush harvested from 2.4 ha in August and from 1.4 ha in September 2017 (see figure 6). Approximately 50 kg of seeds were harvested and sown to Neeme restoration site with the sowing density of 5 g/m2, covering 0,98 hectares (see figure 6).

14

Figure 6: Works in Neeme project area.

Green hay was collected and spread to Neeme restoration area in 04 - 05 august 2017. There was and 18 Big-Bags full of green hay used on restoration site in Neeme project area. All the brush-harvested areas, green hay collection areas, restoration areas sown with harvested seedsand areas of green hay spreading together with and all the final sizes of all the areas are presented in Figure 6.

5 Detailed description of activities in Kurese project areaSeeds where harvested in Kurese project area in two periods. First was in 14 - 18 august 2017 and second in 13. September 2017. There was 3,1 ha harvested in August and 1,1 ha in september with brush-harvester. As the restoration area was restored (trees and juniper bushesremoved) in winter 2017/2018, the sowing of harvested seeds as well as green hay collecting and spreading was done in 2018. Sowing of seeds where done in 23. April 2018 and green haycollecting and spreading in 25 and 26 July 2018. There wast about 50 kg of seeds sown and 24 Big-Bag full of green hay spread. All the works and their areas are shown in Figure 7.

15

Figure 7: Works in Kurese project area.

16