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J. D. Fridley*, A. R. Senft, and R. K. Peet
Department of Biology CB #3280,Microsoft Office Professional 2007, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280
Abstract
Irregularly disturbed forests encompassing crop fields in agricultural landscapes frequently serve as ecological buffers that separate unwanted agricultural components such as agrichemicals and weedy species from adjacent ecosystems. Even so,Windows 7 Download, the nature of this interface among fields and forests continues to be little studied, particularly inside of the context of how species composition adjustments with subject distance and how much exotic species penetrate into forest interiors. In three agricultural landscapes inside the North Carolina Piedmont,Microsoft Office Home And Business 2010, we surveyed plant communities in multi-scale, nested quadrats arrayed along transects perpendicular to field boundaries and penetrating >200 m into adjacent forests. Rates of species turnover, patterns of species richness, and the distribution of exotic species were assessed for 18 transects. Plant communities exhibited high rates of compositional turnover within 50 m of area boundaries,Office 2007 Enterprise Key, but species turnover was considerably reduced beyond this threshold. Vegetation composition inside borders immediately adjacent to cornfields was dominated by a relatively predictable set of weedy forb and graminoid species, of which a substantial proportion was exotic. Composition of encompassing forest communities more reflected local environmental conditions and contained few unique species overall. Species richness was not influenced by area proximity. We suggest that agricultural influences on landscape-scale vegetation patterns are most apparent in plant communities located very close (<50 m) to continuous agricultural operations. Although weed communities associated with agricultural management are represented by a large pool of unique species, relatively few of these species are able to penetrate forest boundaries.

Received: November 24, 2008; Accepted: April 24, 2009



Castanea 74(4):327-339. 2009
doi: 10.2179/08-057R1.1

Vegetation Structure of Area Margins and Adjacent Forests in Agricultural Landscapes of the North Carolina Piedmont

*email address: fridley@syr.edu

Present address: Division of Biology,Windows 7 Home Premium Key, Syracuse University, 107 College Place, Syracuse, New York 13244.