Barriers to restoration: Soil acidity and phosphorus limitation constrain recovery of heathland plant communities after sod cutting (2019)

Vogels, J.J., et al. 2019

Sod cutting is used as measure in heathlands affected by increased nitrogen deposition, but species recovery is often limited. This paper provides experimental evidence for barriers to successful restoration introduced by sod cutting: soil acidity and P limitation. Having important implications for managing ecosystems under high nitrogen load, this advocates a sound N emission reduction instead of N removal policy.