Restoration success of low-production plant communities on former agricultural soils after top-soil removal

The success in restoring seven low-production vegetation types on former agricultural soil after top-soil removal was investigated. The colonization and establishment of target species in permanent plots was recorded during the first nine years after restoration measures were taken. For each permanent plot abiotic site conditions were used to determine which of the vegetation types could persist there. A comparison of the actual vegetation in the permanent plots with reference releves of the selected vegetation type revealed a gradually increasing similarity during consecutive years for five vegetation types. This was due to the occurrence of an increasing number of target species and the number of permanent plots they occurred in. However, nine years after top-soil removal a large number of the target species were still lacking from the vegetation in the permanent plots, although most were present in the local species pool. Seed dispersal therefore seems to be a major limiting factor for restoration of these low-production vegetation types on formerly agricultural soils.