Farmland Biodiversity

1 Farmland biodiversity has declined over the past few decades. European Common Agricultural Policy encourages farmers to set up agri-environment schemes (AES) that support biodiversity and associated ecosystem services such as pollination. Although few AES are specifically devoted to pollinating insects, many AES could provide resources for pollinators. In Belgium, AES designed to provide seed resources for wild birds (bird-strip AES) contain mixed-plant communities that may benefit insects, although their ability to support pollinators has not yet been evaluated. 2 The present study aimed to assess the ability of bird-strip AES to support pollinating insects. We identified and quantified floral resources, flower-visiting insects and insect–flower interaction networks over 2 years on four bird strips located in intensive agro-ecosystems in Belgium. 3 The bird strips contained plant species that were either purposely sown or established spontaneously. The spontaneous Cirsium species, with its high nectar production, offered floral resources that complemented those of the sown species Raphanus sativus and Phacelia tanacetifolia. Most of the flower-visiting insects considered as pollinators belonged to the orders Hymenoptera and Diptera. 4 In conclusion, bird-strip AES provided floral resources to pollinators, even in the absence of annual sowing.

This study examined bird and butterfly diversity in agricultural land and woodland in Irish lowland landscapes in Co. Laois and Co. Kildare. Similar studies have been conducted in Britain and other European countries but it was believed that the situation might have been different in Ireland due to the island status, the physical environment and history of landuse of the country, which have resulted in impoverished bird and butterfly faunas.

In the breeding season, bird species richness and abundances were significantly different between the habitats studied: broadleaf forest, coniferous forest, pasture, set-aside and tillage. However, in winter this was not the case. The habitats differed in the bird species assemblages they contained both in summer and winter. Farmland habitats contributed more unique species to the total bird diversity, which probably reflects the lack of woodland specialists in Ireland.

Farmland and woodland habitats did not differ significantly in terms of butterfly species diversity and abundance. However, this may have been due to the low numbers recorded. Individual species showed preference for different aspects of local habitat and vegetation structure including the presence of larval foodplants. The numbers of butterflies and species recorded were higher from transects placed along hedgerows compared to those in the middle of fields in the same farmland site.

In lowland farmland in Ireland, bird species diversity in the breeding season was greater in set-aside compared to neighbouring farmland. The type of management of set-aside was important and determined which species were likely to be found using the set-aside field. The majority of field interior species including skylark, meadow pipit, pheasant and snipe showed a preference for non-rotational set-aside over rotational set-aside and the other management types.

Landscape structure was also shown to be important for bird and butterfly diversity in lowland Ireland. In the breeding season, area of forest had a negative influence on bird diversity while large unfragmented areas of grassland had positive effects. The presence of areas of grassland and mature mixed forest in the landscape were more important for birds in winter. Butterfly diversity in the landscape was influenced by heterogeneity of habitat patches with grassland and forest patches having positive effects. Large areas of arable land and coniferous forest had negative effects on butterfly diversity.

The types of habitats present in the landscape and how they are managed, along with the structure of the landscape, determine species diversity of birds and butterflies in lowland Irish landscapes.

Non-forest woody vegetation represents an important component of green infrastructure in the agricultural landscape, where natural and semi-natural forest cover has only a low land use proportion. This paper focuses on linear woody vegetation structures along roads in the agricultural landscape and analyses them in three study areas in the Nitra Region, Slovakia. We evaluate species composition and diversity , species occurrence frequency or spatial distribution, their structure according to relatively achievable age and origin. For the evaluation of occurrence frequency, a Frequency Factor was proposed and applied. This factor allows a better comparison of different study areas and results in more representative findings. The study areas were divided into sectors based on visual landscape features, which are easily identifiable in the field, such as intersections and curves in roads, and intersections of roads with other features, such as cadastral or land boundaries, watercourses, etc. Based on the species abundance, woody plants present within the sectors were categorised into 1) predominant, 2) complementary and 3) mixed-in species; and with regard to their origin into 1) autochthonous and 2) allochthonous. Further, trees were categorised into 1) long-lived, 2) medium-lived and 3) short-lived tree species. The main finding is that among trees, mainly allochthonous species dominated. Robinia pseudoacacia L. was the predominant tree species in all three study areas. It was up to 4 times more frequent than other predominant tree species. Introduced tree species prevailed also among complementary and mixed-in species. Among shrubs, mainly native species dominated, while non-native species had a significantly lower proportion and spatial distribution. Based on these findings, several measures have been proposed to improve the overall ecological stability, the proportion and spatial distribution of native woody plant species. The recommendations and measures aim at enhancement of native species biodiversity , landscape identity and character, in order to meet the main landscape and biodiversity challenges identified in key biodiversity and landscape policies of Europe.

Ce guide s’adresse avant tout aux producteurs agricoles soucieux de préserver la diversité biologique et les bienfaits qu’elle procure aux cultures. Les propriétaires terriens, les personnes qui cultivent un petit potager et tous ceux qui s’intéressent aux chauves souris y trouveront des informations leur permettant de s’investir pour leur conservation. L’objectif de ce guide est de proposer des aménagements qui soient à la fois bénéfiques pour les exploitants
agricoles et nécessaires au maintien des habitats d’alimentation et de repos des chauves-souris en milieu agricole. Énormément d’insectes consommés chaque nuit par les chauves-souris sont des ravageurs de cultures et des pestes pour l’industrie forestière. Favoriser leur présence pourrait donc s’avérer payant pour les exploitants agricoles et les propriétaires terriens désireux de privilégier des moyens de contrôle biologique contre les ennemis des cultures. La publication de ce document répond à deux besoins principaux : la mise en valeur et la préservation d’espèces désignées menacées ou vulnérables au Québec et le maintien de la biodiversité en milieu agricole.

Purpose Inclusion of biodiversity as an indicator in the land use impact pathway of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is essential to assess the effects of human activities on the environment. Numerous models have been applied, but validations that use actual data, collected in the field, are scarce. Methods The expert system SALCA-BD (Swiss Agricultural LCA—Biodiversity), assigns coefficients for land use class suitability and impact of agricultural practices on species diversity at field and farm scale. We used data on land use classes and agricultural practices from 132 farms located in eight European regions to complete the life cycle inventory. SALCA-BD species diversity scores were calculated for individual fields, aggregated to the farm scale, and compared to field records of arable crop flora, grassland flora, spiders, and wild bees. Results and discussion Overall, species diversity scores from SALCA-BD were positively related to the observed species richness from field survey data. The extent of the relationship diminished from arable crop flora and grassland flora to spiders and to wild bees, and from field to farm scale. Conclusions Validation of a LCA biodiversity assessment tool with data from field surveys revealed the benefit of considering multiple aspects of biodiversity. The appropriate scale for species diversity assessment (as a proxy for biodiversity) is the respective species habitat. Extension of scale increases uncertainty, which should be addressed by developing characterization factors for as detailed a land use classification as possible.

Birds nesting in a farmland mosaic of central Italy: Macchiatonda Nature Reserve (Lazio). The territories of breeding birds in Macchiatonda Nature Reserve were censused by mapping
method in spring 2013. On the whole 38 breeding species were observed. Emberiza calandra (1,68 cp/10 ha) and Cisticola juncidis (1,39 cp/10 ha) were the most abundant. Other 13 species were breeding near the reserve, using the area for feeding. The agricultural areas hosted most of species of conservation concern.

Both science and policy require a practical, transmissible, and reproducible procedure for surveillance and monitoring of European habitats, which can produce statistics integrated at the landscape level. Over the last 30 years, landscape ecology has developed rapidly, and many studies now require spatial data on habitats. Without rigorous rules, changes from baseline records cannot be separated reliably from background noise. A procedure is described that satisfies these requirements and can provide consistent data for Europe, to support a range of policy initiatives and scientific projects. The methodology is based on classical plant life forms, used in biogeography since the nineteenth century, and on their statistical correlation with the primary environmental gradient. Further categories can therefore be identified for other continents to assist large scale comparisons and modelling. The model has been validated statistically and the recording procedure tested in the field throughout Europe. A total of 130 General Habitat Categories (GHCs) is defined. These are enhanced by recording environmental, site and management qualifiers to enable flexible database interrogation. The same categories are applied to areal, linear and point features to assist recording and subsequent interpretation at the landscape level. The distribution and change of landscape ecological parameters, such as connectivity and fragmentation, can then be derived and their significance interpreted.

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provision-ing of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimise floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensifica-tion of agriculture in the future.

Conservation-oriented land practices have long been a strategy for mediating the environmental issues resulting from conventional agriculture. However, there is limited economic support and incentive for landowners to transition the sensitive marginal lands that need mitigation the most. To improve this approach, information tools built out of landowner preferences may help facilitate successful long-term adoption of diverse systems that achieve production and conservation goals, such as Multifunctional Perennial Cropping Systems (MPCs). Previous work has recognized MPCs to have the potential for providing both ecosystem services and perennial crops such as fruits, nuts, and grasses on land that landowners would otherwise consider marginal. To prioritize efforts for implementation of MPCs and provide tailored information to landowners, this study introduces a suitability model that identifies marginal land based on soil erosion, crop productivity, and other land traits that are important to landowners. Information provided by this tool can inform land management decisions. The land traits were spatially analyzed using a geographic information system (GIS) and parameterized to encode the magnitude of each variable's effect on MPCs suitability. Applied in the Upper Sangamon River watershed, central Illinois, we identified 18,685 ha of highly suitable cropland for MPCs. An 8.5 m spatial resolution allowed identification of subfield suitability areas, in addition to locating target regions of extensive occurrences of high suitability. The distribution of target areas was often located where crop productivity was low and topographic potential for erosion was high. For 26,743 ha of cropland, potential erosion was estimated to be greater than the soil loss standard, particularly in the northeastern section of the watershed where there was higher relief and peri-urban or riparian areas surrounding cropland. In a scenario in which landowners would implement MPCs on identified target regions, simulated soil erosion was reduced by 56% across the watershed. The model provides a simple and effective management tool for identifying priority areas for MPCs implementation, giving landowners and researchers actionable information to improve upon conservation strategies for marginal cropland.

The COMPUTATIONAL ECOLOGY AND SOFTWARE (ISSN 2220-721X) is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that considers scientific articles in all different areas of computational ecology. It is the transactions of the International Society of Computational Ecology. The journal is concerned with the ecological researches, constructions and applications of theories and methods of computational sciences including computational mathematics, computational statistics and computer science. It features the simulation, approximation, prediction, recognition, and classification of ecological issues. Intensive computation is one of the major stresses of the journal. The journal welcomes research articles, short communications, review articles, perspectives, and book reviews. The journal also supports the activities of the International Society of Computational Ecology.

The topics to be covered by CES include, but are not limited to:

•Computation intensive methods, numerical and optimization methods, differential and difference equation modeling and simulation, prediction, recognition, classification, statistical computation (Bayesian computing, randomization, bootstrapping, Monte Carlo techniques, stochastic process, etc.), agent-based modeling, individual-based modeling, artificial neural networks, knowledge based systems, machine learning, genetic algorithms, data exploration, network analysis and computation, databases, ecological modeling and computation using Geographical Information Systems, satellite imagery, and other computation intensive theories and methods.
•Artificial ecosystems, artificial life, complexity of ecosystems and virtual reality.
•The development, evaluation and validation of software and algorithms for computational ecology. The development and evaluation of apparatus, instruments and machines for ecological and environmental analysis, investigation and monitoring based on the software of computational ecology.
•Methodological applications of computational ecology in the researches of ecology and environmental sciences.

Authors can submit their works to the email box of this journal, [email protected]. All manuscripts submitted to this journal must be previously unpublished and may not be considered for publication elsewhere at any time during review period of this journal. Authors are asked to read Author Guidelines before submitting manuscripts.

In addition to free submissions from authors around the world, special issues are also accepted. The organizer of a special issue can collect submissions (yielded from a research project, a research group, etc.) on a specific research topic, or submissions of a scientific conference for publication of special issue.

Computational Ecology and Software 
ISSN 2220-721X
URL: http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/ces/online-version.asp
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Editor-in-Chief: WenJun Zhang

Background Agriculture and agricultural intensification can have significant negative impacts on the environment, including nutrient and pesticide leaching, spreading of pathogens, soil erosion and reduction of ecosystem services provided by terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. The establishment and management of vegetated strips adjacent to farmed fields (including various field margins, buffer strips and hedgerows) are key mitigation measures for these negative environmental impacts and environmental managers and other stakeholders must often make decisions about how best to design and implement vegetated strips for a variety of different outcomes. However, it may be difficult to obtain relevant, accurate and summarised information on the effects of implementation and management of vegetated strips, even though a vast body of evidence exists on multipurpose vegetated strip interventions within and around fields. To improve the situation, we describe a method for assembling a data...

This study analyses the differences in bird species richness in Latvian farmland between regions with different landscape structure, habitat composition and farming intensity. As well as analysing changes in species richness and abundance of common birds in Latvian farmland during the last ten years. Bird counts were performed twice annually each season since 1995 in 160 permanent count points, located in four study areas representing different regions, landscapes and agricultural practices. Two more study areas, with additional 80 count points were established in 2003 to ensure better spatial coverage and to cover landscapes that were previously underrepresented. Habitats and landscape characteristics within a radius of 200m around each bird count point were described annually while general landscape measures were obtained from CORINE Landcover GIS layers. Species richness (number of species recorded per point) differed significantly between the regions, as did landscape structure, farming intensity and the dominating habitat types. Although species richness in Latvian farmland increased during the last 10 years, there were regional differences. The most pronounced increase in species richness was observed in the study area with the lowest farming intensity and abandonment of crop fields, while the most intensive study area with increasing area of arable lands experienced a decline in species richness. Trends and indices of the 34 most frequently recorded species show that there is a general tendency of increase for most of the shrub and forest generalist species due to overgrowing of farmland with bushes. Among farmland specialist species only those associated with abandoned lands increased while those associated with meadows and wetlands declined.

The Central Valley of California is a broad basin between two mountain ranges that captures dust in the fall, fog in the winter, pollen in the spring and chemicals in the summer heat. This environment has been identified as a catch basin for smog and air pollution. Speech-language pathologists practicing in the Central Valley are confronted with complications of allergy and irritation that may impair progress of recovery for their patients. Indigenous farmworkers are a specific population with a higher exposure to damaging particulate matter than any other employed in the region. These indigenous Mexican farmworkers use seven main native language dialects of the Spanish language with at least 23 dialects which have been recorded across the culture (State population data regarding Japanese, Hispanic, Hmong and other cultures revealed more dense populations in the agricultural zones. It is proposed that the diagnoses of vocal function referrals located from within this environment be differentiated and classified so that they may be compared to the air quality scales in the geographic regions represented by medical professional respondents from the Central California's San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD). According to the National Center for Farmworker Health (NCFH, 2011), these hometown networks, the highest concentration is in the Central Valley, and according to California Rural Legal Assistance these workers are the least apt to be counted in a census or to apply for healthcare assistance because of the fear of deportation (Simas, J., 2010).

Field boundaries are important habitats for birds within the agricultural landscape. In this study, bird surveys were carried out during the winter and breeding season on nine farms in the east and south-east of Ireland and field boundaries at each site were assessed using the Field Boundary Evaluation and Grading System (FBEGS). Poisson regression demonstrated that FBEGS scores were a good predictor of both winter and breeding bird species richness and diversity within the field boundaries studied. We interpret these preliminary results with caution since our sample size was relatively small (compared to the wide variety of field boundary types found in Ireland) and no single combination of field boundary attributes is likely to be optimum for all bird species. However, our results suggest that FBEGS may be a useful surrogate indicator of overall field boundary bird diversity and we discuss the consequent implications for agri-environmental policy, and for the possible adaptation a...

Abstract: The ecosphere was modeled in a fashion consistent with quantum atomic models utilizing data from vegetative sinusiae of a degraded riparian ecosystem. Analyses revealed the variables community structure, alpha diversity and cohesion behaved in a manner whereby the individual state of each could not be fully understood absent their interactions with one another. A highly discrete unification between efficacy and diversity, modulated by the force of cohesion, was reminiscent of the property of quantum entanglement in atomic theory. The ecosystem was found to exist in all potential microhabitat states simultaneously, apparently a consequence of “orbital decay” and community decoupling induced by changes in hydrology and geomorphology, and overgrazing by livestock. These quantum relationships also revealed an understanding of vegetative structure enabling identification of quantum-dependent and -independent processes of bio-invasion. Vegetative structure was applied as an indirect means to assess geomorphic/ hydrologic attributes of the watershed. Rating systems were developed to assess community structure and bio-invasion. These rating systems allowed for prescription of microhabitat-targeted geomorphic/ hydrologic v. horticultural restoration strategies. The Vegetative Complex Health Index was derived from these ratings in conjunction with Fisher’s alpha. The approaches yielded a quantitative, objective and sensitive composite index by which to assess the health and recovery of riparian ecosystems. These proofs of concepts provide additional support of The Theory of Quantum Microbiogeography.

Field boundaries are important habitats for birds within the agricultural landscape. In this study, bird sur- veys were carried out during the winter and breeding season on nine farms in the east and south-east of Ireland and field boundaries at each site were assessed using the Field Boundary Evaluation and Grading System (FBEGS). Poisson regression demonstrated that FBEGS scores were a good predictor of both win- ter and breeding bird species richness and diversity within the field boundaries studied. We interpret these preliminary results with caution since our sample size was relatively small (compared to the wide variety of field boundary types found in Ireland) and no single combination of field boundary attributes is likely to be optimum for all bird species. However, our results suggest that FBEGS may be a useful surrogate indicator of overall field boundary bird diversity and we discuss the consequent implications for agri-envi- ronmental policy, and for the possible adaptation and use of FBEGS as a tool to monitor the impact of changing farm management practice.

BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research.

Bird counts were performed annually twice per season since 1995 in 160 permanent count points located in 4 study areas representing different regions, landscapes and agricultural practices. Two more study areas with additional 80 count points were established in 2003 to ensure better spatial coverage and to cover landscapes that were underrepresented before. Habitats and landscape elements of a circular zone with a radius of 200m around the bird count points were annually described while general landscape metrics were obtained from CORINE Landcover GIS layers. Species richness (measured as a number of species recorded per point) differed significantly between the regions, as did the landscape structure, farming intensity and the dominating habitat types. Although species richness in Latvian farmland increased during the last 10 years, the regional differences were present. The most pronounced increase in species richness was observed in the study area with the lowest farming intensi...

The abandonment of traditional livestock farming systems in Mediterranean countries is triggering a large-scale habitat transformation, which, in general, consists of the replacement of open grazing areas by woodlands through non-managed regen-eration. As a consequence, wild ungulates are occupying rapidly the empty niche left by domestic ungulates. Both types of ungulates represent the main trophic resource for large vertebrate scavengers. However, a comparison of how vertebrate scavengers consume ungulate carcasses in different habitats with different ungulate species composition is lacking. This knowledge is essential to forecast the possible consequences of the current farmland abandonment on scavenger species. Here, we compared the scavenging patterns of 24 wild and 24 domestic ungulate carcasses in a mountainous region of southern Spain monitored through camera trapping. Our results show that carcasses of domestic ungulates, which concentrate in large numbers in open pasturelands, were detected and consumed earlier than those of wild ungulate carcasses, which frequently occur in much lower densities at more heterogenous habitats such as shrublands and forest. Richness and abundance of scavengers were also higher at domestic ungulate carcasses in open habitats. Vultures, mainly griffons (Gyps fulvus), consumed most of the carcasses, although mammalian facultative scavengers, mainly wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes), also contributed importantly to the consumption of wild ungulate carcasses in areas with higher vegetation cover. Our findings evidence that the abandonment of traditional grazing may entail consequences for the scavenger community, which should be considered by ecologists and wildlife managers.

Road construction creates new habitats for a variety of species. In intensive farming landscapes, road verges may be the only suitable habitat for rodents. However, little attention has been paid to other road-related landscape elements (RRLEs), such as excavation slopes or the central islands of roundabouts, and their importance in a rodent territory. This study investigated all types of RRLE in terms of rodent abundances and habitat quality. RRLEs were compared with the semi-natural elements of the studied landscape using a capture-mark-recapture protocol. Four species and 3,154 individuals were captured over a period of four months. Relative abundance and habitat quality were higher in RRLEs than in semi-natural elements. Mapping of the landscape showed that 86% of crop fields are accessible to Microtus arvalis (and almost 100% for Apodemus sylvaticus) from road verges. Our results highlight the importance of road verges and all other RRLEs in the conservation of species diversity in intensive farming landscapes.

1. Bee populations and other pollinators face multiple, synergistically acting threats, which have led to popula- tion declines, loss of local species richness and pollination services, and extinctions. However, our understanding of the degree, distribution and causes of declines is patchy, in part due to inadequate monitoring systems, with the challenge of taxonomic identification posing a major logistical barrier. Pollinator conservation would benefit from a high-throughput identification pipeline.

2. We show that the metagenomic mining and resequencing of mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomics) can be applied successfully to bulk samples of wild bees. We assembled the mitogenomes of 48 UK bee species and then shotgun-sequenced total DNA extracted from 204 whole bees that had been collected in 10 pan-trap samples from farms in England and been identified morphologically to 33 species. Each sample data set was mapped against the 48 reference mitogenomes.

3. The morphological and mitogenomic data sets were highly congruent. Out of 63 total species detections in the morphological data set, the mitogenomic data set made 59 correct detections (937% detection rate) and detected six more species (putative false positives). Direct inspection and an analysis with species-specific primers sug- gested that these putative false positives were most likely due to incorrect morphological IDs. Read frequency significantly predicted species biomass frequency (R2 = 249%). Species lists, biomass frequencies, extrapolated species richness and community structure were recovered with less error than in a metabarcoding pipeline.

4. Mitogenomics automates the onerous task of taxonomic identification, even for cryptic species, allowing the tracking of changes in species richness and distributions. A mitogenomic pipeline should thus be able to contain costs, maintain consistently high-quality data over long time series, incorporate retrospective taxonomic revi- sions and provide an auditable evidence trail. Mitogenomic data sets also provide estimates of species counts within samples and thus have potential for tracking population trajectories.

Farmland birds have suffered a severe decline in recent years throughout Europe including Ireland. Agricultural intensification is believed to be the main cause and this has led to the introduction of agri-environmental schemes, of which set-aside is a part. Bird abundance and diversity were compared between set-aside and adjacent tillage or grassland at 18 locations. The set-aside sites were also assigned to one of four management types: rotational set-aside, non-rotational set-aside, first year set-aside that was productive grassland in the previous year, and long-term set-aside that was grazed by animals in winter. Species diversity and the abundances of skylark, meadow pipit and woodpigeon were significantly greater in set-aside sites. Species diversity was not significantly different between set-aside management types and meadow pipit, skylark, pheasant, house sparrow, magpie, snipe and starling were closely associated with non-rotational set-aside, which also contained significantly larger numbers of these species compared to the other set-aside types. This study shows that set-aside does enhance bird diversity and abundance and that, in Ireland, the most effective form of set-aside is non-rotational. It also shows that the most appropriate form of set-aside will vary from situation to situation and that a one size fits all view should not be taken in the development of agri-environmental schemes.

Additional file 1. Update of the technical report â Agronomic and environmental aspects of the cultivation of genetically modified herbicide-resistant plantsâ , BfN-Skripten 362. https://www.bfn.de/fileadmin/MDB/documents/service/skript362.pdf .

Additional file 1. Update of the technical report â Agronomic and environmental aspects of the cultivation of genetically modified herbicide-resistant plantsâ , BfN-Skripten 362. https://www.bfn.de/fileadmin/MDB/documents/service/skript362.pdf .

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Public Domain

1. Agricultural intensification has contributed to severe declines in odonate (dragonfly and damselfly) populations. The objective of our study is to benefit current measures for the conservation of odonates by establishing the conditions favourable to Odonata and focusing on ponds within agricultural land. 2. Our landscape-scale study used exuvial counts and habitat measurements from 29 ponds across a catchment in England, over 3 years, to determine key factors affecting odonate abundance and species richness. 3. Ponds dominated by floating and submerged vegetation were the most transparent, supported the highest abundance and species richness of exuviae, and were always fully or partially surrounded by buffer strips. Ponds lacking vegetation were turbid, yielding no exuviae even if they were buffered. English agri-environment schemes (AES) currently support pond and buffer strip creation and management. 4. Abundance of exuviae was higher in recently created ponds compared to older ponds, whereas ponds that had dried out the previous summer had fewer exuviae. 5. Species richness of exuviae decreased with increasing distance to the nearest viable pond, falling by more than 40% for distances over 100 m. 6. We conclude that odonate conservation would be more effective if AES would consider the spatial scale at which ponds are created and the location, type, and quality of ponds targeted for buffer strips.

espanolEste estudio analiza las diferencias de riqueza de especies de aves en zonas agricolas de Letonia con diferente estructura del paisaje, composicion de habitats e intensidad de explotacion, asi como los cambios en la riqueza de especies y abundancia de aves comunes en zonas agricolas de Letonia durante los ultimos diez anos. Los conteos de aves se realizaron dos veces por temporada desde 1995 en 160 puntos de conteo permanentes situados en cuatro areas de estudio que representan diferentes regiones, paisajes y practicas agricolas. Se establecieron dos areas de estudio con otros 80 puntos de conteo en 2003 para garantizar una mejor cobertura espacial y para cubrir los paisajes que antes estaban insuficientemente representados. Se analizaron tambien los tipos de habitats y elementos del paisaje en una zona circular con un radio de 200 metros alrededor del punto de conteo mientras que las variables de paisaje general se obtuvieron a partir de capas de SIG con CORINE Landcover. La...

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Public Domain

Both science and policy require a practical, transmissible, and reproducible procedure for surveillance and monitoring of European habitats, which can produce statistics integrated at the landscape level. Over the last 30 years, landscape ecology has developed rapidly, and many studies now

Since Latvia joined the EU in 2004, the amount of funds allocated to the agricultural sector has increased substantially. The different measures included in the national Rural Development Plan serve as driving forces causing a rapid change in agricultural land use and farming practices. We used data from the Latvian Farmland bird monitoring scheme to describe the ongoing changes on Latvian farmland. We compared population trends of 54 individual species and species groups as well as species richness, diversity and total bird abundance between the periods 1995–2003 (period 1) and 2003–2006 (period 2). Pairwise comparisons of the trends of all the analysed species between the two periods showed that trends in period 2 were lower than in period 1 and this difference was significant. Splitting the species into six ecological groups, the pattern was consistent in all groups. However the differences were significant only in the “ShrubEdge” and “Forest” groups and near significant in the “...

This study tested whether increasing crop genetic diversity benefited farmland biodiversity in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) fields, using an experimental approach in which arthropod and wild plant diversity were compared in a genetically homogeneous wheat variety vs. a variety mixture. The diversity of wild plant species was not affected by crop genetic diversity. However, we showed for the first time a positive impact of crop genetic diversity on below (collembola) and aboveground arthropod (spiders and predatory carabids) diversity at field scale in agroecosystems, which may be caused by a wider variety of food resources or more complex crop architecture. Increasing crop genetic diversity could therefore be an easy-to-implement scheme benefiting farmland biodiversity.

Despite the introduction of agri-environmental schemes, no general increase of farmland biodiversity in Europe has been observed. Farmers take decisions about the implementation of agri-environmental schemes at the farm scale, and it is thus highly relevant to assess the relationship between farm management and biodiversity at this scale to increase the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes. The present study quantifies to what extent and with which practices farmers can influence biodiversity on their farm and to what extent conditions outside farmers' control may mediate biodiversity. We grouped 27 variables into four variable sets: (1) ecological compensation (mainly semi-natural habitats), (2) in-field options (e.g. no growth regulator, insecticide and herbicide treatment), and (3) farm characteristics, which can be influenced by farmers (e.g. land-use types) as well as (4) farm settings, which cannot be influenced by farmers (e.g. altitude). As biodiversity metrics, plant, grasshopper, butterfly and bird richness and abundance of farmland target species were assessed on 133 farms of the Swiss Central Plateau from 2009 to 2011. Variance partitioning and generalised linear mixed models were used to analyse the impact of each variable set on farmland species diversity. Our results provide evidence that farmers can indeed positively influence biodiversity by ecological compensation and in-field options. The variables of the ecological compensation set explained the highest proportion in the variation of plant richness and butterfly abundance. We found a significant positive relationship between in-field options and plant abundance. Our study illustrated that the effects of biodiversity-related farming practices differ between species and biodiversity metrics. Conditions outside farmers' control explained a high variation in grasshopper and bird diversity. One variable within the set of farm settings, the degree of consolidation, had a significant negative impact on five out of eight biodiversity metrics (plant, butterfly and bird richness; plant and bird abundance). We demonstrate that farmers can substantially enhance biodiversity on their farms and provide knowledge on how such biodiversity improvements can be achieved by farmers. Further, we highlight the value of new biodiversity-related management practices such as in-field options.