Biodiversity of Weeds and Arthropods in Five Different Perennial Industrial Crops in Eastern Poland

Abstract

A growing interest in the cultivation of non-food crops on marginal lands has been observed in recent years in Poland. Marginal lands are a refuge of agroecosystems biodiversity. The impact of the cultivation of perennial industrial plants on the biodiversity of weeds and arthropods have been assessed in this study. The biodiversity monitoring study, carried out for three years, included five perennial crops: miscanthus Miscanthus × giganteus, cup plant Silphium perfoliatum, black locust Robinia pseudoacacia, poplar Populus × maximowiczii, and willow Salix viminalis. As a control area, uncultivated fallow land was chosen. The experiment was set up in eastern Poland. A decrease in plant diversity was found for miscanthus and black locust. The diversity of arthropods was the lowest for the cup plant. No decrease in the number of melliferous plants and pollinators was observed, except for the miscanthus. The biodiversity of plants and arthropods was affected by the intensity of mechanical treatments, the fertilization dose, and the use of herbicides. The biodiversity also decreased with the age of plantation.

Keywords

• biological diversity
• marginal land