Small‐scale spatial dynamics of plant species in a grassland community over six years

Abstract

Abstract. In a species‐rich mountain grassland in the Krkonosse Mts., Czechoslovakia, data from four permanent plots of 50 cm x 50 cm were recorded annually from 1985 to 1990 to study the spatial dynamics of the species. Plots were divided into 15 x 15 subplots and the number of vegetative units of all plants within each subplot was determined. There was not much net change at the plot level, but the subplots were very dynamic. Two aspects of the spatial dynamics of the species were followed: (1) persistence, i.e. the tendency of the species to remain in the same subplot, and (2) long‐distance spreading, i.e. movement to subplots beyond the immediate neighbourhood. Species differed widely in their persistence and longdistance spreading and were classified into mobility types: long‐range guerrilla, short‐range guerrilla, phalanx and 'sitting’. The mobility types were, to a certain extent, correlated with the growth form of plants, but some species of one growth form showed different types of small‐scale dynamics and some species with different growth forms had the same spatial dynamics.