Impact of silvoarable agroforestry systems on biodiversity conservation in the Czech Republic

Bc. Magdaléna Vaňková

Diplomová práce

Abstract:

Intensive conventional agriculture in Europe has contributed to significant biodiversity declines and habitat fragmentation, threatening ecosystem services and agricultural sustainability. However, biodiversity plays a crucial role in maintaining natural values and for the sustainability of agricultural production. In the Czech Republic, most of the agricultural land is still intensively farmed, so species diversity is declining here as well. This thesis investigates the impact of silvoarable agroforestry systems on biodiversity conservation in Czech Republic. Biodiversity was assessed trough comprehensive field surveys targeting plants and invertebrates in six silvoarable agroforestry farms across Czech Republic. Results demonstrated that agroforestry systems supported higher species richness and diversity in comparison with intensive agriculture. While abundance was not always higher in agroforestry, species richness and evenness were generally superior, underscoring the role of agroforestry in increasing environmental heterogeneity. Statistically significant differences in favor of agroforestry were observed for plants and moths in the case of abundance, and plants, butterflies, and spiders in the case of diversity. However, we must consider the influence of each site, as the farms differ in some ways, including the surrounding landscape, with some sites proving to be more species-rich overall. The findings affirm that silvoarable agroforestry systems can mitigate the negative impact of intensive agriculture on biodiversity, supporting the conservation of both flora and invertebrate fauna, while they can also improve the connectivity of sites in the landscape through linear features. Overall, agroforestry has proven to be a valuable strategy for reconciling agricultural productivity with biodiversity conservation and resilience to climate change in temperate European landscapes. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of scientific knowledge in the Czech environment about the specific effects of this system on the biodiversity of different groups of organisms.

Keywords

Agroecosystems, Ecosystem services, Plants, Pollinators, Agriculture, Species richness, Spiders

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 26. 4. 2025

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 2. 6. 2025
• Vedoucí: prof. Ing. Bohdan Lojka, Ph.D.
• Oponent: Soňa Kajzrová, externi

Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze

Fakulta tropického zemědělství

Magisterský studijní program:
Tropical Forestry and Agroforestry