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      The impact of agricultural intensification and land-use change on the European arable flora.

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          Abstract

          The impact of crop management and agricultural land use on the threat status of plants adapted to arable habitats was analysed using data from Red Lists of vascular plants assessed by national experts from 29 European countries. There was a positive relationship between national wheat yields and the numbers of rare, threatened or recently extinct arable plant species in each country. Variance in the relative proportions of species in different threat categories was significantly explained using a combination of fertilizer and herbicide use, with a greater percentage of the variance partitioned to fertilizers. Specialist species adapted to individual crops, such as flax, are among the most threatened. These species have declined across Europe in response to a reduction in the area grown for the crops on which they rely. The increased use of agro-chemicals, especially in central and northwestern Europe, has selected against a larger group of species adapted to habitats with intermediate fertility. There is an urgent need to implement successful conservation strategies to arrest the decline of this functionally distinct and increasingly threatened component of the European flora.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Proc. Biol. Sci.
          Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society
          1471-2954
          0962-8452
          Apr 7 2012
          : 279
          : 1732
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Department of Plant and Invertebrate Ecology, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ, UK. jonathan.storkey@rothamsted.ac.uk
          Article
          rspb.2011.1686
          10.1098/rspb.2011.1686
          21993499
          0276c73a-973f-42f2-9f9e-40c41cc2a119
          History

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