Forest Species in Meadows—Do Demographic Characteristics Differ Between Contrasting Habitats?

The fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) is a rare and endangered species that originated in forested habitats, but due to landscape changes, turned into a wet meadow plant. Currently, larger populations can be found in meadows than in forests. Nowadays, as hay production has become unnecessary, wet meadows are being slowly reforested. Little comparative evidence exists on the performance of populations in the two contrasting habitats. We examined Fritillaria meleagris populations in meadows and forests to investigate the impact of current land use changes on the demographic characteristics of this species. The study was carried out over three years in two geographical regions in Hungary, comparatively in two habitat types (forest and meadow). We used permanent quadrats to record the demographic status and morphometric traits of at least 100 fritillary plants in every population. Although some characteristics were different in each population, the results suggested that each population has a special demographic structure. There were larger variations between the different populations and only minor variations among populations across years in demographic composition. Trait variation across geographical regions exceeded the variation observed between habitat types as well. We conclude that regional differences override the role of habitat type in determining the demography and vulnerability of fritillaries.