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Forestry 1992 65(1):1-13; doi:10.1093/forestry/65.1.1-a
© 1992 by Institute of Chartered Foresters
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Plant Species Richness in Farm Woodlands

M. B. USHER {dagger}, A. C. BROWN * and S. E. BEDFORD

Department of Biology, University of York York, YO1 5DD, England

The Farm Woodlands Scheme (FWS) contains an implicit assumption that farm woodlands produce important benefits to wildlife. The aim of this study was to discover whether there are benefits, in terms only of plant species richless, that can be discerned in farm woodlands that were established during the first half of the twentieth century. A survey of 33 farm woodlands (0.1–30.6 ha) in the Vale of York produced lists of 54 species of trees and shrubs and 133 species of non-woody flowering plants and ferns. Despite the sample including obviously different woodland types, no obvious reasons for the plant assemblages could be discovered. Area was a good predictor of species richness, but, contrary to some expectations of island biogeography theory, neither isolation nor woodland shape could predict species richness. The majority of typical woodland herbaceous species is absent in woodlands smaller than 1.5 ha. To achieve the potential ‘wildlife dividend’ of the FWS, larger areas (at least 1.5 ha and preferably over 5 ha) should be planted, incorporating existing woody vegetation, but avoiding bogs and ancient meadow remnants.

Received 25 February 1991.
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