Plant communities of field boundaries and buffer strips in Finland 1995 - 1999

The data originate from national monitoring on the effects of the Finnish agri-environment support scheme (MYTVAS). The data was collected in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 1999 in four different watershed areas in Finland. 225 boundaries were preselected from aerial photographs to find the sites located next to waterways and open areas, and with no or only minor occurences of trees or shrubs. In each site, vascular plant species coverages were assessed in one to five 0.25 m2 (0.5 x 0.5 m) quadrates 20 m apart from one another. In 1998, another dataset was collected by estimating the abundances of plant species in the whole boundary area. Soil samples were taken in each site for soil analysis. The methods have been described in the following publications: Tarmi, S. & Helenius, J. 2002. Maatalouden ympäristöohjelman mukaisten piennarten ja suojakaistojen toteutuminen ja niiden kasviyhteisöjen monimuotoisuus (Vegetation in boundaries and buffer zones - realization of boundaries and buffer zones obliged in agri-environmental programme and diversity of vascular plant communities, in Finnish). Helsingin yliopisto. Soveltavan biologian laitoksen julkaisuja 9. 35 p. Tarmi, S., Helenius, J. & Hyvönen, T. 2009. Importance of edaphic, spatial and management factors for plant communities of field boundaries. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 131: 201–206. Tarmi, S., Tuuri, H. & Helenius, J. 2002. Plant communities of field boundaries in Finnish farmland. Agricultural and food science in Finland 11: 121-135.