Set-aside agricultural areas only recover slowly and not completely without active renaturation measures, even after decades. This is reported by an international team in Journal of Ecologyincluding researchers from the Center for Biodiversity Research (iDiV), the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the Universities of Halle-Wittenberg and Leipzig.
The team compared 17 formerly agricultural grasslands in the US state of Minnesota with areas that had never been tilled. The fields had been shut down at various times between 1927 and 2015. “We wanted to find out how quickly and how completely agricultural land can regain its original biodiversity,” First author Emma Ladouceur is quoted in a statement.
As reported by iDiv, abandoned fields had not fully recovered even after 80 years. 63 native species had not settled at all, but more foreign grasses and weeds could be found.
The research results could help to improve renaturation. “This could be done, for example, by seeding or planting species that we know will not establish themselves in old fields, and by managing exotic species to reduce competition with native plants,” says Ladouceur .