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Structure and composition of field margin vegetation in the rural-urban interface of Bengaluru, India: a case study on an unexplored dimension of agroecosystems

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Abstract

Field margin vegetation (FMV) refers to the plant community in the interface between agriculture and natural environments. Substantial work has been carried out on the management of field margins in European countries with the aim of conserving field-level biodiversity and enhancing agronomic benefits. India, instead, is lagging behind in the assessment of FMV and formulating subsequent management strategies for biodiversity conservation at the field boundaries. This study is a first step to better understand the structural and functional dimensions of field margin vegetation along an agricultural transformation gradient near the megacity of Bengaluru, India. Empirical field studies along with the detection of vegetation change using remote sensing and geo-informatics technique were used to record information on field margin vegetation. The phytosociological study, revealed a total of 81 species, comprising 29 species of trees, 21 shrubs and 31 herbs at the field margins of six selected villages of northern Bengaluru. Randomly selected 355 field boundaries were delineated from high-resolution Worldview 3 images for the year 2018 and from Google Earth images for the year 2004–2005. The FMV area was around to 85.40 ha in 2004–2005 but declined to 76.69 ha in 2017–2018. The survey also indicated that local farmers have in-depth ecological knowledge on the importance of FMV in ensuring a sustainable flow of resources within the agricultural landscape. The results demonstrate that rural and transition zones of the study area have higher dominance of planted tree species on the margins, whereas urban zone exhibits comparatively uniform dominance for all species. Our study also highlights the need for conservation of FMV to ensure agroecosystem health as a prerequisite for sustainable socioecological development.

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Funding

We are thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for financial support. This work has been carried out as part of the collaborative Indo-German Research Unit FOR2432 Social-Ecological Systems in the Indian Rural-Urban Interface: Functions, Scales, and Dynamics of Transition (DFG); and The Rural-Urban Interface of Bengaluru-A Space of Transitions in Agriculture, Economics, and Society (DBT).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Dr. VKRV Rao Road, Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru, 560072, India

    Sunil Nautiyal & Mrinalini Goswami

  2. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany

    Sunil Nautiyal

  3. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Valiyamala, Trivandrum, 695574, India

    Rama Rao Nidamanuri

  4. Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics, Universität Kassel, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany

    Ellen M. Hoffmann & Andreas Buerkert

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  1. Sunil Nautiyal
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  2. Mrinalini Goswami
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  4. Ellen M. Hoffmann
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  5. Andreas Buerkert
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Correspondence to Sunil Nautiyal.

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Annex

Annex

Table 6 Tree species listed in the six villages in northern transect of Bengaluru, India
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Table 7 Shrub species listed in the six villages in northern transect of Bengaluru, India
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Table 8 Herbs species listed in the six villages in northern transect of Bengaluru, India
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Nautiyal, S., Goswami, M., Nidamanuri, R.R. et al. Structure and composition of field margin vegetation in the rural-urban interface of Bengaluru, India: a case study on an unexplored dimension of agroecosystems. Environ Monit Assess 192, 520 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08428-6

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