Introduction to Wooded Meadows
The world highest small-scale plant community species richness belongs to old regularly mown temperate meadows with sparse tree layer on neutral soils. The best still preserved sites of these communites are wooded meadows, particularly those on calcareous soils in western Estonia.
Traditionally, the wooded meadows as a traditional semi-natural type of vegetation have been widely distributed in the countries around Baltic See (central and southern Sweden, south-western Finland, western and northern Estonia, islands of Baltic See), and also in some mountain areas of central and southern Europe. During the last half of the century, they have disappeared and abandoned almost everywhere. The few best still preserved are situated in Estonia.
Normally, the number of vascular plant species in 1x1 m plot does not exceed 30 in natural meadows; in the richest alvar meadows and some chalk meadows it can be over 40; it has been found over 50 only in wooded meadows; the maximum (74 species in 1x1 m plot) is recorded from Vahenurme wooded meadow in Estonia. (see photo )
The maximum still recorded number of vascular plant species on 1x1 m plot has been found in a meadow steppe site, in forest steppe region of the Central Chernozem Nature Reserve (Strelets Steppe). In 1962, six plots with species numbers 61, 77, 80, 80, 84, and 87, were recorded on a mowed community. This is the only site in the world where the small-scale species richness exceeds that of Estonian wooded meadows.
During the first half of the 20th century the wooded meadows represented the most common type of ecosystems in several counties of western Estonia. In 1994, less than 150 ha of them were still managed. Among them, 50 ha are situated on the territory of state nature reserves.
Considering the efforts needed to preserve the wooded meadows, their persistence could be achieved in the case of additional evaluation of the work they need (mowing, primarily). Species richness as an important quality of the environment should be protected by law.