**3. Conclusions and recommendations**

Agricultural landscape in many countries is the dominant landscape. As a result of human activity it has been transformed. Currently, it is primarily the production function. For the realization of social and cultural needs of the human need to preserve the natural values of those areas. It should cultivate and reclaim mosaic character of agricultural landscape and agroecosystems. They must be a lot of ecological islands and natural landscape components. The particular is the role of forest enclaves, midfield shelterbelts, avenues of trees, wetlands, swamps, bogs, ponds, streams, ditches, roads midfield, borders, etc. Their values are a large diversity of plants. Those components demonstrate a high flora diversity; aquatic plants and land plants of various stands. There exist clusters and single trees, shrubs, herbaceous communities of annual and perennial plants. High richness and diversity of plants determines the occurrence of many fauna. Those components play the role of microclimate and protection. They limit the effects of extreme weather events, soil degradation, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions. In agricultural ecosystems must be maintained semi-natural grasslands with their rich of flora and fauna and the preservation of environmental functions. In the field production should be limited assemblage of single crops in large fields. It should be kept of multispecies crop rotation in small fields with plants belonging to different botanical taxonomy, use groups, and cultivars. In addition to new varieties of crops should be present the old local genotypes. In crop canopies and their mixtures is also possible occurrence of non-cultivated plants. The interval between production cycles should be used for the cultivation of intercrops.

## **Author details**

18 Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization in a Diverse World

2009] includes its numerous examples.

agriculture to global climate warming.

**3. Conclusions and recommendations** 

The diversity of crops on arable land is supplemented by intercrops. In contemporary agriculture those are important components of field plant production essential for the environment and agroecology. They demonstrate a direct and indirect effect on the biodiversity of agroecosystems and agricultural landscape. They are an element of agrienvironmental programs. In Poland in the mid of the first decade of the 21st century intercrops accounted for about 4.5% of arable land. Many plant species representing families *Fabaceae, Brassicaceae, Poace*, and others, are sown as intercrops. In crop rotation placed between two main yields, they increase the biodiversity of plants in rotation significantly. The effect of intercrops in the agroecosystem is comprehensive. It concerns both the period of their vegetation and the effect of the biomass remaining on the surface or introduced into soil. A short review of agricultural and environmental research [Jaskulska and Gałęzewski

Intercrops limit non-point pollutions. They play the function of a biological filter. At present in the fields in the periods between successive production cycles they intake nutrients from soil protecting them from leaching to drainage and ground waters. The surface soil layer bound with the root system and covered with the stem biomass is secured from water and wind erosion, protecting not only directly arable fields but also indirectly landscape components limiting the eutrophization of reservoirs and watercourses, midfield ponds shallowing. The phytomass of vegetating plants, post-harvest residue and mulch stimulate the occurrence of other organisms in the habitat, which increases the agroecosytem stability. The biomass can increase the count, diversity and the activity of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and the nematodes. It also enhances the presence of parasitoids and pollinating insects.

Growing intercrops affects the carbon economy in agroecosystems and in the environment. The production of phytomass by those plants is an ecological method of carbon sequestration. Carbon dioxide bound in the biomass increases the content of organic carbon in soil. The plants and mulch decrease the amplitude of temperature of the soil surface layer, restrict its heating. It reduces the intensity of organic matter mineralization and the emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which can decrease the contribution of

Agricultural landscape in many countries is the dominant landscape. As a result of human activity it has been transformed. Currently, it is primarily the production function. For the realization of social and cultural needs of the human need to preserve the natural values of those areas. It should cultivate and reclaim mosaic character of agricultural landscape and agroecosystems. They must be a lot of ecological islands and natural landscape components. The particular is the role of forest enclaves, midfield shelterbelts, avenues of trees, wetlands, swamps, bogs, ponds, streams, ditches, roads midfield, borders, etc. Their values are a large diversity of plants. Those components demonstrate a high flora diversity; aquatic plants and land plants of various stands. There exist clusters and single trees, shrubs, herbaceous communities of annual and perennial plants. High richness and diversity of plants Dariusz Jaskulski and Iwona Jaskulska *Department of Plant Production and Experimenting, University of Technology and Life Sciences, Bydgoszcz, Poland* 

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**Chapter 2** 

© 2012 Goulart et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 Goulart et al., licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Agricultural SystemS and the Conservation** 

F.F. Goulart, T.K.B. Jacobson, B.Q.C. Zimbres, R.B. Machado, L.M.S. Aguiar and G.W. Fernandes

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51092

**1. Introduction** 

species.

**of Biodiversity and Ecosystems in the Tropics** 

One quarter of the terrestrial surface is composed of cultural systems, while in the tropics, 70% of the land has already been converted into pastures, agriculture, or a mixture of managed landscapes [1,2]. Agricultural expansion is recognized as the most significant human alteration of the global environment, with the addition of fertilizers in the agricultural sector accounting for high input of nitrogen and phosphorus in terrestrial ecosystems. The conversion of natural ecosystems in agricultural areas has increased fire frequency, and caused profound rupture in nutrient cycles. Furthermore, agricultural expansion has modified landscapes, making them more vulnerable to invasion by exotic

In spite of these facts, there is enough evidence that anthropogenic systems managed using agroecological principles can support high levels of biodiversity [3,4], contribute to the maintenance of a healthy environment and its services, as well as depend less on costly external inputs of pollutant pesticides and fertilizers [5]. Therefore, there is a wide range of agricultural management strategies, and they differ greatly on their effect on biodiversity.

Today, agroforestry systems cover more than 16 million hectares, and they involve 1.2 billion people worldwide [6]. Traditional shade-cocoa [7], shade-coffee [3], and agroforestry home-gardens [8] are examples of agricultural systems that retain part of the natural habitat structure and ecosystems properties, providing habitat for rich and diverse fauna and flora including threatened and endemic species. On the other hand, intensive agricultural systems, such as pastures and extensive mono specific plantations, harbour low levels of biodiversity, hamper biological flux, and lead to soil leaching, and nutrient import/export. Intensive agriculture is one of the major drivers of change in some biogeochemical cycles

