Post-restoration grassland management overrides the effects of restoration methods in propagule-rich landscapes.

Grassland restoration is gaining momentum worldwide to tackle the loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Restoration methods and their effects on ecological community reassembly have been extensively studied across various grassland types, while the importance of post-restoration management has so far received less attention. Grassland management is an important surrogate for natural disturbances, with which most ancient grasslands have coevolved. Thus, without the reintroduction of management-related disturbance, restoration targets are unlikely to be achieved in restored grasslands. In this study, we aimed to explore how 20 yr of management by mowing once a year or light cattle grazing affects restoration success in Palearctic meadow-steppe grasslands restored by either sowing native grasses (sown sites), applying Medicago sativa as a nurse plant (Medicago sites), or allowing spontaneous succession (spontaneous sites). We found that, following mowing, sown sites maintained long-lasting establishment limitation, while Medicago sites experienced a delay in succession. These limitations resulted in low total and target species richness, low functional redundancy, and distinct species and functional composition compared to reference data from ancient grasslands. Spontaneous sites that were mowed reached a more advanced successional stage, although they did not reach reference levels regarding most vegetation descriptors. Sown and Medicago sites that were grazed had higher total and target species richness than those that were mowed, and showed restoration success similar to that of spontaneous sites, on which grazing had only moderate further positive effects. Grazed sites, irrespective of the restoration method, were uniformly species rich, functionally diverse, and functionally redundant, and thus became important biodiverse habitats with considerable resilience. We conclude that an optimally chosen post-restoration management may have an impact on long-term community reassembly comparable to the choice of restoration method. Restoration planners may, therefore, need to put more emphasis on future management than on the initial restoration method. However, our findings also imply that if local constraints, such as potentially high invasive propagule pressure, necessitate the application of restoration methods that could also hinder the establishment of target species, the long-term recovery of the grassland can still be ensured by wisely chosen post-restoration management.

Detection and sequence analysis of Canine morbillivirus in multiple species of the Mustelidae family.

BACKGROUND: Canine morbillivirus (canine distemper virus, CDV) is a member of the Paramyxoviridae family. Canine distemper is a serious viral disease that affects many mammalian species, including members of the Mustelidae family. These animals have an elusive nature, which makes related virological studies extremely challenging. There is a significant knowledge gap about the evolution of their viruses and about the possible effects of these viruses to the population dynamics of the host animals. Spleen and lung tissue samples of 170 road-killed mustelids belonging to six species were collected between 1997 and 2022 throughout Hungary and tested for CDV with real-time RT-PCR. RESULTS: Three species were positive for viral RNA, 2 out of 64 Steppe polecats (Mustela eversmanii), 1 out of 36 European polecats (Mustela putorius) and 2 out of 36 stone martens (Martes foina); all 18 pine martens (Martes martes), 10 least weasels (Mustela nivalis) and 6 stoats (Mustela erminea) tested negative. The complete CDV genome was sequenced in five samples using pan-genotype CDV-specific, amplicon-based Nanopore sequencing. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, all five viral sequences were grouped to the Europe/South America 1 lineage and the distribution of one sequence among trees indicated recombination of the Hemagglutinin gene. We verified the recombination with SimPlot analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This paper provides the first CDV genome sequences from Steppe polecats and additional complete genomes from European polecats and stone martens. The infected specimens of various species originated from distinct parts of the country over a long time, indicating a wide circulation of CDV among mustelids throughout Hungary. Considering the high virulence of CDV and the presence of the virus in these animals, we highlight the importance of conservation efforts for wild mustelids. In addition, we emphasize the importance of full genomic data acquisition and analysis to better understand the evolution of the virus. Since CDV is prone to recombination, specific genomic segment analyses may provide less representative evolutionary traits than using complete genome sequences.