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Abstract

The use of biomass derived from fast-growing trees grown on agricultural land is common practice in parts of Sweden, where plantations of Salix sp. today cover about 14 000 ha in total. Floristic diversity in short-rotation willow (Salix) and poplar (Populus) plantations was compared with adjacent agricultural fields of various crop types. The plantations were grown on former agricultural land and most of the study sites were located in southern and central Sweden. Surveys of ground vegetation were carried out by using sample plots located along transects running perpendicular to the habitat boundaries. The surveys were carried out partly within the ERA-NET Bioenergy project Rating-SRC (http://ratingsrc.slu.se/). Mean cumulative species number across sites (all transects and plots included) was similar (between 20 and 30 species) in tree stands (Salix and Populus) and arable fields. Fields of conventional crops (e.g. cereals) had lower species number, whereas grasslands sometimes had higher species numbers compared to the tree stands. The number of joint species in the two vegetation types (tree stands and arable fields) was mostly low, which indicates different types of flora. Species number decreased clearly from edge towards central parts of tree plantations. The results were interpreted in a landscape context. Mainly based on the low quantity of species shared by tree stands and adjacent arable fields, the results support the hypothesis that small-scale plantations of fast-growing trees increase floristic diversity in landscapes dominated by agriculture. We conclude that woody energy crop plantations can contribute to increased biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, although species richness within the tree stands usually is low. Since the area of energy plantations in Europe is anticipated to greatly increase in the near future, we need to discuss how these plantations should be arranged and managed in order to favour increased biodiversity in the best way possible. A high number of edge habitats and small plantation size can, for example, support increased biodiversity

Keywords

biodiversity; energy crop; flora diversity; land use; salix

Published in

Title: Fifth International Poplar Symposium : Poplars and willows: from research models to multipurpose trees for a bio-based society : book of abstracts
Publisher: IUFRO

Conference

Fifth International Poplar Symposium : Poplars and willows: from research models to multipurpose trees for a bio-based society

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Bioenergy
Agricultural Science
Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/30969