Diversity and dominance of crop plantations in the agroecosystems of the Kujawy and Pomorze region in Poland

Abstract

The Kujawy and Pomorze Province with 127 rural and municipal-and-rural communes in 19 districts is a typical agricultural region, with the highest plant farming intensity in Poland. The diversity and dominance of crop plantations in the agroecosystems in communes were calculated based on percentage share of 21 kinds of crops in the cropland structure. The algorithms applied in ecological research of biodiversity were used: the Shannon–Weaver diversity index (H’) and Simpson's dominance index (λ). The diversity (H’) of crops in arable land in the Kujawy and Pomorze Province ranges from 1.68 to 2.54. The diversity of crop plantations in the region was bigger in the communes in which there are: better soil, a higher share of arable land in the agricultural acreage and cropland in the arable land as well as with a higher share of barley, corn for grain and sugar beet in the cropland structure. The highest dominance index (λ) for crops in the whole province is 0.291. The index of dominance of agricultural crops in this region increases with an increase in the share of: woodland in the total area, meadows and pasture in the agricultural acreage and rye in the cropland structure.