Floristic diversity at the habitat scale in agricultural landscapes of Central Europe-summary, conclusions and perspectives

Referring to the agricultural history in Central Europe determinants of floristic diversity at the habitat scale and the decline in diversity over the last few decades are described. In this context the preservation of floristic diversity is stressed to be one important goal of modern, multifunctional agricultural land use. To reach this goal indicators of diversity are useful tools to evaluate the effects management practices have on floristic diversity in agro-ecosystems. However, "key indicators" that allow an easy assessment and evaluation of diversity are still lacking. Potentially, indicators of biodiversity measures at the habitat scale can be developed from a large number of parameters. An attempt to classify parameters into three major types of indicators and requirements indicators have to meet are presented. Based on the contributions in this special issue and further references recent approaches to indicate floristic diversity at the habitat scale in agricultural landscapes of Central Europe are summarized and discussed. It is concluded that further research should focus on the validation of existing approaches and their integration into a comprehensive set of indicators and on the development of standardized modes of collection for data.