Botanical surveys as a base for the assessment of ecosystem services provided by semi-natural habitats in Hungary

Abstract: Farming systems, particularly organic farming, are often depending on ecosystem services, such as pollination and biocontrol. These essential services are partly provided by semi-natural habitats. In order to explore their contribution to ecosystem services we investigated different types of semi-natural habitats in an agricultural landscape in Central-Hungary. Four types of semi-natural habitats were studied: woody areal, woody linear, herbaceous areal and herbaceous linear elements. The vegetation of these types was compared using different indicator values such as Simon’s nature conservation categories of the Hungarian vascular plants, Borhidi’s phytosociological classification of the Hungarian vascular plants and Borhidi’s relative ecological indicator values. We found differences in the vegetation composition between the internal and external part of the elements. More weeds were recorded in the external plots, which may indicate the degradation of these habitats. The abundance of the flowering species was also higher in the external plots.