Data and code from: Farm management and landscape context shapes plant diversity at wetland edges in the prairie pothole region of Canada.

<b>Abstract from associated paper (</b><b>Farm management and landscape context shapes plant diversity at wetland edges in the prairie pothole region of Canada, Ecological Applications in press).</b>Evaluating impacts of farming systems on biodiversity is increasingly important given the need to stem biodiversity loss, decrease fossil fuel dependency, and maintain ecosystem services benefitting farmers. We recorded woody and herbaceous plant species diversity, composition and abundance in 43 wetland-adjacent prairie remnants beside cropfields managed using conventional, minimum tillage, organic, or permanent land management in the Prairie Pothole Region. We used a hierarchical framework to estimate diversity at regional and local scales (gamma, alpha), and how these related through species turnover (beta diversity). We tested the expectation that gamma richness/evenness and beta diversity of all plants would be higher in remnants adjacent to perennial cover and organic fields than conventional and minimum-tillage fields. We expected the same findings for plants providing ecosystem services (bee-pollinated species) and disservices (introduced species). We predicted similar relative effects of land management on alpha diversity, but with the expectation that benefits of organic farming would decrease with increasing native grassland in surrounding landscapes. Gamma richness and evenness of all plants were highest for perennial cover, followed by minimum-tillage, organic and conventional sites. Bee-pollinated species followed a similar pattern for richness but for evenness organic farming came second, after perennial cover sites, followed by minimum-tillage and conventional. For introduced species, organic sites had highest gamma richness and evenness. Grassland amount moderated the effect of land management type on all plants and bee-pollinated plant richness, but not as expected. Richness for organic sites increased with the amount of native grassland in the surrounding landscape. Conversely, for conventional sites, richness increased as the amount of native grassland in the landscape declined. Our results are consistent with the expectation that adopting wildlife-friendly land management practices can benefit biodiversity at regional and local scales, in particular use of perennial cover to benefit plant diversity at regional scales. At more local extents, organic farming increased plant richness, but only when sufficient native grassland was available in the surrounding landscape; organic farms also had highest beta-diversity for all plants and bee-pollinated plants. Maintaining native cover in agroecosystems, in addition to low-intensity farming practices could sustain plant biodiversity and facilitate important ecosystem services.