Variation of seedling recruitment in wet meadow species over six years: positive effects of mowing and negative effects of fertilization

Germination and seedling recruitment are stages of the plant life cycle that are highly sensitive to biotic and abiotic filtering. Simultaneously, seedling regeneration is considered crucial for biodiversity maintenance in grasslands and is strongly affected by grassland management. The response of seedling regeneration to management and its interannual variability remains understudied. We studied the effects of mowing, fertilization, dominant removal, and their combinations on the seedling composition in a species-rich wet meadow community in Central Europe. We also measured litter and moss cover and analyzed their effect on seedlings. Firstly, we analyzed the total seedling numbers and species composition across six consecutive years. Secondly, we tested the spatial relationship between conspecific seedling–adult pairs and their strength, by comparing it against that of heterospecific seedling–adult pairs, and explained the observed pattern with species traits, namely the dispersal mo..., , # Variation of seedling recruitment in wet meadow species over six years: Positive effects of mowing and negative effects of fertilization

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.f7m0cfz7g](10.5061/dryad.f7m0cfz7g)

## Description of the data and file structure

Our experiment consisted of 24 permanent plots, each 2 m × 2 m. Three treatments, mowing (M), fertilization (F), and dominant species *Molinia caerulea* removal (R), were applied within a central 1m x 1m plot in a factorial design, with three replicates for each treatment combination (eight treatment combinations x three replicates yielding 24 plots). Seedling composition was monitored in 25 subplots, 10 cm x 10 cm, located within each plot for six years, from 2001 to 2006. The data consists of the 15 most abundant species at the seedling stage and the total number of seedlings (including unidentified species) present in subplots. Also, we used the cover of adult plants to calculate seedlings-adult associations, and we present the data on ...,