Grassland restoration with plant material transfer – bridging the knowledge gap between science and practice

In Central Europe, species-rich grasslands have strongly diminished over the last century. The transfer of seed-containing plant material from donor sites with a desired species composition to restoration sites is a well-established method to restore species-rich grasslands. Despite a plethora of available literature, restoration projects with plant material transfer often fail or do not reach the planned goals. Practitioners’ knowledge is a highly important but underexplored source of information on factors deciding about success of restoration projects. At the same time, it is unclear to which degree scientific findings on success factors are known and considered by practitioners, and if science actually investigates the most relevant aspects for practice. To bridge the gap between practitioners’ knowledge and restoration science, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 practitioners involved in plant material transfer projects. Using qualitative content analysis, we analysed the interviews for success factors, and compared them to success factors of plant material transfer as investigated in peer-reviewed European studies on the method. We found that science investigated a broad range of practical, technical, and ecological success factors, and that practitioners were generally well aware of this evidence, trying to make use of the knowledge. Failure of practitioners’ projects often resulted from organizational obstacles, which were founded in lacking trust and low experience levels among the involved people. We advise unexperienced practitioners to involve more experienced practitioners in their projects if possible. Furthermore, we emphasize the importance of identifying relevant local stakeholders and building trustful regional networks. Interdisciplinary scientific studies considering success factors beyond practical and ecological aspects are required to support widespread effective grassland restoration with plant material transfer.