Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Katherina Ng, Somayeh Nowrouzi, Kyran M. Staunton, Philip Barton, Don A. Driscoll
Summary: The study found that remnant native vegetation provides crucial habitat resources for many ant species that are not provided by farmlands, and that in some cases native plantings can ameliorate negative effects of farmland clearing. Agricultural intensification involving loss of remnant native vegetation will contribute to ongoing losses and changes to ant biodiversity in farming landscapes. However, replanting native vegetation can lead to rapid restoration, offering a possible simple remedy to insect declines.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lionel R. Hertzog, Sebastian Klimek, Norbert Roeder, Claudia Frank, Hannah G. S. Boehner, Johannes Kamp
Summary: Fallow agricultural land plays an important role in supporting threatened and declining farmland biodiversity. The relationship between farmland biodiversity and fallow area is influenced by landscape factors and varies among species.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Martin Salek, Karolina Kalinova, Renata Dankova, Stanislav Grill, Michal Zmihorski
Summary: This study compared farmland bird communities in Austria and the Czech Republic, finding significantly higher abundance and species richness of farmland birds in Austria compared to the Czech Republic, likely due to differences in agricultural systems and landscape structures.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Eliane Seraina Meier, Gisela Luescher, Eva Knop
Summary: The study found that factors shaping farmland gamma-diversity differ from those shaping alpha-diversity, with indirect effects often stronger than direct effects. Therefore, relationships between factors shaping alpha-diversity cannot be simply up-scaled to gamma-diversity, and indirect effects should not be neglected. Local mitigation measures can benefit farmland gamma-diversity at landscape scale.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marie Ange Ngo Bieng, Diego Delgado-Rodriguez, Sergio Vilchez-Mendoza, Arlene Lopez-Sampson, Edwin Garcia, Norvin Sepulveda, Eduardo Somarriba
Summary: This study evaluates the potential for taxonomic biodiversity conservation within an intensive livestock-agricultural-forest mosaic landscape in Catacamas, Honduras. The results indicate that biodiversity indices for agroforestry coffee were found equivalent to those for natural secondary forests in the Catacamas landscape. Combining biodiversity conservation and agricultural production is possible in human-pressured tropical landscapes through tree cover maintenance.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Elwyn Sharps, Robert W. Hawkes, Andrew J. Bladon, David L. Buckingham, Jennifer Border, Antony J. Morris, Philip V. Grice, Will J. Peach
Summary: Agri-environment schemes (AES) are the primary policy mechanism for addressing farmland biodiversity declines across Europe. Higher-tier AES provision can promote avian population growth on farmland, while lower-tier provision has less impact. To increase regional farmland bird populations by 10%, 47% and 26% of the farmed landscape would need to be devoted to higher-tier agreements in arable and pastoral landscapes, respectively.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Tamara Rischen, Matilda Kaffenberger, Eva Plath, Jessica Wolff, Klaus Fischer
Summary: Arthropod biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is influenced by compositional and configurational heterogeneity. Boundaries as habitats enhance the taxonomic diversity of carabid beetles and spiders, suggesting their value. Increasing configurational heterogeneity seems important for preserving farmland biodiversity.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Verdiana Petroselli, Emanuele Radicetti, Alireza Safahani Langeroodi, Mohamed Allam, Roberto Mancinelli
Summary: The study found that organic fertilizer source increased weed density, especially under subsoiling. Annual and monocot species had the highest density under subsoiling.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Clement Valle, Isabelle Le Viol, Christian Kerbiriou, Yves Bas, Frederic Jiguet, Karine Prince
Summary: This study investigated the response of farmland biodiversity to small woody features (SWF) density in different landscape compositions. The results showed that all three taxa exhibited a positive response to SWF, especially in cropland. The study also found a non-linear response, with the highest benefit observed at a SWF density of at least 6% in cropland. However, some farmland bird specialists were negatively impacted by SWF.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Ana Carolina Pereira Machado, Gudryan Jackson Baronio, Favizia Freitas de Oliveira, Caroline Tito Garcia, Andre Rodrigo Rech
Summary: The study highlights the importance of maintaining native vegetation in agricultural landscapes for bee distribution and reproduction. While richness and abundance of bee species vary among different seasons and vegetation types, the composition of bee communities is more dependent on seasonality and vegetation types.
JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Stephanie Roilo, Jan O. Engler, Tomas Vaclavik, Anna F. Cord
Summary: Agri-environment schemes, ecological focus areas, and organic farming are key tools in the common agricultural policy to address the decline of farmland biodiversity in Europe. The effectiveness of these measures varies at different spatial scales, with landscape-level management playing a crucial role. Higher adoption levels of these measures could significantly improve breeding habitat suitability for farmland bird species across the agricultural landscape.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
C. MacLaren, J. Labuschagne, P. A. Swanepoel
Summary: Reduced tillage practices are generally considered more sustainable than conventional tillage practices, but controlling weeds remains a challenge for many producers. Crop rotation is often recommended for weed management in reduced tillage systems, but uncertainties exist about how different tillage practices and crop rotations interact. Our study in South Africa's winter rainfall region found that different tillage practices did not significantly affect weed density in wheat monoculture. Both crop rotations generally had lower weed densities and reduced dominance of grass weeds compared to monoculture, but zero tillage with crop rotation showed similar weed seed bank densities to monoculture, suggesting an antagonistic relationship in this system. Producers seeking to reduce tillage in the region should opt for minimum tillage over zero tillage and avoid wheat monoculture, while weed researchers and agronomists should be cautious of potential antagonistic interactions between weed management practices in different systems.
SOIL & TILLAGE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Studies
Yufei Zhang, Yujing Yang, Zhenxing Bian, Shuai Wang
Summary: Understanding the multi-scale effects of arable land landscape on epigaeic arthropod diversity is crucial for biodiversity conservation and agroecosystem services. This study examined the overall impact of landscape elements on epigaeic arthropod diversity at three scales, revealing that an appropriate scale is the best lever for protecting agricultural biodiversity.
Article
Agronomy
John W. Piltz, Stephen G. Morris, Leslie A. Weston
Summary: The best approach for controlling barley grass, annual ryegrass, and wild radish was found to be late paddock preparation, early October forage harvest, and effective regrowth control in a single year.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rocco Labadessa, Leonardo Ancillotto
Summary: The decline of biodiversity due to urban development has raised the need to identify areas most relevant to the conservation of native species. In this study, the multiple role of local geomorphological features in shaping plant diversity patterns and dynamics in an urban area of Italy was assessed. The results showed that landscape remnants played a crucial role in the conservation of native, rare, and specialised species, as well as in maintaining floristic continuity and potential connectivity throughout the urban landscape.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Federico Riva, Lenore Fahrig
Summary: Positive effects of habitat patch size on biodiversity are often incorrectly extrapolated to negative effects of habitat fragmentation at landscape scales. A recent study shows that small patches actually contribute to biodiversity, challenging the previous assumption. Landscape-scale analysis reveals that for sets of patches with equal total habitat area, species richness and evenness decrease with increasing mean size of the patches, contradicting the extrapolation. Therefore, preserving small habitat patches is crucial for biodiversity conservation.
Review
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Enrique G. de la Riva, Werner Ulrich, Peter Batary, Julia Baudry, Lea Beaumelle, Roman Bucher, Andrea Cerevkova, Maria R. Felipe-Lucia, Robert Galle, Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot, Ewa Rembialkowska, Adrien Rusch, Verena Seufert, Dara Stanley, Klaus Birkhofer
Summary: Agricultural intensification has contributed to global food security and well-being, but it has also led to negative impacts on species diversity and ecosystem functioning. This review proposes a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between functional diversity and human well-being, highlighting the need for further research on this topic.
AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Michelle Rabbetts, Lenore Fahrig, Greg W. W. Mitchell, Kevin C. C. Hannah, Sara J. J. Collins, Scott Wilson
Summary: Agriculture is a major threat to global biodiversity, with direct and indirect effects on species richness. This study used structural equation modelling to assess the direct, indirect, and total effects of agriculture on bird guilds in three different habitats. The study found that the indirect effects of agriculture, such as forest loss and reduction in natural land cover, play a significant role in determining bird species richness. The results highlight the importance of considering both direct and indirect effects when evaluating the impact of agriculture on biodiversity.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Federico Riva, Lenore Fahrig
Summary: Minimum patch size criteria for habitat protection often prioritize large patches, but our study showed that conserving biodiversity requires more emphasis on protecting a larger number of small patches. Our analysis of a global database of species abundances revealed that species richness accumulated more rapidly when adding several small patches, contrary to the conventional principle of a single large patch having higher biodiversity. Additionally, responses to habitat fragmentation varied among taxa, suggesting that overall biodiversity conservation is most effective when composed of many small patches and a few large ones.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Sara Khan, Lenore Fahrig, Amanda E. E. Martin
Summary: The rapid expansion of human population poses a challenge for wildlife conservation in agricultural landscapes. Increasing crop diversity has been proposed as a solution, but studies show mixed effects on biodiversity. The effect of crop diversity on biodiversity depends on a tradeoff between the number and amount of different crop types. Factors such as semi-natural habitat cover and measurement extent can influence this relationship. Policies to increase crop diversity may not benefit biodiversity in areas with high agriculture and low semi-natural cover.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tomas Hamrik, Nikolett Galle-Szpisjak, Peter Batary, Robert Galle
Summary: Despite the importance of forest-steppes in nature conservation, there is limited information on the contribution of different habitats to arthropod conservation. We investigated the effects of habitat type and landscape heterogeneity on spider diversity in the forest-steppes, and found that grasslands, forest edges, and forest interiors each had distinct community compositions and species traits. The increasing amount of forests positively affected species richness in grasslands but negatively in forest edges and interiors.
INSECT CONSERVATION AND DIVERSITY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Aino Hamalainen, Lenore Fahrig, Joachim Strengbom, Thomas Ranius
Summary: Habitat loss is a major threat to biodiversity, but the effects of habitat amount on species richness are not well understood. This study examined the effects of local and landscape-scale habitat amount on lichen species density in Swedish boreal forests. The amount of old forests within 5 km of the stands was found to be a better predictor of species density than other proxies of landscape habitat amount.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Nathalie Rodenwald, Laura M. E. Sutcliffe, Christoph Leuschner, Peter Batary
Summary: Agri-environment measures like flower strips are considered fundamental tools to reduce the loss of farmland biodiversity. However, compared to conventional field margins, flower strips have a smaller impact on biocontrol. Therefore, we recommend protecting existing permanent field margins through the EU Common Agricultural Policy as a cost-effective alternative to flower strips for promoting biocontrol services.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Balazs Deak, Adam Bede, Zoltan Radai, Iwona Dembicz, Iva Apostolova, Peter Batary, Robert Galle, Csaba Albert Toth, Jozsef Dozsai, Ivan I. Moysiyenko, Barbara Sudnik-Wojcikowska, Maria Zachwatowicz, Georgi Nekhrizov, Fedor N. Lisetskii, Zhanna A. Buryak, Szabolcs Kis, Sandor Borza, Laura Godo, Tatyana M. Bragina, Ilya Smelansky, Abel Molnar, Miklos Ban, Ferenc Bathori, Zoltan Argay, Janos Dani, Reka Kiss, Orsolya Valko
Summary: Ancient civilizations have shaped global ecosystems through the coevolution of landscapes and humans. However, the cultural legacies of these civilizations are often overlooked in the conservation of the Eurasian steppe biome. This study investigated how ancient burial mounds can contribute to grassland conservation in the Eurasian steppes. The results showed that these burial mounds played a significant role in preserving grasslands, particularly in transformed landscapes outside protected areas. The study suggests that considering cultural values in conservation efforts can lead to positive synergistic effects. Rating: 8/10.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Kayla Attinello, Lenore Fahrig, Adam C. Smith, Scott Wilson
Summary: The practice of space-for-time substitution assumes that the responses of species or communities to land-use change over space represents how they will respond to that same change over time. This study tested this assumption using data from bird surveys and forest change data, and found that while spatial slopes generally predict temporal slopes, there is also high variability in the results.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
David Koranyi, Robert Galle, Attila Torma, Nikolett Galle-Szpisjak, Peter Batary
Summary: Grassland ecosystems are facing significant habitat loss and fragmentation due to agricultural expansion. Grassland arthropods, particularly spiders and true bugs, are sensitive to these changes. This study investigated the impact of fragment size and connectivity on the functional composition and diversity of arthropod communities. The findings demonstrate the importance of small grassland fragments in maintaining high arthropod functional diversity and highlight the potential role of well-connected fragments in promoting ecosystem functioning in human-dominated landscapes.
INSECT CONSERVATION AND DIVERSITY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Penelope C. Fialas, Jeremy S. P. Froidevaux, Gareth Jones, Peter Batary
Summary: The effectiveness of organic farming on biodiversity has been widely documented, but the effects of the transition period on wildlife remain poorly understood. This study found that the transition period to organic farming had detrimental effects on bat activity, and landscape complexity did not moderate these effects. Agricultural policies should consider the transition period and implement measures to mitigate negative impacts on biodiversity.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Maxime Eeraerts, Lisa W. DeVetter, Peter Batary, John J. Ternest, Rachel Mallinger, Matthew Arrington, Faye E. Benjamin, Brett R. Blaauw, Joshua W. Campbell, Pablo Cavigliasso, Jaret C. Daniels, G. Arjen de Groot, James D. Ellis, Jason Gibbs, Lauren Goldstein, George D. Hoffman, David Kleijn, Andony Melathopoulos, Sharron Z. Miller, Ana Montero-Castano, Shiala M. Naranjo, Charlie C. Nicholson, Jacquelyn A. Perkins, Sujaya Rao, Nigel E. Raine, James R. Reilly, Taylor H. Ricketts, Emma Rogers, Rufus Isaacs
Summary: Highbush blueberry production depends on insect pollination, primarily by honeybees and wild bees. Wild bees are more efficient in pollination on a single-visit basis, resulting in a higher relative contribution to pollination. Different management strategies can be adopted based on specific contexts and regions to improve blueberry pollination and yield by utilizing honeybees and wild bees.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Werner Ulrich, Peter Batary, Julia Baudry, Lea Beaumelle, Roman Bucher, Andrea Cerevkova, Enrique G. de la Riva, Maria R. Felipe-Lucia, Robert Galle, Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot, Ewa Rembialkowska, Adrien Rusch, Dara Stanley, Klaus Birkhofer
Summary: There is ample evidence suggesting that species diversity has positive effects on ecosystem functioning and services in both natural and agricultural landscapes. However, the effects of such diversity on human well-being are less clear and have been subject to debate. This is partly due to methodological difficulties in evaluating and quantifying these effects and the lack of precise conceptual frameworks. In this article, a conceptual framework is proposed that links different aspects of diversity to ecosystem functioning, ecosystem services and disservices, and different aspects of well-being. Despite the progress, there are still shortcomings and obstacles in the current approaches and it is important to establish stricter terminology and evaluate each step in the pathways from diversity to well-being. Long-term socio-ecological research platforms are also needed to gather relevant data on ecosystem functioning and well-being.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Cristian Perez-Granados, Gerard Bota, Julia Gomez-Catasus, Magda Pla, Adrian Barrero, Pedro Saez-Gomez, Margarita Reverter, German M. Lopez-Iborra, David Giralt, Daniel Bustillo-de la Rosa, Julia Zurdo, Juan Traba
Summary: The impact of an extreme winter snowstorm on the abundance of Dupont's Lark Chersophilus duponti was evaluated, and it was found that there was a drastic and significant population decline in the next reproductive season following the extreme weather event. The snowstorm, combined with extreme cold weather, may have hindered the bird's ability to find food resources and regulate body temperature, leading to its displacement and increased mortality risk.
BIRD CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL
(2023)