Interactive Effects of Disturbance and Shade upon Colonization of Grassland: An Experiment with Anthriscus sylvestris (L.) Hoffm., Conium maculatum L., Daucus carota L. and Heracleum sphondylium L.

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Abstract
Seeds of four species of Umbelliferae (Anthriscus sylvestris (L.) Hoffm., Conium maculatum L. Daucus carota, L. and Heracleum sphondylium L.) were sown separately into plots of grassland given to two types of disturbance treatment, factorially combined with shade in a 4 .times. 3 .times. 2 experimental design. All species showed some enhanced recruitment in response to disturbance, the effects of which were still significant 21 months after treatments were applied. The duration of the disturbance, which was different in the two treatments, affected the size and structure of populations at the end of the experiment. All significant effects of shade (but not disturbance) were accompanied by a first-order interaction. The effect of shade on colonization by the four species in this experiment varied with the occurrence of disturbance and its intensity, and varied significantly between species. It is suggested that differences between species in their habitat distributions will most often be due to differences in interactions between disturbance and other factors, rather than due to their response to disturbance alone.

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