Predicted effects of management on vascular plant species in arable field margins

In English Many of Sweden’s red listed species are found in the agricultural landscape. Small biotopes (e.g. field margins and field islets) are important for the maintenance of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, and agri-environmental support is paid to farmers who keep them open. However, a proper evaluation of the biodiversity-gains from this type of management is lacking. We examined the predicted response of vascular plant species in field margins in Scania, S. Sweden, to the removal of woody vegetation and found that more species are expected to show a positive than a negative response to this type of management. Comparison of present-day and historical (1940s) aerial photographs shows that field size and the amount of small biotopes have decreased while the cover of woody vegetation on many of the remaining small biotopes has increased. Changes are greater in the arable plains and in the mixed district than in the forest district.