KISKUN LTER: Grassland monitoring 2: Large scale primary and secondary grassland monitoring (Jedlik-network)

The field site network consists of 16 sites, of 5 km 5 km each, representing all major land-use/land cover types characteristic to the region (agricultural land, abandoned agricultural land, tree plantation, semi-natural grassland, and forest) in varying proportions.
Sampling of primary grasslands: We distinguished open and closed grasslands. Open grasslands are dominated by Festuca vaginata and Stipa borysthenica and the total vascular plant canopy cover is less than 50% (GO, n = 37). Closed grasslands are dominated by Festuca wagneri, Stipa capillata and Bothriochloa ischaemum and canopy cover is more than 80% (GC, n = 46).
Sampling of secondary grasslands: Old-fields were categorized into three age groups based on historical aerial photographs: old-fields abandoned 1–7 years before sampling (O1, n = 35), old-fields abandoned 8–20 years before sampling (O2, n = 42), and old-fields abandoned 21–57 years before sampling (O3, n = 40).
In each stand of primary and secondary grasslands, we visually estimated the aboveground percentage cover of all vascular plant species in a 20 m x 20 m plot.
More details in Csecserits et al. 2016. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.03.024