The effect of agricultural landscape type on fi eld margin fl ora in south eastern Poland

Plant species diversity is threatened in many agricultural landscapes due to the changes it has to undergo. Although the modifi cation 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 fl ora in fi eld margins in intensively and extensively managed agricultural landscapes, located across three regions in SE Poland. The fl ora 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 fi eld 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 signifi cant decline in species diversity was observed over a distance of 1000 m from the habitat elements. Plants growing on fi eld margins are mainly perennials; however participation of annuals clearly increases in intensive landscapes. The participation of wind-dispersed species decreased in an open-spaced intensive landscape. Animal-dispersed plants predominated in an extensive landscape with forest islands. Irrespective of landscape type, native species predominated. However, these habitats create the biota and corridors for alien-invasive species as well.