Sammendrag
Outlying lands in the boreal region of Norway were for centuries used as a source of hay and pasturage for domestic stock. Since the end o f the 19t century, this form of land use has declined. Large areas of the former hay-fields and pastures were overgrown by shrubs and tree s, tall herbs and grasses, giving conspicuous effects on the landscap e character and species distribution. At Sølendet nature reserve 160 ha of hay-making fens and grasslands have been restored since 1974, a nd are regularly being mown with a two-wheeled tractor. All through t his period permanent plots have been scythed experimentally. Regular scything of fen and grassland communities leads to an overall reducti on in shrubs and litter layer. The proportion of herbs, particularly tall herbs, is generally reduced, whereas that of the graminoids is increased. Cattle-grazing in rich fen vegetation traditionally used f or haymaking at Sølendet, caused vegetational changes. Trampling expo sed the soil surface and damaged the vegetation, thereby decreasing t he number of species. The species which suffered were typical fen law n species. Heavy trampling promoted weakly competitive species. Anoth er large group of species, mainly graminids, were favoured by cattle- grazing, e.g: Carex dioica, C. flava and Eriophorum angustifolium Exp erimental mowing and biomass studies of permanent plots in fen and gr asslands show that the dry matter yield of the field layer decreases to about 1/3 of the first harvesting when scythed annually; and to ab out 2/3 when scythed biennially. The latter corresponds to the yield and intensity of traditional hay-making in these outlying lands.
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