Weak evidence of long-term extinction debt in Pannonian dry sand grasslands

We found that the present landscape context had no significant relationship with the specialist species richness of the primary grassland fragments. However, we found a significant relationship between the historical landscape context of the 19th century and the residuals of the present model. Even though the extent of natural vegetation in the 20th century showed more drastic changes, the landscape context in 1950s and 1987-1989 exhibited no significant statistical relationship with the residuals. This delay of species loss is consistent with the extinction debt hypothesis.