The bachelor thesis will focus on dry calcareous grasslands in Tematin Hills (Slovakia). Afforestation of the studied grasslands took place in the second half of the 20th century. Xerothermic communities, forming (semi)natural forest-steppe mosaic, have been replaced by non-native monocultures of black pine (Pinus nigra) in the last century. The restoration removal of these non-native pine trees was carried out 20-25, and 2-4 years ago. The main goals of this thesis are to (i) test the effect of pine tree removal on the succession development of the vegetation from currently deforested grasslands to the continuous reference grasslands and (ii) quantify the position of recently and formerly deforested sites along this successional gradient, and identify which species indicate individual stages of the succession. Data will be collected using vegetation-plot sampling (the phytosociological relevés of 4x4 m2 size) on four types of plots: continuous reference plots, pine monocultures on former steppes (control), steppes recently restored by pine tree removal, and steppes restored 20-25 years ago. Data will be analysed using simple unidimensional and multidimensional methods. The student will compare restoration success with other regions from the nature conservancy perspective based on the data obtained.