scholarly journals Natural islands and habitat islands as refuges of vegetation cover and wild bees. The case of the Lednica Landscape Park in western Poland

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Józef Banaszak ◽  
Halina Ratyńska
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Habitat Islands ◽  
Simultaneous Study ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Associated Species

Abstract The study has contributed to the identification of the apifauna of central Wielkopolska. The study identified 161 bee species, accounting for 34.2% of the Polish bee fauna. The highest contribution (28.7% of the fauna) comes from four species, namely Andrena haemorrhoa, A. helvola, Evylaeus calceatus and Osmia rufa, while Bombus terrestris and Evylaeus pauxillus are two subdominants. The assemblages of Apiformes in the study area are characterised by a significant contribution of spring-associated species, which is probably an effect of the presence of numerous willow thickets offering abundant host plants (mainly Salix sp. div.). Both the islands and the surroundings of the lake have a unique species composition, and there are differences in the proportions of the individual dominant species. The overall abundance of bees varies greatly, with mean seasonal density figures on Ostrów Lednicki Island being more than twice as high as that on the mainland grassland, with a distinct predominance of bumblebees. The exceptional richness of Apiformes, including bumblebees, on Ostrów Lednicki should be regarded as the basis for treating this island as a life refuge for bumblebees and including it and its environs in the list of sites of Community importance (SCI). A simultaneous study of the vegetation cover contributed significant data on the vascular plant flora and plant communities of the Lednica Landscape Park. For example, it was the first such investigation of Mewia Island. The study revealed the importance of marginal habitats (natural islands and habitat islands) for the preservation of protected and endangered plant species and plant communities receding from an agricultural landscape.

scholarly journals Determining Plant Diversity within Interconnected Natural Habitat Remnants (Ecological Network) in an Agricultural Landscape: A Matter of Sampling Design?

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Francesco Liccari ◽  
Maurizia Sigura ◽  
Enrico Tordoni ◽  
Francesco Boscutti ◽  
Giovanni Bacaro
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Sampling Design ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Integrated Method

In intensively used and human-modified landscapes, biodiversity is often confined to remnants of natural habitats. Thus, identifying ecological networks (ENs) necessary to connect these patches and maintain high levels of biodiversity, not only for conservation but also for the effective management of the landscape, is required. However, ENs are often defined without a clear a-priori evaluation of their biodiversity and are seldom even monitored after their establishment. The objective of this study was to determine the adequate number of replicates to effectively characterize biodiversity content of natural habitats within the nodes of an EN in north-eastern Italy, based on vascular plant diversity. Plant communities within habitat types of the EN’s nodes were sampled through a hierarchical sampling design, evaluating both species richness and compositional dissimilarity. We developed an integrated method, consisting of multivariate measures of precision (MultSE), rarefaction curves and diversity partitioning approaches, which was applied to estimate the minimum number of replicates needed to characterize plant communities within the EN, evaluating also how the proposed optimization in sampling size affected the estimations of the characteristics of habitat types and nodes of the EN. We observed that reducing the total sampled replicates by 85.5% resulted to sufficiently characterize plant diversity of the whole EN, and by 72.5% to exhaustively distinguish plant communities among habitat types. This integrated method helped to fill the gap regarding the data collection to monitor biodiversity content within existing ENs, considering temporal and economic resources. We therefore suggest the use of this quantitative approach, based on probabilistic sampling, to conduct pilot studies in the context of ENs design and monitoring, and in general for habitat monitoring.

scholarly journals Vegetation cover in an ancient agricultural landscape: the Proszowice Plateau (southern Poland) as a case-study

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-322
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Kotańska ◽  
Krystyna Towpasz ◽  
Helena Trzcińska-Tacik ◽  
Józef Mitka
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Wet Meadows ◽  
Southern Poland ◽  
Plant Associations ◽  
Arable Fields ◽  
Rare And Endangered ◽  
Shallow Stream

The investigations on vegetation cover in the Proszowice Plateau (Małopolska Upland, southern Poland) in 1997-1999 were carried out. This vast area (770 sq. km), hitherto not in this respect investigated, is covered with arable fields in 80%. This area has been used for agriculture since the Neolithic age. The aim of the paper is to show the present state of the vegetation and flora in face of the growing man's impact upon living biotas and their environment. The Braun-Blanquet phytosociological method was used, yielding 1030 relevés. In effect, a total of 48 plant associations and communities were found. Plateaux and gently slopes are covered with arable fields. In the cereal communities <em>Vicietum tetraspermae</em> and in the root crops <em>Echinochloo-Setarietum</em> are mostly found. In the wide and shallow stream valleys moist and wet meadows (<em>Calthion</em>, <em>Magnocaricion</em>) predominate, and the stands of the xerothermic grassland (<em>Festuco-Brometea</em>) occur in places not used for agriculture: on steep escarp-ments between fields and on steep slopes of hills, gullies and stream banks. Small and scarce forests (<em>Querco-Fagetea</em>) are preserved on plateaux and on gently slopes. In the stream banks they consist of willow thickets (Salicion) and fragments of riverside carr (<em>Alno-Padion</em>). Basing on the relevé material and floristic checklists a total of 860 vascular plant species was recorded, in this 19.2% of rare and endangered. The flora is of lowland character; c. 80% are native species. The characteristic feature of the Proszowice Plateau is the occurrence of the xerothermic grassland and wet meadows, in which species rare in other regions of the country flourish.

STUDYING OF TERSKO-SULAKSKAYA LOWLAND VEGETATION UNDER THE RESULTS OF GROUND-BASED RESEARCH AND AUTOMATED INTERPRETATION

1970 ◽  
pp. 29-32
Author(s):  
M. I. Dzhalalova ◽  
A. B. Biarslanov ◽  
D. B. Asgerova
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The State ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Internet Resource

The state of plant communities in areas located in the Tersko-Sulak lowland was studied by assessing phytocenotic indicators: the structure of vegetation cover, projective cover, species diversity, species abundance and elevated production, as well as automated decoding methods. There are almost no virgin soils and natural phytocenoses here; all of them have been transformed into agrocenoses (irrigated arable lands and hayfields, rice-trees and pastures). The long-term impact on pasture ecosystems of natural and anthropogenic factors leads to significant changes in the indigenous communities of this region. Phytocenoses are formed mainly by dry-steppe types of cereals with the participation of feather grass, forbs and ephemera, a semi-desert haloxerophytic shrub - Taurida wormwood. At the base of the grass stand is common coastal wormwood and Taurida wormwood - species resistant to anthropogenic influences. Anthropogenic impacts have led to a decrease in the number of species of feed-rich grain crops and a decrease in the overall productivity of pastures. Plant communities in all areas are littered with ruderal species. The seasonal dynamics of the land cover of the sites was estimated by the methods of automatic decoding of satellite images of the Landsat8 OLI series satellite for 2015, dated by the periods: spring - May 20, summer - July 23, autumn - October 20. Satellite imagery data obtained by Landsat satellite with a resolution in the multispectral image of 30 m per pixel, and in the panchromatic image - 10 m per pixel, which correspond to the requirements for satellite imagery to assess the dynamics of soil and vegetation cover. Lower resolution data, for example, NDVI MODIS, does not provide a reliable reflection of the state of soil and vegetation cover under arid conditions. In this regard, remote sensing data obtained from the Internet resource https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ was used.

Showing the vegetation cover of flood-plains and river valleys on the Vegetation Map of Kazakhstan and middle Asia

1995 ◽  
pp. 58-66
Author(s):  
N. M. Kalibernova
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Flood Plain ◽  
Vegetation Map ◽  
Flood Plains ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Ground Waters ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
River Valleys ◽  
Former Ussr

The fragment of the legend of the map concerning the vegetation of flood- plains and river-valleys in the subzones of northern and southern deserts is presented in the article. The map is compiled in Department of Vegetspon Geography and Cartography of Komarov Botanical Institute by a large team of botanists-geographers of the former USSR. The nature environments determining the development of vegetation of river-valleys in arid climate are conditioned by the intrazonal factors (alluvial and flood processes) at the background of natural zonal factors. Contrasts of environments and corresponding plant communities manifest themselves first of all. Mineralization of ground waters, salinity of soils, including the alluvial ones, are of essential importance. The practice of vegetation mapping of unstable habitats, to which floodplain landscapes belong, has shown that units of phytocoenological classification is of little use for this purpose. The heterogeneity of vegetation, consisting of short-term unstable serial communities generates a need for typification of space combinations of such phytocoenoses. For this purpose it is convenient to use generalized ecological-dinamic series, including plant communities of all levels within the limits of definite segment of valley. These series are the mapping units on the map. The vegetation of the first terrace is also nessecary to include in a single series with flood-plain vegetation because it has supplementary influence of ground waters. The higher divisions of the legend are based on zonal characters: vegetation of valleys in northern, middle and southern deserts. 13 numbers are used to show the vegetation cover of flood-plains and valleys. Additional 7 numbers are used for the out-of-valley meadow vegetation. The content is enriched by using of the letters by the numbers showing the geographic variants of series and ciphers for combination of series and out-of-series communities. The text legend is supplemented by the matrix (table), showing the subordination of subtitles, zonal position and geographic distribution of divisions. The types of series in the matrix are listed with indication of the main dominant species that gives the additional information on the legend divisions. The author's conclusion is that valley vegetation reveals clearly the zonal features, correlating with zonal (desert) vegetation.

scholarly journals The Relict Ecosystem of Maytenus senegalensis subsp. europaea in an Agricultural Landscape: Past, Present and Future Scenarios

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Antonio J. Mendoza-Fernández ◽  
Fabián Martínez-Hernández ◽  
Esteban Salmerón-Sánchez ◽  
Francisco J. Pérez-García ◽  
Blas Teruel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Maytenus Senegalensis

Maytenus senegalensis subsp. europaea is a shrub belonging to the Celastraceae family, whose only European populations are distributed discontinuously along the south-eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, forming plant communities with great ecological value, unique in Europe. As it is an endangered species that makes up plant communities with great palaeoecological significance, the development of species distribution models is of major interest under different climatic scenarios, past, present and future, based on the fact that the climate could play a relevant role in the distribution of this species, as well as in the conformation of the communities in which it is integrated. Palaeoecological models were generated for the Maximum Interglacial, Last Maximum Glacial and Middle Holocene periods. The results obtained showed that the widest distribution of this species, and the maximum suitability of its habitat, occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum, when the temperatures of the peninsular southeast were not as contrasting as those of the rest of the European continent and were favored by higher rainfall. Under these conditions, large territories could act as shelters during the glacial period, a hypothesis reflected in the model’s results for this period, which exhibit a further expansion of M. europaea’s ecological niche. The future projection of models in around 2070, for four Representative Concentration Pathways according to the fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, showed that the most favorable areas for this species would be Campo de Dalías (southern portion of Almería province) as it presents the bioclimatic characteristics of greater adjustment to M. europaea’s ecological niche model. Currently, some of the largest specimens of the species survive in the agricultural landscapes in the southern Spain. These areas are almost totally destroyed and heavily altered by intensive agriculture greenhouses, also causing a severe fragmentation of the habitat, which implies a prospective extinction scenario in the near future.

scholarly journals Landscape structure affects the sunflower visiting frequency of insect pollinators

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Károly Lajos ◽  
Ferenc Samu ◽  
Áron Domonkos Bihaly ◽  
Dávid Fülöp ◽  
Miklós Sárospataki
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Edge Density ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Mass Flowering ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Pollinator Community ◽  
Foraging Ranges

AbstractMass-flowering crop monocultures, like sunflower, cannot harbour a permanent pollinator community. Their pollination is best secured if both managed honey bees and wild pollinators are present in the agricultural landscape. Semi-natural habitats are known to be the main foraging and nesting areas of wild pollinators, thus benefiting their populations, whereas crops flowering simultaneously may competitively dilute pollinator densities. In our study we asked how landscape structure affects major pollinator groups’ visiting frequency on 36 focal sunflower fields, hypothesising that herbaceous semi-natural (hSNH) and sunflower patches in the landscape neighbourhood will have a scale-dependent effect. We found that an increasing area and/or dispersion of hSNH areas enhanced the visitation of all pollinator groups. These positive effects were scale-dependent and corresponded well with the foraging ranges of the observed bee pollinators. In contrast, an increasing edge density of neighbouring sunflower fields resulted in considerably lower visiting frequencies of wild bees. Our results clearly indicate that the pollination of sunflower is dependent on the composition and configuration of the agricultural landscape. We conclude that an optimization of the pollination can be achieved if sufficient amount of hSNH areas with good dispersion are provided and mass flowering crops do not over-dominate the agricultural landscape.

scholarly journals Local changes in communities of wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Apiformes): 30 years later

2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Józef Banaszak ◽  
Halina Ratyńska
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Plant Succession ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Increasing Trend ◽  
Quantitative Changes ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Bee Communities ◽  
Forest Habitats

ABSTRACT Changes in communities of wild bees (Apiformes) were studied in relation to changes in vegetation in six permanent plots (natural forest habitats in the Wielkopolska National Park, and semi-natural habitats in the agricultural landscape near Turew) at the end of four decades (starting from the late 1970s). In 2008-2010, as many as 100 species of Apiformes were recorded there, which is more than reported in earlier decades. The most stable bee communities were those in forest habitats (oak-hornbeam forest, oak forest). Substantial qualitative and quantitative changes in vegetation and bee communities were recorded only after the renaturalisation of a former xerothermic grassland, which had become overgrown with shrubs and trees as a result of plant succession. Human interference (e.g. the felling of some trees growing along a road, clearance of understorey shrubs, ploughing of roadside margins) at selected refuge habitats in the agricultural landscape led to short-term fluctuations in bee abundance and diversity, but an increasing trend in abundance was noted.

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