How do pre-sowing disturbance and post-establishment management affect restoration progress in ex-arable calcareous grassland?

Restoration of semi-natural calcareous grassland needs to overcome dispersal limitation and microsite limitation. The effectiveness of sowing a mix of ten target species in combination with various pre-sowing disturbance techniques and post-establishment management regimes in overcoming these limitations, and in promoting vegetation change towards the restoration target was tested in a field experiment. Our results illustrate the importance of bare ground for introducing target species of calcareous grassland into species-poor grassland, and the slowness of colonisation by additional target species from outside even when a site is situated close to high-quality grassland that could serve as source for additional target species.