Native plant

Restoration ecology

Ecology

Biology

Agroforestry

Geomorphology

Plant community

Grazing

Vegetation (pathology)

Geology

Paleontology

Arid

Geography

Introduced species

Environmental science

Land use

Vascular plant

Medicine

Biodiversity

Disturbance (geology)

Pathology

Species richness

Land Degradation and Development

Various disturbances affect the vegetation in rural areas. However, the responses of plant communities to multiple disturbances have rarely been studied. We investigated the vegetation of a rural landscape in northeast Iran. We established 42 study sites in three land use types using a stratified‐random design: ungrazed abandoned croplands (UACs), grazed abandoned croplands (GACs), and grazed field margins (GFMs). The species richness and canopy cover for all vascular plants and influential disturbances (i.e., grazing, degraded/nondegraded status, distance to the main road, and distance to active cropland) were recorded at each site. We compared multiple facets of the plant communities among land use types. The results showed that there were significant differences among the species compositions of the land use types, with therophytes dominating in all three. Alien species were found in the three land use types, particularly in UACs. GFMs had the highest number of native species. There were no significant differences in the species or phylogenetic diversities among the land use types. Grazing and distance to active cropland were identified as significant factors determining the native species structure in the area, whereas grazing was the only significant factor determining the alien species structure. There was a significant correlation between the native and alien species structure. Our results imply that grazing disperses native and alien plant propagules simultaneously. Neither grazing nor non‐grazing improved biodiversity in the abandoned croplands. The restoration of this landscape requires a community‐specific plan. GFMs are native plant islands that should be prioritized in restoration.

Plant community responses to multiple disturbances in an arid region of northeast Iran