The influence of cropland expanse and crop rotation on the biodiversity maintenance of fields

Abstract

Cropland expanse and crop rotation are the chief factors that have an undoubted influence on the biodiversity of fields. The cropland expanse is a spatial distribution of arable area, parcels of ground, and fields against the farmstead or farm centre, while crop rotation means crop succession in which varied plant requirements and the site type are taken into account. The research was conducted from the year 2005 to the year 2007 on the three objects located in the Borki commune, situated in the north of Lublin Voivodeship. The examined area was demarcated by natural borders such as the river, forest, and the roads. The individual fields were marked on the geodetic maps, and then the number of the allotments and the fields sown with an individual species was determined. The three-year long research is too short a time to state if the crop rotation was correctly selected; however, in some cases it is clear that the plant choice was completely accidental. The most frequent plants were cereals which occurred on 62% of the examined fields in the whole above-stated period. The dicotyledonous species were represented by potatoes on the investigated area and by yellow lupine that occurred on very few fields. The research did not show the direct influence of the examined factors on the biodiversity of the fields.