Abstract: This study examines the effect of socio-economic factors on local vegetative diversity, and applies mathematical models to identify the main disturbances to vegetative diversity in agricultural landscapes in Fengqiu County, China. At the microscale, it is shown that there is no evidence supporting the proposition prevailing in the literature that vegetative diversity is closely related to landscape composition and configuration. In contrast, human disturbances show a more significant influence on vegetative diversity and are closely related to cultivation types and revenue sources. This is attributed mainly to the specific forms of rural economic practices in China which includes the agricultural household responsibility system and the situation of rural migrant workers. Future strategies are proposed for maintaining local biodiversity under the changing policy environment.

Key words: vegetative diversity, agricultural landscape, patch index, socio-economic disturbance, biodiversity model