Ackerwildkrautschutz in Luxemburg durch Schutzäcker, Feldflorareservate und Ökologische Landwirtschaft

Summary

Arable plants are becoming increasingly rare in today's cultural landscape and belong to the most endangered plant species in Luxemburg. Their main threat is the intensification of agriculture, where high usage of pesticides and fertilizer, better seed cleaning methods and the abandonment of marginal yield sites all negatively affect arable plant communities. Another factor is the loss of (potential) habitat due to the expansion of settlements and subsequent loss of agricultural lands. The dire situation calls for urgent action. Within the framework of the bachelor thesis of the first author, a concept for the protection of arable plants in Luxembourg was developed. The
following article describes and discusses the four most promising applied approaches to arable plant conservation identified in the course of this work, namely organic
farming, two types of “conservation fields” (“Schutzacker” and “Feldflorareservat”) and pesticide-free field margins.