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Does the role of dispersal and light limitation for community assembly change in temperate semi‐natural dry grasslands (SNDGs) post‐abandonment?

Temperate calcareous semi‐natural dry grasslands, western Estonia (58.642 N, 23.516 E).

We compared taxonomic and functional community structure of semi‐natural dry grasslands in Estonia at two time periods: first in 1975 when traditional grazing prevailed, and again in 2013 when management had ceased for at least 30 yr. In order to assess functional community structure, we used community‐weighted mean trait values and mean pair‐wise distance as metrics of functional diversity for traits related to plant dispersal and adaptations to reduced light availability. Successional shifts in functional community structure were examined using regression and multivariate analysis.

Changes in community assembly of SNDGs …