Flora Diversity of Field Forest Patches in Landscapes with Varied Geomorphological Units and Land Use in Poland (original) (raw)
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Acta Agrobotanica
The aim of study was to evaluate diversity of segetal flora and its transformations over a more than 20-year period in 19 field habitats representative for cereal crops of southern Poland. The research hypothesis assumed that: (i) the diversity of habitat conditions determines the abundance of arable land flora, (ii) it also affects farming intensity which is the main cause of the decline in the biodiversity of agrocoenoses. Based on 415 phytosociological relevés (sampled using the Braun-Blanquet method), weed species richness (S r), phytosociological constancy of species (S), cover index (D), Shannon's diversity index (H) and Simpson's dominance index (C) were determined. Measurements were done for each habitat during two research periods. The results were subjected to ANOVA analysis. To assess the similarities of the studied habitats' weed flora in each period and their changes over time, Ward's hierarchical cluster analysis was used. The distance matrix was calculated from Jaccard's similarity indices. The results are presented in the form of hierarchical trees. The study showed that species richness of the weed communities and their diversity were strongly determined by habitat conditions. Preservation of the value of the diversity index and even its increase (especially in a considerable part of mountain habitats) showed that extensive methods of reducing weed infestation had remained at a similar level of efficacy during the 20-year interval. Hierarchical cluster analysis showed differences between the first and second study period in the weed communities for habitats of lowland soil complexes. The exception were the habitats with the greatest potential for crop cultivation, located on chernozems and rendzinas. In the mountain habitats, there were no significant changes in the segetal flora during the study interval. An increase in weed flora abundance indicates a lack of threats to the diversity of agrophytocoenoses in this part of Poland.
The effect of agricultural landscape type on field margin flora in south eastern Poland
Acta Botanica Croatica, 2016
Plant species diversity is threatened in many agricultural landscapes due to the changes it has to undergo. Although the modification of the agricultural landscape pattern is observed across Europe, both extensive and intensive agricultural landscapes still co-exist in Poland. The objective of the study was to examine the flora in field margins in intensively and extensively managed agricultural landscapes, located across three regions in SE Poland. The flora was compared with respect to species richness, diversity, and evenness indices. Detrended correspondence analysis was employed to characterise variation in species composition. Agricultural landscape type made a higher contribution than the topography or geology to species richness and composition in field margins. Field margins function as important habitats for general vascular plant species diversity and are useful for the conservation of rare, threatened, endangered or bee plants. A significant decline in species diversity ...
The mosaic diversity of field layer vegetation in the natural and exploited forests of Białowieża
Plant Ecology, 1998
The main focus of the study was to find out whether and how the forestry management in the Białowieża Forest has influenced the mosaic diversity of field layer vegetation and habitat heterogeneity in the temperate hard wood forest (Tilio-Carpinetum). Five belt-transects represent natural and semi-natural old-growths in Białowieża National Park (BNP), the commercial forest (CF), and secondary stands in the CF. Along the transects, distinct patches of field layer vegetation were identified and delimited, and their species composition was assessed. Along central lines of the transects the environmental data was collected from sample points established at regular intervals: soil pH and the distances to the 4 closest trees, their species, and dbh (diameter at the breast height=135 cm). The group of patches (on average 50 per transect) was subjected to the dichotomous classification in order to identify a number of characteristic types of microphytocoenoses – synusiae. Beta-diversity of the vegetation was expressed with the Simpson diversity index calculated on the basis of areas occupied by synusiae. The most structurally diversified were the transects representing natural old-growths in the BNP. A calculation of similarity coefficients between the transects on the basis of their mosaic composition displayed sharper differences between old-growth and secondary communities in summer than those found in spring. Forestry management has seriously modified the tree species composition in two studied stands, through planting oak or initiating succession. This resulted, both in plantation and pioneer stand, in loss of the main components of natural old-growths: hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), Norway spruce (Picea abies), lime (Tilia cordata) and maple (Acer platanoides). Significantly a wider range of soil pH values in natural old-growths coincided with a higher diversity of herbaceous mosaics comparing to secondary stands. The elimination of spruce (the species being most commonly blown down, projecting an acid canopy shadow) in two studied areas, elimination of dead wood, and destruction of humus layers through ploughing, could contribute to a reduction of specific microenvironments. A lower mosaic diversity of secondary stands coinciding with the unification of environmental conditions along the transects may indicate that forestry management can lead to the disappearance of a highly structural character in natural forest communities. Nomenclature: Flora europaea; Sokołowski (1993).
Phytosociological approach to scree and ravine forest vegetation in Slovakia
Annals of Forest Research
The aim of the study was to perform phytosociological revision of the scree and ravine forest vegetation in Slovakia in order to identify i) basic vegetation units according to their floristic composition, and ii) to find out the main environmental gradients affecting their compositional variability. Relevés originally assigned to broadly comprehended alliance Tilio platyphylli-Acerion (974 relevés) were used for the analyses. In order to select final dataset (527 relevés), formal criteria, such as tree layer cover >50%, relevé area of 200-500 m 2 and presence at least two from six traditionally accepted diagnostic species of the alliance in Central Europe (Acer platanoides, Lunaria rediviva, Phyllitis scolopendrium, Polystichum aculeatum, Tilia platyphyllos and Ulmus glabra) were applied to the primal dataset. Altitude, aspect, slope, climatic characteristics (mean annual precipitation and air temperature), geological bedrock and Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs) were specified for each phytosociological relevé. We used modified TWINSPAN algorithm for classification, Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) for explanation of species composition-environmental relationships, and both ANOVA corrected using modified permutation test and Mann-Whitney U-test to test environmental differences at each step of division by numerical classification. Two alliances, Melico-Tilion platyphylli and Tilio platyphylli-Acerion were distinguished with three (Aceri platanoidis-Tilietum platyphylli, Scolopendrio-Fraxinetum and Seslerio heufleranae-Quercetum petraeae) and two (Mercuriali perennis-Fraxinetum excelsioris and Lunario redivivae-Aceretum pseudoplatani) associations, respectively. Besides the floristic composition, other important factors for differentiation of the associations were altitude and related climatic characteristics. The main environmental characteristics affecting the overall compositional variability of studied forests were EIVs for light, moisture, soil reaction and temperature. The complex syntaxonomical revision identified five floristically and ecologically clearly differentiated associations, what reduced the number to almost half of previously distinguished communities from the territory of Slovakia. Moreover, presented concept is at alliance level in accordance with recent European classification approach.
Sustainability, 2021
As part of the implementation of the provisions of the European Landscape Convention, a landscape audit of the provinces has been underway in Poland for a few years. The main objectives of the audit are the delimitation of landscape units, assessment of their values, and identification of the priority of landscapes to be protected. This study presents the results of research on the landscape division of the Wielkopolskie voivodeship and a geostatistical analysis of the differentiation of ecological units. With reference to legal regulations in force in Poland, the landscape diversity of the province was characterized using two divisions: geophysical regionalization and landscape typology. In the case of regional division, the meso- and microregions of physical and geographical rank are referenced. The proposed microregional division is the first example in Poland of such a detailed landscape analysis completed for the area of the voivodeship. In the case of typological division, the...
Biodiversity Research and Conservation, 2016
The study areas, located in northern and western Poland, comprised 30 villages of the Lubuskie Lakeland region and 18 in central Pomerania. A total number of recorded associations and local communities of similar rank was counted as 243. In the list prevailed natural and seminatural communities. The endangered associations composed about 47.3% of the whole list of communities. Altogether, 8 communities, assessed as directly endangered, occurred in the villages or their vicinity. Comparison of plant communities of both regions revealed that the structure of vegetation shows many affinities, while the differences are more of qualitative than quantitative character. The diversity of vegetation of rural landscapes was slightly higher in the central Pomerania. The rural landscape of Lubuskie Lakeland was more transformed, richer in ruderal communities, whereas in Pomerania more represented were natural and seminatural communities. The rural landscape of both studied areas is still rich a...
Folia Biologica et Oecologica, 2011
Effect of Changes in Land Use During the 20thCentury on Woodland and Calcareous Grassland Vegetation in Southern PolandIn the modern agricultural landscape major threats to plant species diversity are loss and fragmentation of habitats and communities. During the last century natural and semi-natural communities have faced also cessation of tradition management and increased load of nutrients. This paper presents a survey of studies on vegetation dynamics of woodlands in the northern part of the Carpathian foothills and of calcareous grasslands on limestone hills near Kraków. The causes of fargoing changes observed in communities of these types and possible management for their conservation are discussed. The nature conservation value of woods can be assessed by means of ancient woodland plant species indicators.
Landscape Ecological Structure in the Eastern Part of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve, Latvia
Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section B. Natural, Exact, and Applied Sciences., 2008
As a result of decreasing forest areas in many countries all over the world, one of the dominating themes of ecological landscape research is the reduction and fragmentation of forest areas, leading to many ecological problems at metapopulation levels Jordan et al., 2003). The reverse process-an increase of forest cover and a reduction in fragmentation-is being relatively less researched, yet it may have great significance for many populations which have been used to mosaic landscapes, for example .
2021
The Tatra Mts. are an area with a long tradition of phytosociological studies, as the first study using Braun-Blanquet's approach in Poland was conducted in this region in the 1920s. However, a compre- hensive modern classification of the forest communities of the Tatra National Park (Polish part of the Tatra Mts.) is missing but urgently needed, for example, as a reference for forest stand conversion and restoration projects. In 2018, a systematic network of over 600 permanent research plots was sampled in the Tatra National Park using a phytosociological approach. Here, we present the first results of the numerical classification of the forest communities based on this objectively collected dataset. Numerical classification led to the identification of eight main forest types. Seven groups were assigned to previously described alliances and sub-alliances. In addition, one group represents spruce plantations on base-rich soils. We identified two new alliances: Aremonio-Fagion a...