Assessment of the floristic composition of sward grazed by various animal species

The study objective was to assess the floristic composition of pastures for wild animals (fallow deer, Manchurian deer and mouflons) at Przytoczno, pastures for horses at Białka, and cow pastures belonging to the Land Community in Tarnogóra. We analyzed the floristic composition of the pastures under study in the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012, carried out 32 phytosociological relevés in the wild animal pastures, 32 in the horse pastures, and 38 in the cow pastures, using the Braun-Blanquet method. We determined the species diversity of the pastures based on the percentage share of species from the botanical families distinguished, the total number of species, and the Shannon–Wiener and Simpson diversity index. Our floristic surveys indicated that the greatest species diversity occurred in the horse pastures, while it was lower in the wild animal and cow pastures. The Shannon–Wiener diversity index for the sward of the pastures grazed by horses was higher (H' = 5.04) than for those grazed by wild animals (H' = 4.32) and cows (H' = 3.53). The Simpson index of species diversity in a community was higher for the pastures grazed by horses (S = 0.96) than for those grazed by wild animals (S = 0.95) and cows (S = 0.90)