Biodiversity of Traditional Agricultural Landscapes in Slovakia and Their Threats

Abstract

Traditional agricultural landscapes (TAL) represent ecosystems that consist of a mosaic of small-scale arable fields and permanent agricultural cultivations such as grasslands, vineyards and high-trunk orchards. Diversity of TAL was studied on two levels: as the ecosystem diversity based on the type and intensity of land use of these biocultural landscapes, focusing on habitats related to forms of anthropogenic relief (FAR), which are significant as unique islands of species-rich communities in the agricultural landscape. To classify the identified TAL we considered the presence of specific land use elements and we distinguished four classes of TAL: (I) TAL with Dispersed Settlements, (II) TAL of Vineyards, (III) TAL of Arable-Land, Grasslands and Orchards (IV) TAL of Arable-Land and Grasslands. Plant species composition on mapped FAR shows high diversity of habitats, from open secondary screens and rocky habitats through rural communities and semi-natural grasslands to shrubby habitats, lines of trees or other small woody patches.