The Arable Flora of Mediterranean Agricultural Systems in the Iberian Peninsula: Current Status, Threats and Perspectives

In the last decades, the diversity of the arable flora from the Mediterranean farming systems of the Iberian Peninsula has declined significantly as a result of agricultural intensification and changes in soil management, land use and landscape structure. Some of the arable plants that belong to these segetal communities are representatives of chorological elements with high ecological relevance including: Mediterraneo-Irano-Turanian element, Mediterranean arid element, Ibero-Maghrebian element and Iberian endemism element. The conservation of this specific, highly ecologically significant flora depends on the preservation of those specific habitats where these species are still present. This involves actions at both field and landscape scales. Such measures include the promotion of low-intensity organic farming practices (since they increase richness and diversity of arable plants), the preservation of well-structured margin systems (since they act as a shelter for these species) and the fostering of those landscape structures, both at compositional and configurational level, that favour the conservation of arable plants. From a European perspective, Mediterranean agricultural systems still constitute a significant reservoir of diversity of the arable flora and every effort must be made to preserve them.