Mowing may bring about vegetation change, but its effect is strongly modified by hydrological factors

We assessed the effect of long-term (11 years) mowing with a hand scythe on the distributions of plant species and species turnover within meadow communities dominated by Carex acutiformis and C. acuta in a small lowland river valley subjected to annual flooding. We hypothesized that mowing would trigger the process of species exchange toward multispecies communities according to the abiotic environmental gradients, as has been reported for traditionally used wet meadows. We found that mowing had a much greater impact on the increase in plant species abundance in wetter, subjected to deeper and longer flooding, zone of the valley than in its drier part. The treatment and hydrology had no substantial effect on the sedges and cryptogams while the graminoids and the forbs were the least stable components of the plant communities. We found that annual management was conducive to the appearance of numerous seedlings of Alnus glutinosa in the part of wetland situated close to the valley edge. Surface flooding was found to be a driving force modifying the impact of mowing on sedge meadows. This “hydrological resetting impulse” created a specific floristic reset of the community, bringing it to the more simplified forms. Mowing every 4–5 years at the beginning of August is advisable to protect sedge meadows distributed in flooded small lowland river valleys.