Abandonment of agricultural land in central Poland and its ecological role

Majchrowska A.: Abandonment of agricultural land in central Poland and its ecological role. Ekologia (Bratislava), Vol. 32, No. 3, p. 320-327, 2013. The intent of this paper is to give an overview of the ongoing study of farmland abandonment in central Poland. The goal of this project, initiated in 2011, is to provide field-verified information: 1. What is the spatial distribution of abandoned agricultural land in central Poland? How is it related to biophysical features of the study area? 2. What are botanical characteristics of spontaneous vegetation succession in the abandoned agricultural lands? What are their environmental determinants? 3. How do the abandoned lands correspond to existing protected areas? How could they be used to strengthen the ecological landscape structure of central Poland? The paper summarises the general study approach, discusses some methodological difficulties, presents preliminary findings and formulates the expected results.