The flora biodiversity associated to agrarian ecosystems with cover crops

Abstract

Weeds, often seen as a barrier to obtain a high agricultural production, can be part of and contribute to the agricultural ecosystem balance.

The aim of the study was to make a flora inventory in natural cover crops of three agricultural ecosystems - olive grove, vineyard and apple orchard - located at Quinta da Alagoa, Ranhados, Viseu.

Between 2007 and 2015, from September to December, weeds were monitored using the transect method. In each inventory, the observer moves randomly along a 300 steps transect across the field and records the species present at each step.

This study includes the flora inventory, the description of each one and a data analysis by ecosystem and based on biodiversity indexes. This information may help to know and understand the flora biodiversity found in different ecosystems with natural cover crops.

A total of 18265 plants were observed belonging to 24 families, 64 genera and 80 taxa. The Asteraceae family showed the greatest diversity of taxa (26,4%). The apple orchard was the ecosystem with higher diversity.