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Context: The preservation of biodiversity integrated into agricultural practices may bring about enormous social, economic, and ecological benefits; Hence, the practices that conserve and have a sustainable use, increasing biodiversity, are necessary for farming systems to ensure food production, life quality, and the health of ecosystems. Aim: To conduct a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of plant species diversity as an element of agroecosystem functioning. Methods: The species found on farm fields (0.24 hectares) are shown. Accordingly, the farm areas were divided into 6 transects (80 m x 5 m each), in 16 5 x 5 m plots. The Alpha diversity indexes were calculated (the Margalef diversity index, the Pielou uniformity index, the Shannon-Wiener index), and Beta (the Jaccard index); the agroecosystem agrobiodiversity index was included as well. Results: The Alpha diversity indexes was inclined to average-high diversity values, and low dominance; whereas the Jaccard index indicated the existence of average similar farms as to the herbaceous-arboreal species, and floristically-differing arboreal species. The study demonstrated unsustainable management of agro diversity. Conclusions: The farms differed floristically regarding the arboreal plants, and were average different for the herbaceous plants, whereas the Agricultural Diversity Index evidenced the implementation of unsustainable management practices to agroecosystems, which did not include the application of agroecological principles, and management aiming to increase income rather than the protection of the ecosystem. Consequently, the production and management model implemented is ecologically unsustainable. |
