Agriculture and Biodiversity Response

This study was carried out in the semi-arid mid-Zambezi valley, northern Zimbabwe to explore how biodiversity respond to loss of primary habitats. The study investigated the impact of woodland conversion for cultivation purposes on woody species, arthropods and vegetation recovery. Cultivation is resulting in rapid decrease in tree diversity at farm level, while at landscape level agricultural activities do not have any effect woody species diversity however, there are negative effects on tree physiognomy and dominance. Arthropod indicator groups, Charaxes butterflies and Cetoniinae beetles, showed a decrease in abundance and loss of diversity due to agriculture with more loss recorded in homogeneous intensively cultivated areas. Recovering fallow vegetation was characterised by dominance of invasive species such as Acacia tortilis subsp spirocarpa. To conserve biodiversity within agricultural landscapes in this area effort may have to focus on implementing an agricultural paradigm that maintains a mosaic of different land-use units, each in a different phase of clearance-cultivation-abandonment-recovery-clearance cycle.