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
Xabier Cabodevilla, Alexander D. Wright, Diego Villanua, Beatriz Arroyo, Elise F. Zipkin
Summary: The study evaluated the impact of irrigation on bird species occurrence patterns in a 100 km(2) area in northern Spain. It found that irrigation had an overall negative impact on the local bird community, with the majority of species decreasing in occurrence rates and only a small fraction increasing. This negative impact was particularly detrimental to farmland birds.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hanoi Medina, Di Tian
Summary: Understanding the contributions of climate and management intensifications to crop yield trends is crucial for adapting to climate changes and ensuring future food security. A study conducted in Iowa, United States, analyzed the synergistic effects of climate and management intensifications on maize yield trends. The research found that climate factors contribute approximately 10% to 31% of the yield trends, with substantial variations across different time periods. Management intensifications can enhance yield gains with increased precipitation but lead to greater losses with increased temperature. Furthermore, it was observed that the sensitivity of yield to warming temperature increases with management intensifications over time.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xabier Cabodevilla, Francois Mougeot, Gerard Bota, Santi Manosa, Francesc Cusco, Julen Martinez-Garcia, Beatriz Arroyo, Maria J. Madeira
Summary: This study used a metabarcoding approach to analyze the diet composition of six significant farmland birds in European cereal pseudo-steppes, revealing that they mainly consume plants with some species also consuming arthropods. The study highlights the importance of natural and semi-natural vegetation in providing a diverse food source for these declining species throughout the year.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Xueqing He, Peter Batary, Yi Zou, Wenwu Zhou, Guanghua Wang, Zhanyu Liu, Yaoyu Bai, Shanxing Gong, Zengrong Zhu, Josef Settele, Zhongxue Zhang, Zhijuan Qi, Zhaopu Peng, Mingyong Ma, Jin Lv, Haiyan Cen, Thomas Cherico Wanger
Summary: This study evaluates the effects of agricultural diversification on global rice production and finds that it can maintain soil fertility, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and yield. The research also shows that agricultural diversification can increase biodiversity by 40%, improve economy by 26%, and reduce crop damage by 31%.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Javier Rivas-Salvador, Martin Strobl, Tomas Kadlec, Pavel Saska, Jiri Reif
Summary: Agricultural intensification poses a serious threat to European biodiversity, and improving farmland habitat suitability is crucial for mitigating this threat. The invasive black locust negatively impacts bird species richness in mid-field woodlots in Central European farmland, particularly affecting habitat specialists and habitat generalists.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Martin Salek, Martin Mayer
Summary: The modernization of farmsteads has negatively impacted farmland bird populations by reducing nesting and foraging opportunities. It is recommended to include compensatory measures during farmstead construction/modernization, increase awareness among stakeholders, and support small traditional farms.
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
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Vicente Garcia-Navas, Carlos Martinez-Nunez, Ruben Tarifa, Antonio J. Manzaneda, Francisco Valera, Teresa Salido, Francisco M. Camacho, Jorge Isla, Pedro J. Rey
Summary: This study examined the effects of landscape complexity and intensive management practices on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of animal communities inhabiting olive groves. The results showed that landscape complexity increased ant functional diversity, while intensive management practices led to increased functional diversity in bird communities.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Tanja Sumrada, Primoz Kmecl, Emil Erjavec
Summary: The paper explores the impact of landscape characteristics, production intensity, and EU agricultural policy interventions on farmland bird diversity in Slovenia. The study found that farmland bird diversity is highest in open, diversely cropped landscapes with low to moderate management intensity in Natura 2000 sites with low average payment amounts.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Gerardo Jimenez-Navarro, Javier Rodriguez-Perez, Nereida Melguizo-Ruiz, Bruno Silva, Sasha Vasconcelos, Pedro Beja, Francisco Moreira, Rui Morgado, Silvia Barreiro, Jose M. Herrera
Summary: Assessing the impact of agricultural intensification on species and communities is crucial for biodiversity conservation. This study investigated the seasonal effects of olive grove intensification on birds and bats at both local and landscape scales. The findings showed that olive grove intensification had a negative impact on the abundance of the majority of species analyzed, especially birds, and the effect varied across seasons.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Jerome Moreau, Juliette Rabdeau, Isabelle Badenhausser, Mathieu Giraudeau, Tuul Sepp, Malaury Crepin, Agathe Gaffard, Vincent Bretagnolle, Karine Monceau
Summary: This article reviews the effects of pesticides on bird physiology, behavior, and life-history traits, highlighting the gaps in current research. The study emphasizes that most research has focused on controlled laboratory conditions and has ignored species differences in sensitivity as well as the multiple exposure pathways in natural environments, which have significant consequences for bird populations and communities.
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Jeremy Hemberger, Michael S. Crossley, Claudio Gratton
Summary: Agricultural intensification may lead to declines in bumble bee species, while high crop diversity is beneficial for insect conservation. Increasing on-farm and landscape-level crop diversity is predicted to have positive effects on bumble bees, even in agriculturally dominated areas.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Axel Hausmann, Werner Ulrich, Andreas H. Segerer, Thomas Greifenstein, Johannes Knubben, Jerome Moriniere, Vedran Bozicevic, Dieter Doczkal, Armin Guenter, Jorg Mueller, Jan Christian Habel
Summary: This study analyzes insect diversity and biomass in agricultural environments and identifies temporal dynamics. The recently converted farmland exhibits the highest insect diversity and biomass. There is no significant difference in insect diversity between organic and conventional farmland. The number of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) decreases with increasing distance from the nearest forest fringe. A comprehensive assessment of biodiversity in a specific region should consider both insect species richness and biomass over time.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nishan Bhattarai, Adrienne Pollack, David B. Lobell, Ram Fishman, Balwinder Singh, Aaditya Dar, Meha Jain
Summary: India relies on groundwater irrigation to produce staple grain crops, but overexploitation of aquifers has negative impacts on crop production, especially for wheat, rice, and maize in the winter season. Eliminating energy subsidies for groundwater pumping may not change farmers' crop choice, but could encourage the adoption of increased water conservation efforts.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
V Pellissier, R. Schmucki, G. Pe'er, A. Aunins, T. M. Brereton, L. Brotons, J. Carnicer, T. Chodkiewicz, P. Chylarecki, J. C. Del Moral, V Escandell, D. Evans, R. Foppen, A. Harpke, J. Heliola, S. Herrando, M. Kuussaari, E. Kuhn, A. Lehikoinen, A. Lindstrom, C. M. Moshoj, M. Musche, D. Noble, T. H. Oliver, J. Reif, D. Richard, D. B. Roy, O. Schweiger, J. Settele, C. Stefanescu, N. Teufelbauer, J. Touroult, S. Trautmann, A. J. van Strien, C. A. M. van Swaay, C. van Turnhout, Z. Vermouzek, P. Vorisek, F. Jiguet, R. Julliard
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Javier Rivas-Salvador, Martin Strobl, Tomas Kadlec, Pavel Saska, Jiri Reif
Summary: Agricultural intensification poses a serious threat to European biodiversity, and improving farmland habitat suitability is crucial for mitigating this threat. The invasive black locust negatively impacts bird species richness in mid-field woodlots in Central European farmland, particularly affecting habitat specialists and habitat generalists.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jaroslav Kolecek, Jiri Reif, Miroslav Salek, Jan Hanzelka, Camille Sottas, Vojtech Kubelka
Summary: The majority of shorebird species globally are experiencing population declines, with migratory shorebirds showing greater decreases, and species breeding at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere experiencing more frequent declines.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Vojtech Brlik, Eva Silarova, Jana Skorpilova, Hany Alonso, Marc Anton, Ainars Aunins, Zoltan Benkoe, Gilles Biver, Malte Busch, Tomasz Chodkiewicz, Przemyslaw Chylarecki, Dick Coombes, Elisabetta de Carli, Juan C. del Moral, Antoine Derouaux, Virginia Escandell, Daniel P. Eskildsen, Benoit Fontaine, Ruud P. B. Foppen, Anna Gamero, Richard D. Gregory, Sarah Harris, Sergi Herrando, Iordan Hristov, Magne Husby, Christina Ieronymidou, Frederic Jiquet, John A. Kalas, Johannes Kamp, Primoz Kmecl, Petras Kurlavicius, Aleksi Lehikoinen, Lesley Lewis, Ake Lindstroem, Aris Manolopoulos, David Marti, Dario Massimino, Charlotte Moshoj, Renno Nellis, David Noble, Alain Paquet, Jean-Yves Paquet, Danae Portolou, Ivan Ramirez, Cindy Redel, Jiri Reif, Jozef Ridzon, Hans Schmid, Benjamin Seaman, Laura Silva, Leo Soldaat, Svetoslav Spasov, Anna Staneva, Tibor Szep, Guido Tellini Florenzano, Norbert Teufelbauer, Sven Trautmann, Tom van der Meij, Arco van Strien, Chris van Turnhout, Glenn Vermeersch, Zdenek Vermouzek, Thomas Vikstrom, Petr Vorisek, Anne Weiserbs, Alena Klvanova
Summary: Around fifteen thousand fieldworkers annually count breeding birds using standardized protocols in 28 European countries. The observations are collected, validated, summarized and used for continent-wide annual and long-term indices of population size changes of 170 species. This unique database alongside detailed summary of methodology facilitates further use in research, conservation and policy.
Article
Ornithology
Emilia Grzedzicka, Jiri Reif
Summary: The research revealed that the invasive Sosnowsky's Hogweed negatively impacted the abundance of birds from different feeding guilds, with different feeding guilds exhibiting varied responses to the invasive plant at different developmental stages.
JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Jiri Reif, Zdenek Vermouzek, Petr Vorisek, Dusan Romportl, Federico Morelli
Summary: Variation in bird community composition across habitats can be seen through changes in species' ecological characteristics. Although habitat type explains a relatively low proportion of variability in these characteristics, there are significant differences in ecological characteristics between broad habitat categories and within specific habitat types. Factors such as habitat-specific selection pressures, biogeographic constraints, and human-induced habitat changes can drive these patterns.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Martin Salek, Karolina Kalinova, Jiri Reif
Summary: The study explores the conservation potential of semi-natural habitats for farmland birds and finds that both open scrubland and farmland hedges have large potential for bird conservation. However, the type and area of habitats have different impacts on species richness and abundance of birds.
JOURNAL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
David Horak, Javier Rivas-Salvador, Jan Farkac, Jiri Reif
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between bird traits and population densities in both geographical and ecological spaces. The researchers found that habitat specialization has no effect on avian density in geographical space, but is positively correlated in ecological space. Additionally, birds with arboreal and hole-nesting strategies have higher densities in both geographical and ecological spaces.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ornithology
Camille Sottas, Jiri Reif, Lubomir Pialek, Manon Poignet, Pavel Kverek, Pawel T. Dolata, Radka Reifova
Summary: Understanding reproductive isolation is important for evolutionary biology. Studying patterns of interspecific hybridization in hybrid zones can provide insight into this process. In this study, patterns of hybridization were examined in two closely related passerine species, the common nightingale and the thrush nightingale, revealing strong, yet incomplete, reproductive isolation between the species. The results suggest that nightingales are a useful model system for studying speciation with ongoing gene flow after secondary contact.
JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
David Storch, Jaroslav Kolecek, Petr Keil, Zdenek Vermouzek, Petr Vorisek, Jiri Reif
Summary: This study reveals that reducing the population change trajectory of bird populations to a linear trend may obscure the complex responses of bird populations to changing human activities. By using multivariate analysis, the study decomposes bird population dynamics into different driving factors and finds that climate change and species traits are crucial drivers of complex population dynamics of central European birds.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Adriana Holoskova, Tomas Kadlec, Jiri Reif
Summary: This study evaluates the invertebrate food availability and vegetation structure of three widespread crops (wheat, maize, and rapeseed) during their breeding. The research found that wheat, although it had the most suitable vegetation structure for birds, had limited food supply due to frequent insecticide treatment. Maize and rapeseed provided higher invertebrate abundance and biomass, but their stands created unsuitable vegetation structures for farmland birds. Conservation measures should include reducing field size and insecticide application to improve the food supply and vegetation structure.
Article
Ecology
Vaclav Bystricky, Lenka Dvorakova, Jiri Reif
Summary: Ecological succession results in a sequence of habitat types after disturbance, with different species communities associated with each type. The conservation status of these communities informs about environmental pressures on the habitats. We focused on birds and compared their conservation status across different habitat types in Central Europe.
Article
Ornithology
Jiri Reif, Zdenek Vermouzek, Petr Vorisek, Dusan Romportl, Javier Rivas-Salvador, Federico Morelli
Summary: Forest and urban habitats in Czechia have the highest bird species richness, while cropland has the lowest. Grassland and other open habitats have higher species richness, although fewer than forests, and are similar to wetland.