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Wang X, Cheng J, Zhang J, Chen F. Influences of crop diversification on yield, resource use efficiency, and environmental footprint in farmland landscapes in intensive farming. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 945:174009. [PMID: 38901579 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Revised: 05/14/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 06/22/2024]
Abstract
Enhancing crop diversification in intensive fields has the potential to increase crop yield and reduce environmental footprint. However, these relationships at the landscape scale remained unclear in intensive farming. Addressing this gap, this paper aims to elucidate how crop yield, resources use efficiency (RUE), and environmental footprint (EF) vary with crop diversification levels in the North China Plain. Management practices, including crop pattern, field size, and agronomic inputs, were collected for 421 landscapes of 1 × 1 km subplots using Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 images and survey. The results showed that, at the landscape scale, energy and fertilizer contributed over 53 %, and 37 % of the carbon footprint, respectively. N fertilizer constituted >98 % of the nitrogen footprint. P fertilizer accounted for over 80 %, while electricity comprised >13 % of the phosphorus footprint. Compared with simplified landscapes, diversified landscapes exhibited several significant features: 1) 56 % reduction of the area ratio of winter wheat-summer maize double crop pattern (WM), 2) a significant decrease in field size, 3) the decreased use of total NPK fertilizers at 32 %, 30 %, and 30 %, respectively, 4) the increased inputs of irrigation water, diesel, electricity, pesticide and labour at 21 %, 19 %, 21 %, 77 %, and 92 %, respectively. Although yield could be reduced at 33 % when transforming simplified landscapes into moderately diversified ones, they increased with the further promotion of crop diversification. Thus, the diversified landscapes could achieve a balance in yield, RUE, and EF to enhance sustainability, whereas simplified landscapes can similarly achieve a balance to benefit productivity. We emphasize the viable potential of diversified landscapes to enhance sustainable agricultural development by optimizing crop composition. This analysis offers pioneering evidence of landscape-scale agronomic and environmental performances of crop diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohui Wang
- College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; School of Biology and Agriculture, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, 512005, China; Key Labouratory of Farming System, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
| | - Jiali Cheng
- Key Labouratory of Farming System, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Jiaen Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Labouratory of Eco-circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
| | - Fu Chen
- Key Labouratory of Farming System, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
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2
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Carrié R, Ekroos J, Smith HG. Turnover and nestedness drive plant diversity benefits of organic farming from local to landscape scales. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 32:e2576. [PMID: 35191107 PMCID: PMC9285809 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Biodiversity-benefits of organic farming have mostly been documented at the field scale. However, these benefits from organic farming to species diversity may not propagate to larger scales because variation in the management of different crop types and seminatural habitats in conventional farms might allow species to cope with intensive crop management. We studied flowering plant communities using a spatially replicated design in different habitats (cereal, ley and seminatural grasslands) in organic and conventional farms, distributed along a gradient in proportion of seminatural grasslands. We developed a novel method to compare the rates of species turnover within and between habitats, and between the total species pools in the two farming systems. We found that the intrahabitat species turnover did not differ between organic and conventional farms, but that organic farms had a significantly higher interhabitat turnover of flowering plant species compared with conventional ones. This was mainly driven by herbicide-sensitive species in cereal fields in organic farms, as these contained 2.5 times more species exclusive to cereal fields compared with conventional farms. The farm-scale species richness of flowering plants was higher in organic compared with conventional farms, but only in simple landscapes. At the interfarm level, we found that 36% of species were shared between the two farming systems, 37% were specific to organic farms whereas 27% were specific to conventional ones. Therefore, our results suggest that that both community nestedness and species turnover drive changes in species composition between the two farming systems. These large-scale shifts in species composition were driven by both species-specific herbicide and nitrogen sensitivity of plants. Our study demonstrates that organic farming should foster a diversity of flowering plant species from local to landscape scales, by promoting unique sets of arable-adapted species that are scarce in conventional systems. In terms of biodiversity conservation, our results call for promoting organic farming over large spatial extents, especially in simple landscapes, where such transitions would benefit plant diversity most.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Carrié
- Centre for Environmental and Climate ResearchLund UniversityLundSweden
| | - Johan Ekroos
- Centre for Environmental and Climate ResearchLund UniversityLundSweden
- Present address:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Plant Production SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Henrik G. Smith
- Centre for Environmental and Climate ResearchLund UniversityLundSweden
- Department of BiologyLund UniversityLundSweden
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3
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Impact of Land Use Change on Tree Diversity and Aboveground Carbon Storage in the Mayombe Tropical Forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. LAND 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/land11060787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The Mayombe tropical forest has experienced dramatic changes over several decades due to human activities. However, the impact of these changes on tree biodiversity and ecosystem services has not been studied yet. Such a study could advance the current knowledge on tree biodiversity and carbon storage within the Mayombe forest, which is presently under high anthropogenic pressures. This information could benefit decision-makers to design and implement strategies for biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource utilization. As such, biodiversity surveys were conducted within the forest under different land utilization regimes. To evaluate the effect of human utilization on tree biodiversity and ecosystem services (carbon storage), land was classified into three categories based on the intensity of human utilization: low utilization, moderate utilization, and high utilization. Additionally, the study evaluated the recovery potential of the disturbed forest under both moderate and high utilization, after abandonment for 10 and 20 years. Tree diameter and height were measured for all trees whose diameter at breast height was greater than or equal to 10 cm. Our findings revealed that forest land with both high and moderate utilization regimes, and having no regulation, resulted in the decline of tree species richness, tree species diversity, and carbon storage. The magnitude of decrease was greater in high utilization compared to moderate utilization regimes. On the other hand, high values of biodiversity indices and carbon storage were observed in the low utilization regime. This study also demonstrated that fallow land that had been left undisturbed for more than 10 years, but had experienced both high and moderate utilization regimes, could reasonably recover carbon storage, and an acceptable level of tree species biodiversity can be achieved. However, there remains a significant difference when compared with the original level in the low utilization regime, suggesting that the Mayombe forest takes longer to recover. Based on the findings on tree biodiversity and carbon storage over the recovery trajectory, this study improves the understanding of the degraded forest restoration process within the Mayombe forest. It is therefore necessary to formulate new strategies to regulate forest land utilization within the Mayombe forest. This will ensure sustainability and availability of all ecosystem services this forest provides to a human population that strongly depends on it for their survival.
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4
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Gong S, Hodgson JA, Tscharntke T, Liu Y, van der Werf W, Batáry P, Knops JMH, Zou Y. Biodiversity and yield trade-offs for organic farming. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:1699-1710. [PMID: 35545523 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Revised: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Organic farming supports higher biodiversity than conventional farming, but at the cost of lower yields. We conducted a meta-analysis quantifying the trade-off between biodiversity and yield, comparing conventional and organic farming. We developed a compatibility index to assess whether biodiversity gains from organic farming exceed yield losses, and a substitution index to assess whether organic farming would increase biodiversity in an area if maintaining total production under organic farming would require cultivating more land at the expense of nature. Overall, organic farming had 23% gain in biodiversity with a similar cost of yield decline. Biodiversity gain is negatively correlated to yield loss for microbes and plants, but no correlation was found for other taxa. The biodiversity and yield trade-off varies under different contexts of organic farming. The overall compatibility index value was close to zero, with negative values for cereal crops, positive for non-cereal crops, and varies across taxa. Our results indicate that, on average, the proportion of biodiversity gain is similar to the proportion of yield loss for paired field studies. For some taxa in non-cereal crops, switching to organic farming can lead to a biodiversity gain without yield loss. We calculated the overall value of substitution index and further discussed the application of this index to evaluate when the biodiversity of less intensified farming system is advantageous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shanxing Gong
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
| | - Jenny A Hodgson
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | | | - Yunhui Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Organic Farming, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Wopke van der Werf
- Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Péter Batáry
- "Lendület" Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary
| | - Johannes M H Knops
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
| | - Yi Zou
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
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5
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Scale-dependent effectiveness of on-field vs. off-field agri-environmental measures for wild bees. Basic Appl Ecol 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2022.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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6
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Segre H, Carmel Y, Shwartz A. Economic and not ecological variables shape the sparing–sharing trade‐off in a mixed cropping landscape. J Appl Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hila Segre
- Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning Technion ‐ Israel Institute of Technology Haifa Israel
- Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group Wageningen University Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Yohay Carmel
- Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Technion ‐ Israel Institute of Technology Haifa Israel
| | - Assaf Shwartz
- Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning Technion ‐ Israel Institute of Technology Haifa Israel
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7
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Davis R, Abebe A, Boyd C, McNevin A. Exploring the relationship between production intensity and land use: A meta-analytic approach with shrimp aquaculture. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2021; 300:113719. [PMID: 34521002 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Shrimp are one of the fastest growing commodities in aquaculture and have a considerable land footprint. Here, we explored the impact of utilizing different production methods (extensive vs intensive) for expanding shrimp production on the cumulative land footprint of shrimp aquaculture. A meta-analytic approach was utilized to simultaneously estimate model coefficients to explore three relationships: production intensity and total land burden, production intensity and the proportion of land at the farm, and production intensity and the farmland burden. A literature review was conducted and a total of 7 datasets, 22 subsets, and 973 individual farms were included in this study. The global models were as follows: model 1 → ln (total land burden) = 0.1165-0.3863 * ln (production intensity), model 2 → proportion of direct (farm) land use:total land use = 0.7592-0.1737 * ln (production intensity), model 3 → ln (direct land use) = 0.1991-0.9674 * ln (production intensity). Production expansion was modeled under different scenarios. The most land intensive projections involved using only extensive systems to increase production when compared to a business-as-usual scenario. The least land intensive scenario involved utilizing intensive systems. A scenario where farmland was not expanded used 17% less land and 28% less land to produce 7.5 and 10 million tons of shrimp, respectively, when compared to business-as-usual scenarios. These estimates are limited by uncertainty in shrimp feed composition but demonstrate the effect of production intensity on the overall land footprint of shrimp production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Davis
- Auburn University, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences, USA.
| | - Ash Abebe
- Auburn University, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, USA
| | - Claude Boyd
- Auburn University, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences, USA
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8
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Jost E, Schönhart M, Skalský R, Balkovič J, Schmid E, Mitter H. Dynamic soil functions assessment employing land use and climate scenarios at regional scale. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2021; 287:112318. [PMID: 33740746 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2020] [Revised: 02/22/2021] [Accepted: 02/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Soils as key component of terrestrial ecosystems are under increasing pressures. As an advance to current static assessments, we present a dynamic soil functions assessment (SFA) to evaluate the current and future state of soils regarding their nutrient storage, water regulation, productivity, habitat and carbon sequestration functions for the case-study region in the Lower Austrian Mostviertel. Carbon response functions simulating the development of regional soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks until 2100 are used to couple established indicator-based SFA methodology with two climate and three land use scenarios, i.e. land sparing (LSP), land sharing (LSH), and balanced land use (LBA). Results reveal a dominant impact of land use scenarios on soil functions compared to the impact from climate scenarios and highlight the close link between SOC development and the quality of investigated soil functions, i.e. soil functionality. The soil habitat and soil carbon sequestration functions on investigated agricultural land are positively affected by maintenance of grassland under LSH (20% of the case-study region), where SOC stocks show a steady and continuous increase. By 2100 however, total regional SOC stocks are higher under LSP compared to LSH or LBA, due to extensive afforestation. The presented approach may improve integrative decision-making in land use planning processes. It bridges superordinate goals of sustainable development, such as climate change mitigation, with land use actions taken at local or regional scales. The dynamic SFA broadens the debate on LSH and LSP and can reduce trade-offs between soil functions through land use planning processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Jost
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180, Wien, Austria.
| | - Martin Schönhart
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180, Wien, Austria
| | - Rastislav Skalský
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, 2361, Laxenburg, Austria; National Agricultural and Food Centre, Trenčianska 55, 821 09, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Juraj Balkovič
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, 2361, Laxenburg, Austria; Comenius University in Bratislava, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Erwin Schmid
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180, Wien, Austria
| | - Hermine Mitter
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180, Wien, Austria
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9
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10
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McClure M, Machalaba C, Zambrana-Torrelio C, Feferholtz Y, Lee KD, Daszak P, Karesh WB. Incorporating Health Outcomes into Land-Use Planning. ECOHEALTH 2019; 16:627-637. [PMID: 31705335 DOI: 10.1007/s10393-019-01439-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2018] [Revised: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 09/03/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The global trend toward increased agricultural production puts pressure on undeveloped areas, raising the question of how to optimally allocate land. Land-use change has recently been linked to a number of human health outcomes, but these are not routinely considered in land-use decision making. We review examples of planners' currently used strategies to evaluate land use and present a conceptual model of optimal land use that incorporates health outcomes. We then present a framework for evaluating the health outcomes of land-use scenarios that can be used by decision makers in an integrated approach to land-use planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max McClure
- EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street 1701, New York, NY, 10001, USA
- Future Earth oneHEALTH International Project Office, New York, NY, USA
- Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
| | - Catherine Machalaba
- EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street 1701, New York, NY, 10001, USA
- Future Earth oneHEALTH International Project Office, New York, NY, USA
| | - Carlos Zambrana-Torrelio
- EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street 1701, New York, NY, 10001, USA
- Future Earth oneHEALTH International Project Office, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yasha Feferholtz
- EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street 1701, New York, NY, 10001, USA
- Future Earth oneHEALTH International Project Office, New York, NY, USA
| | - Katherine D Lee
- EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street 1701, New York, NY, 10001, USA
- University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA
| | - Peter Daszak
- EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street 1701, New York, NY, 10001, USA
- Future Earth oneHEALTH International Project Office, New York, NY, USA
| | - William B Karesh
- EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street 1701, New York, NY, 10001, USA.
- Future Earth oneHEALTH International Project Office, New York, NY, USA.
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11
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Feniuk C, Balmford A, Green RE. Land sparing to make space for species dependent on natural habitats and high nature value farmland. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191483. [PMID: 31455194 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Empirical evidence from four continents indicates that human food demand may be best reconciled with biodiversity conservation through sparing natural habitats by boosting agricultural yields. This runs counter to the conservation paradigm of wildlife-friendly farming, which is influential in Europe, where many species are dependent on low-yielding high nature value farmland threatened by both intensification and abandonment. In the first multi-taxon population-level test of land-sparing theory in Europe, we quantified how population densities of 175 bird and sedge species varied with farm yield across 26 squares (each with an area of 1 km2) in eastern Poland. We discovered that, as in previous studies elsewhere, simple land sparing, with only natural habitats on spared land, markedly out-performed land sharing in its effect on region-wide projected population sizes. However, a novel 'three-compartment' land-sparing approach, in which about one-third of spared land is assigned to very low-yield agriculture and the remainder to natural habitats, resulted in least-reduced projected future populations for more species. Implementing the three-compartment model would require significant reorganization of current subsidy regimes, but would mean high-yield farming could release sufficient land for species dependent on both natural and high nature value farmland to persist.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Feniuk
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.,Centre for Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy SG19 2DL, UK
| | - Andrew Balmford
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Rhys E Green
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.,Centre for Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy SG19 2DL, UK
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12
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Karner K, Cord AF, Hagemann N, Hernandez-Mora N, Holzkämper A, Jeangros B, Lienhoop N, Nitsch H, Rivas D, Schmid E, Schulp CJE, Strauch M, van der Zanden EH, Volk M, Willaarts B, Zarrineh N, Schönhart M. Developing stakeholder-driven scenarios on land sharing and land sparing - Insights from five European case studies. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2019; 241:488-500. [PMID: 30979560 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.03.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2018] [Revised: 02/17/2019] [Accepted: 03/11/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Empirical research on land sharing and land sparing has been criticized because preferences of local stakeholders, socio-economic aspects, a bundle of ecosystem services and the local context were only rarely integrated. Using storylines and scenarios is a common approach to include land use drivers and local contexts or to cope with the uncertainties of future developments. The objective of the presented research is to develop comparable participatory regional land use scenarios for the year 2030 reflecting land sharing, land sparing and more intermediate developments across five different European landscapes (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Spain). In order to ensure methodological consistency among the five case studies, a hierarchical multi-scale scenario approach was developed, which consisted of i) the selection of a common global storyline to frame a common sphere of uncertainty for all case studies, ii) the definition of three contrasting qualitative European storylines (representing developments for land sharing, land sparing and a balanced storyline), and iii) the development of three explorative case study-specific land use scenarios with regional stakeholders in workshops. Land use transition rules defined by stakeholders were used to generate three different spatially-explicit scenarios for each case study by means of high-resolution land use maps. All scenarios incorporated various aspects of land use and management to allow subsequent quantification of multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity indicators. The comparison of the final scenarios showed both common as well as diverging trends among the case studies. For instance, stakeholders identified further possibilities to intensify land management in all case studies in the land sparing scenario. In addition, in most case studies stakeholders agreed on the most preferred scenario, i.e. either land sharing or balanced, and the most likely one, i.e. balanced. However, they expressed some skepticism regarding the general plausibility of land sparing in a European context. It can be concluded that stakeholder perceptions and the local context can be integrated in land sharing and land sparing contexts subject to particular process design principles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrin Karner
- Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Anna F Cord
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nina Hagemann
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Economics, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Annelie Holzkämper
- Agroscope, Climate and Agriculture Group, 8046, Zurich, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Nele Lienhoop
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Economics, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Heike Nitsch
- Institute for Rural Development Research (IfLS), Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Kurfürstenstraße 49, 60486, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - David Rivas
- Research Center for the Management of Environmental and Agricultural Risks (CEIGRAM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; IMDEA - Agua (Instituto Madrileño De Estudios Avanzados - Agua), Parque Científico Tecnológico, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - Erwin Schmid
- Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180, Vienna, Austria
| | - Catharina J E Schulp
- Environmental Geography Group, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Michael Strauch
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Emma H van der Zanden
- Environmental Geography Group, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Martin Volk
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Barbara Willaarts
- Research Center for the Management of Environmental and Agricultural Risks (CEIGRAM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Nina Zarrineh
- Agroscope, Climate and Agriculture Group, 8046, Zurich, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Martin Schönhart
- Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180, Vienna, Austria
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13
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Sambhu H, Nankishore A, Turton SM, Northfield TD. Trade-offs for butterfly alpha and beta diversity in human-modified landscapes and tropical rainforests. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:12918-12928. [PMID: 30619593 PMCID: PMC6309007 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2018] [Revised: 05/29/2018] [Accepted: 09/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The accelerating expansion of human populations and associated economic activity across the globe have made maintaining large, intact natural areas increasingly challenging. The difficulty of preserving large intact landscapes in the presence of growing human populations has led to a growing emphasis on landscape approaches to biodiversity conservation with a complementary strategy focused on improving conservation in human-modified landscapes. This, in turn, is leading to intense debate about the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation in human-modified landscapes and approaches to better support biodiversity in those landscapes. Here, we compared butterfly abundance, alpha richness, and beta diversity in human-modified landscapes (urban, sugarcane) and natural, forested areas to assess the conservation value of human-modified landscapes within the Wet Tropics bioregion of Australia. We used fruit-baited traps to sample butterflies and analyzed abundance and species richness in respective land uses over a one-year period. We also evaluated turnover and spatial variance components of beta diversity to determine the extent of change in temporal and spatial variation in community composition. Forests supported the largest numbers of butterflies, but were lowest in each, alpha species richness, beta turnover, and the spatial beta diversity. Sugarcane supported higher species richness, demonstrating the potential for conservation at local scales in human-modified landscapes. In contrast, beta diversity was highest in urban areas, likely driven by spatial and temporal variation in plant composition within the urban landscapes. Thus, while improving conservation on human-modified landscapes may improve local alpha richness, conserving variation in natural vegetation is critical for maintaining high beta diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hemchandranauth Sambhu
- College of Science and EngineeringJames Cook UniversitySmithfieldQueenslandAustralia
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural SciencesUniversity of Guyana, TurkeyenGreater GeorgetownGuyana
| | | | | | - Tobin D. Northfield
- College of Science and EngineeringJames Cook UniversitySmithfieldQueenslandAustralia
- Department of Entomology, Tree Fruit Research and Extension CenterWashington State UniversityWenatcheeWashington
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14
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Modelling Land Sharing and Land Sparing Relationship with Rural Population in the Cerrado. LAND 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/land7030088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Agricultural expansion and intensification enabled growth of food production but resulted in serious environmental changes. In light of that, debates concerning sustainability in agriculture arises on scientific literature. Land sharing and land sparing are two opposite models for framing agricultural sustainability. The first aims to integrate agricultural activities with biodiversity conservation by means of enhancing the quality of the agricultural matrix in the landscape towards a wildlife friendly matrix. The other model aims to spare natural habitats from agriculture for conservation. This work aimed to explore spatial evidences of land sharing/sparing and its relationship with rural population in the Brazilian Cerrado. A Land Sharing/Sparing Index based on TerraClass Cerrado map was proposed. Spatial analysis based on Global and Local Moran statistics and Geographically Weighted Regression were made in order to explore the influence of local rural population on the probability of spatial land sharing/sparing clusters occurrence. Spatial patterns of land sharing were found in the Cerrado and a positive association with rural population was found in some regions, such as in its northern portion. Land use policies should consider regional infrastructural and participative governance potentialities. The results suggests possible areas where joint agricultural activities and human presence may be favourable for biodiversity conservation.
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Beyond Biodiversity Conservation: Land Sharing Constitutes Sustainable Agriculture in European Cultural Landscapes. SUSTAINABILITY 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/su10051395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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Firbank LG, Attwood S, Eory V, Gadanakis Y, Lynch JM, Sonnino R, Takahashi T. Grand Challenges in Sustainable Intensification and Ecosystem Services. FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 2018. [DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2018.00007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
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17
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Sambhu H, Northfield T, Nankishore A, Ansari A, Turton S. Tropical Rainforest and Human-Modified Landscapes Support Unique Butterfly Communities That Differ in Abundance and Diversity. ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY 2017; 46:1225-1234. [PMID: 29053788 DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvx129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Tropical forests account for at least 50% of documented diversity, but anthropogenic activities are converting forests to agriculture and urban areas at an alarming rate, with potentially strong effects on insect abundance and diversity. However, the questions remain whether insect populations are uniformly affected by land conversion and if insect conservation can occur in agricultural margins and urban gardens. We compare butterfly populations in tropical secondary forests to those found in sugarcane and urban areas in coastal Guyana and evaluate the potential for particular butterfly communities to inhabit human-modified landscapes. Butterflies were sampled for 1 yr using fruit-baited traps in three separated geographical locations on the coast. We used nonmetric multidimensional scaling to assess differences in species assemblages and a generalized linear mixed model to evaluate abundance, species richness, evenness, and diversity. The secondary forests in all three locations supported higher butterfly abundance and diversity than other human-modified areas, although the magnitude of this effect varied by season and location. However, each land use supported its own type of butterfly community, as species composition was different across the three land uses. Sugarcane field margins and urban gardens supported populations of butterflies rarely found in our tropical secondary forest sites. Land management practices that encourage forest conservation along with butterfly-friendly activities in human settlements and agricultural areas could improve butterfly conservation. To this end, butterfly conservation in Guyana and other tropical landscapes would benefit from a shift from inadvertently to actively making the landscape attractive for butterflies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hemchandranauth Sambhu
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns Campus, Australia
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Guyana, Guyana
| | - Tobin Northfield
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns Campus, Australia
| | | | - Abdullah Ansari
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Guyana, Guyana
| | - Stephen Turton
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns Campus, Australia
- Central Queensland University, Cnr Shields and Abbott Streets, Australia
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Seufert V, Ramankutty N. Many shades of gray-The context-dependent performance of organic agriculture. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2017; 3:e1602638. [PMID: 28345054 PMCID: PMC5362009 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1602638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2016] [Accepted: 02/01/2017] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Organic agriculture is often proposed as a more sustainable alternative to current conventional agriculture. We assess the current understanding of the costs and benefits of organic agriculture across multiple production, environmental, producer, and consumer dimensions. Organic agriculture shows many potential benefits (including higher biodiversity and improved soil and water quality per unit area, enhanced profitability, and higher nutritional value) as well as many potential costs including lower yields and higher consumer prices. However, numerous important dimensions have high uncertainty, particularly the environmental performance when controlling for lower organic yields, but also yield stability, soil erosion, water use, and labor conditions. We identify conditions that influence the relative performance of organic systems, highlighting areas for increased research and policy support.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verena Seufert
- Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia, 6476 North West Marine Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada
- Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
- Corresponding author.
| | - Navin Ramankutty
- Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia, 6476 North West Marine Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada
- Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
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Donaldson L, Wilson RJ, Maclean IMD. Old concepts, new challenges: adapting landscape-scale conservation to the twenty-first century. BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION 2016; 26:527-552. [PMID: 32269427 PMCID: PMC7115020 DOI: 10.1007/s10531-016-1257-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2016] [Revised: 11/04/2016] [Accepted: 11/11/2016] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Landscape-scale approaches to conservation stem largely from the classic ideas of reserve design: encouraging bigger and more sites, enhancing connectivity among sites, and improving habitat quality. Trade-offs are imposed between these four strategies by the limited resources and opportunities available for conservation programmes, including the establishment and management of protected areas, and wildlife-friendly farming and forestry. Although debate regarding trade-offs between the size, number, connectivity and quality of protected areas was prevalent in the 1970-1990s, the implications of the same trade-offs for ongoing conservation responses to threats from accelerating environmental change have rarely been addressed. Here, we reassess the implications of reserve design theory for landscape-scale conservation, and present a blueprint to help practitioners to prioritise among the four strategies. We consider the new perspectives placed on landscape-scale conservation programmes by twenty-first century pressures including climate change, invasive species and the need to marry food security with biodiversity conservation. A framework of the situations under which available theory and evidence recommend that each of the four strategies be prioritized is provided, seeking to increase the clarity required for urgent conservation decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynda Donaldson
- Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, TR10 9FE UK
| | - Robert J. Wilson
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4PS UK
| | - Ilya M. D. Maclean
- Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, TR10 9FE UK
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20
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Katayama N. Bird diversity and abundance in organic and conventional apple orchards in northern Japan. Sci Rep 2016; 6:34210. [PMID: 27677408 PMCID: PMC5039747 DOI: 10.1038/srep34210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2016] [Accepted: 09/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies have investigated the benefits of agri-environmental schemes, such as organic farming, on biodiversity conservation in annual systems, but their effectiveness in perennial systems is less well understood, particularly in bird communities in temperate regions of Asia. This study examined the effects of organic farming practices on species richness and abundance of breeding birds in apple orchards in northern Japan. Bird counts were conducted in six pairs of organic and conventional orchards during the breeding season in April and May 2015. The total species richness of birds, estimated by sample- and coverage-based rarefaction and extrapolation curves, was greater in organic orchards than in conventional orchards. Among the three dietary guilds (insectivore, granivore, and omnivore), only insectivorous species were more abundant in organic orchards than in conventional ones. This study offers the first quantitative evidence that organic farming can be beneficial for enhancing the diversity of birds, particularly of insectivores, in fruit orchards in Japan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoki Katayama
- Biodiversity Division, Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, NARO, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan
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Kniss AR, Savage SD, Jabbour R. Commercial Crop Yields Reveal Strengths and Weaknesses for Organic Agriculture in the United States. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0161673. [PMID: 27552217 PMCID: PMC4995028 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2016] [Accepted: 07/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Land area devoted to organic agriculture has increased steadily over the last 20 years in the United States, and elsewhere around the world. A primary criticism of organic agriculture is lower yield compared to non-organic systems. Previous analyses documenting the yield deficiency in organic production have relied mostly on data generated under experimental conditions, but these studies do not necessarily reflect the full range of innovation or practical limitations that are part of commercial agriculture. The analysis we present here offers a new perspective, based on organic yield data collected from over 10,000 organic farmers representing nearly 800,000 hectares of organic farmland. We used publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture to estimate yield differences between organic and conventional production methods for the 2014 production year. Similar to previous work, organic crop yields in our analysis were lower than conventional crop yields for most crops. Averaged across all crops, organic yield averaged 67% of conventional yield [corrected]. However, several crops had no significant difference in yields between organic and conventional production, and organic yields surpassed conventional yields for some hay crops. The organic to conventional yield ratio varied widely among crops, and in some cases, among locations within a crop. For soybean (Glycine max) and potato (Solanum tuberosum), organic yield was more similar to conventional yield in states where conventional yield was greatest. The opposite trend was observed for barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat (Triticum aestevum), and hay crops, however, suggesting the geographical yield potential has an inconsistent effect on the organic yield gap.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew R. Kniss
- University of Wyoming, Department of Plant Sciences, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Steven D. Savage
- Independent consultant, Encinitas, California, United States of America
| | - Randa Jabbour
- University of Wyoming, Department of Plant Sciences, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America
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Nguyen-The C, Bardin M, Berard A, Berge O, Brillard J, Broussolle V, Carlin F, Renault P, Tchamitchian M, Morris CE. Agrifood systems and the microbial safety of fresh produce: Trade-offs in the wake of increased sustainability. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2016; 562:751-759. [PMID: 27110986 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2016] [Revised: 03/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/30/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Fresh produce has been a growing cause of food borne outbreaks world-wide prompting the need for safer production practices. Yet fresh produce agrifood systems are diverse and under constraints for more sustainability. We analyze how measures taken to guarantee safety interact with other objectives for sustainability, in light of the diversity of fresh produce agrifood systems. The review is based on the publications at the interface between fresh produce safety and sustainability, with sustainability defined by low environmental impacts, food and nutrition security and healthy life. The paths for more sustainable fresh produce are diverse. They include an increased use of ecosystem services to e.g. favor predators of pests, or to reduce impact of floods, to reduce soil erosion, or to purify run-off waters. In contrast, they also include production systems isolated from the environment. From a socio-economical view, sustainability may imply maintaining small tenures with a higher risk of pathogen contamination. We analyzed the consequences for produce safety by focusing on risks of contamination by water, soil, environment and live stocks. Climate change may increase the constraints and recent knowledge on interactions between produce and human pathogens may bring new solutions. Existing technologies may suffice to resolve some conflicts between ensuring safety of fresh produce and moving towards more sustainability. However, socio-economic constraints of some agri-food systems may prevent their implementation. In addition, current strategies to preserve produce safety are not adapted to systems relying on ecological principles and knowledge is lacking to develop the new risk management approaches that would be needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Nguyen-The
- UMR408 SQPOV «Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale», INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon, France.
| | - Marc Bardin
- INRA, UR0407 Plant Pathology, F-84143 Montfavet, France.
| | | | - Odile Berge
- INRA, UR0407 Plant Pathology, F-84143 Montfavet, France.
| | - Julien Brillard
- UMR408 SQPOV «Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale», INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon, France.
| | - Véronique Broussolle
- UMR408 SQPOV «Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale», INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon, France.
| | - Frédéric Carlin
- UMR408 SQPOV «Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d'Origine Végétale», INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon, France.
| | | | | | - Cindy E Morris
- INRA, UR0407 Plant Pathology, F-84143 Montfavet, France.
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Law EA, Bryan BA, Meijaard E, Mallawaarachchi T, Struebig MJ, Watts ME, Wilson KA. Mixed policies give more options in multifunctional tropical forest landscapes. J Appl Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A. Law
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 Australia
| | | | - Erik Meijaard
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 Australia
- Borneo Futures 22 & 23 Jalan Sultan, BS8811 Bandar Seri Begawan Negara Brunei DarussalamIndonesia
| | | | - Matthew J. Struebig
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology University of Kent Canterbury Kent CT2 7NZ UK
| | - Matthew E. Watts
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 Australia
| | - Kerrie A. Wilson
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 Australia
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German RN, Thompson CE, Benton TG. Relationships among multiple aspects of agriculture's environmental impact and productivity: a meta-analysis to guide sustainable agriculture. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2016; 92:716-738. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2015] [Revised: 12/13/2015] [Accepted: 12/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Richard N. German
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences; University of Leeds; Leeds LS2 9JT U.K
| | - Catherine E. Thompson
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences; University of Leeds; Leeds LS2 9JT U.K
| | - Tim G. Benton
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences; University of Leeds; Leeds LS2 9JT U.K
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Ekroos J, Ödman AM, Andersson GKS, Birkhofer K, Herbertsson L, Klatt BK, Olsson O, Olsson PA, Persson AS, Prentice HC, Rundlöf M, Smith HG. Sparing Land for Biodiversity at Multiple Spatial Scales. Front Ecol Evol 2016. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Abstract
Agriculture dominates the planet. Yet it has many environmental costs that are unsustainable, especially as global food demand rises. Here, we evaluate ways in which different parts of the world are succeeding in their attempts to resolve conflict between agriculture and wild nature. We envision that coordinated global action in conserving land most sensitive to agricultural activities and policies that internalise the environmental costs of agriculture are needed to deliver a more sustainable future. Agriculture dominates the planet but has many environmental costs that will escalate with global food demand. This Essay outlines a vision for a more sustainable future.
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Feber RE, Johnson PJ, Bell JR, Chamberlain DE, Firbank LG, Fuller RJ, Manley W, Mathews F, Norton LR, Townsend M, Macdonald DW. Organic Farming: Biodiversity Impacts Can Depend on Dispersal Characteristics and Landscape Context. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0135921. [PMID: 26309040 PMCID: PMC4550245 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2014] [Accepted: 07/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Organic farming, a low intensity system, may offer benefits for a range of taxa, but what affects the extent of those benefits is imperfectly understood. We explored the effects of organic farming and landscape on the activity density and species density of spiders and carabid beetles, using a large sample of paired organic and conventional farms in the UK. Spider activity density and species density were influenced by both farming system and surrounding landscape. Hunting spiders, which tend to have lower dispersal capabilities, had higher activity density, and more species were captured, on organic compared to conventional farms. There was also evidence for an interaction, as the farming system effect was particularly marked in the cropped area before harvest and was more pronounced in complex landscapes (those with little arable land). There was no evidence for any effect of farming system or landscape on web-building spiders (which include the linyphiids, many of which have high dispersal capabilities). For carabid beetles, the farming system effects were inconsistent. Before harvest, higher activity densities were observed in the crops on organic farms compared with conventional farms. After harvest, no difference was detected in the cropped area, but more carabids were captured on conventional compared to organic boundaries. Carabids were more species-dense in complex landscapes, and farming system did not affect this. There was little evidence that non-cropped habitat differences explained the farming system effects for either spiders or carabid beetles. For spiders, the farming system effects in the cropped area were probably largely attributable to differences in crop management; reduced inputs of pesticides (herbicides and insecticides) and fertilisers are possible influences, and there was some evidence for an effect of non-crop plant species richness on hunting spider activity density. The benefits of organic farming may be greatest for taxa with lower dispersal abilities generally. The evidence for interactions among landscape and farming system in their effects on spiders highlights the importance of developing strategies for managing farmland at the landscape-scale for most effective conservation of biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth E. Feber
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Paul J. Johnson
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, United Kingdom
| | - James R. Bell
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, United Kingdom
| | | | - Leslie G. Firbank
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancashire, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J. Fuller
- British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, Norfolk, United Kingdom
| | - Will Manley
- Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
| | - Fiona Mathews
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa R. Norton
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancashire, United Kingdom
| | - Martin Townsend
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, United Kingdom
| | - David W. Macdonald
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, United Kingdom
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Horák J. Suitability of biodiversity-area and biodiversity-perimeter relationships in ecology: a case study of urban ecosystems. Urban Ecosyst 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-015-0492-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Ellis KE, Barbercheck ME. Management of Overwintering Cover Crops Influences Floral Resources and Visitation by Native Bees. ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY 2015; 44:999-1010. [PMID: 26314045 DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvv086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2014] [Accepted: 05/07/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
The incorporation of cover crops into annual crop rotations is one practice that is used in the Mid-Atlantic United States to manage soil fertility, suppress weeds, and control erosion. Additionally, flowering cover crops have the potential to support beneficial insect communities, such as native bees. Because of the current declines in managed honey bee colonies, the conservation of native bee communities is critical to maintaining "free" pollination services. However, native bees are negatively affected by agricultural intensification and are also in decline across North America. We conducted two experiments to assess the potential of flowering cover crops to act as a conservation resource for native bees. We evaluated the effects of cover crop diversity and fall planting date on floral resource availability and visitation by native bees for overwintering flowering cover crop species commonly used in the Mid-Atlantic region. Cover crop species, crop rotation schedule, and plant diversity significantly influenced floral resource availability. Different cover crop species not only had different blooming phenologies and winter survival responses to planting date, but attracted unique bee communities. Flower density was the primary factor influencing frequency of bee visitation across cover crop diversity and fall planting date treatments. The results from these experiments will be useful for informing recommendations on the applied use of flowering cover crops for pollinator conservation purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine E Ellis
- Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, 501 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, University Park, PA, 16802.
| | - Mary E Barbercheck
- Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, 501 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, University Park, PA, 16802
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Abstract
Conservation biologists are devoting an increasing amount of energy to debating whether land sparing (high-yielding agriculture on a small land footprint) or land sharing (low-yielding, wildlife-friendly agriculture on a larger land footprint) will promote better outcomes for local and global biodiversity. In turn, concerns are mounting about how to feed the world, given increasing demands for food. In this review, I evaluate the land-sparing/land-sharing framework--does the framework stimulate research and policy that can reconcile agricultural land use with biodiversity conservation, or is a revised framing needed? I review (1) the ecological evidence in favor of sparing versus sharing; (2) the evidence from land-use change studies that assesses whether a relationship exists between agricultural intensification and land sparing; and (3) how that relationship may be affected by socioeconomic and political factors. To address the trade-off between biodiversity conservation and food production, I then ask which forms of agricultural intensification can best feed the world now and in the future. On the basis of my review, I suggest that the dichotomy of the land-sparing/land-sharing framework limits the realm of future possibilities to two, largely undesirable, options for conservation. Both large, protected regions and favorable surrounding matrices are needed to promote biodiversity conservation; they work synergistically and are not mutually exclusive. A "both-and" framing of large protected areas surrounded by a wildlife-friendly matrix suggests different research priorities from the "either-or" framing of sparing versus sharing. Furthermore, wildlife-friendly farming methods such as agroecology may be best adapted to provide food for the world's hungry people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Kremen
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California
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31
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Forrest JRK, Thorp RW, Kremen C, Williams NM. Contrasting patterns in species and functional-trait diversity of bees in an agricultural landscape. J Appl Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Robbin W. Thorp
- Department of Entomology and Nematology; University of California; Davis CA USA
| | - Claire Kremen
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; University of California; Berkeley CA USA
| | - Neal M. Williams
- Department of Entomology and Nematology; University of California; Davis CA USA
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32
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Dubois L, Mathieu J, Loeuille N. The manager dilemma: Optimal management of an ecosystem service in heterogeneous exploited landscapes. Ecol Modell 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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34
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Merckx T, Pereira HM. Reshaping agri-environmental subsidies: From marginal farming to large-scale rewilding. Basic Appl Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2014.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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35
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Sandhu H, Wratten S, Costanza R, Pretty J, Porter JR, Reganold J. Significance and value of non-traded ecosystem services on farmland. PeerJ 2015; 3:e762. [PMID: 25737811 PMCID: PMC4338771 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2014] [Accepted: 01/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background. Ecosystem services (ES) generated within agricultural landscapes, including field boundaries, are vital for the sustainable supply of food and fibre. However, the value of ES in agriculture has not been quantified experimentally and then extrapolated globally. Methods. We quantified the economic value of two key but contrasting ES (biological control of pests and nitrogen mineralisation) provided by non-traded non-crop species in ten organic and ten conventional arable fields in New Zealand using field experiments. The arable crops grown, same for each organic and conventional pair, were peas (Pisum sativum), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and wheat (Triticum aestivum). Organic systems were chosen as comparators not because they are the only forms of sustainable agriculture, but because they are subject to easily understood standards. Results. We found that organic farming systems depended on fewer external inputs and produced outputs of energy and crop dry matter generally less than but sometimes similar to those of their conventional counterparts. The economic values of the two selected ES were greater for the organic systems in all four crops, ranging from US$ 68-200 ha(-1) yr(-1) for biological control of pests and from US$ 110-425 ha(-1)yr(-1) for N mineralisation in the organic systems versus US$ 0 ha(-1)yr(-1) for biological control of pests and from US$ 60-244 ha(-1)yr(-1) for N mineralisation in the conventional systems. The total economic value (including market and non-market components) was significantly greater in organic systems, ranging from US$ 1750-4536 ha(-1)yr(-1), with US$ 1585-2560 ha(-1)yr(-1) in the conventional systems. The non-market component of the economic value in organic fields was also significantly higher than those in conventional fields. Discussion. To illustrate the potential magnitude of these two ES to temperate farming systems and agricultural landscapes elsewhere, we then extrapolate these experimentally derived figures to the global temperate cropping area of the same arable crops. We found that the extrapolated net value of the these two services provided by non-traded species could exceed the combined current global costs of pesticide and fertiliser inputs, even if utilised on only 10% of the global arable area. This approach strengthens the case for ES-rich agricultural systems, provided by non-traded species to global agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harpinder Sandhu
- School of the Environment, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Steve Wratten
- Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand
| | - Robert Costanza
- Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Jules Pretty
- School of Biological Sciences and Essex Sustainability Institute, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
| | - John R. Porter
- Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand
- Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, Denmark
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, London, UK
| | - John Reganold
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
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Shackelford GE, Steward PR, German RN, Sait SM, Benton TG. Conservation planning in agricultural landscapes: hotspots of conflict between agriculture and nature. DIVERS DISTRIB 2014; 21:357-367. [PMID: 26430381 PMCID: PMC4579854 DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Aim Conservation conflict takes place where food production imposes a cost on wildlife conservation and vice versa. Where does conservation impose the maximum cost on production, by opposing the intensification and expansion of farmland? Where does conservation confer the maximum benefit on wildlife, by buffering and connecting protected areas with a habitable and permeable matrix of crop and non-crop habitat? Our aim was to map the costs and benefits of conservation versus production and thus to propose a conceptual framework for systematic conservation planning in agricultural landscapes. Location World-wide. Methods To quantify these costs and benefits, we used a geographic information system to sample the cropland of the world and map the proportion of non-crop habitat surrounding the cropland, the number of threatened vertebrates with potential to live in or move through the matrix and the yield gap of the cropland. We defined the potential for different types of conservation conflict in terms of interactions between habitat and yield (potential for expansion, intensification, both or neither). We used spatial scan statistics to find ‘hotspots’ of conservation conflict. Results All of the ‘hottest’ hotspots of conservation conflict were in sub-Saharan Africa, which could have impacts on sustainable intensification in this region. Main conclusions Systematic conservation planning could and should be used to identify hotspots of conservation conflict in agricultural landscapes, at multiple scales. The debate between ‘land sharing’ (extensive agriculture that is wildlife friendly) and ‘land sparing’ (intensive agriculture that is less wildlife friendly but also less extensive) could be resolved if sharing and sparing were used as different types of tool for resolving different types of conservation conflict (buffering and connecting protected areas by maintaining matrix quality, in different types of matrix). Therefore, both sharing and sparing should be prioritized in hotspots of conflict, in the context of countryside biogeography.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Peter R Steward
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Richard N German
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Steven M Sait
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Tim G Benton
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
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Gillingham PK, Alison J, Roy DB, Fox R, Thomas CD. High Abundances of Species in Protected Areas in Parts of their Geographic Distributions Colonized during a Recent Period of Climatic Change. Conserv Lett 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/conl.12118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Phillipa K. Gillingham
- Faculty of Science and Technology Bournemouth University Christchurch House, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB UK
- Department of Biology University of York Wentworth Way York, North Yorkshire YO10 5DD UK
| | - Jamie Alison
- Department of Biology University of York Wentworth Way York, North Yorkshire YO10 5DD UK
- Institute of Integrative Biology Biosciences Building University of Liverpool Crown Street Liverpool Merseyside, L69 7ZB UK
| | - David B. Roy
- NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Maclean Building, Benson Lane Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 8BB UK
| | - Richard Fox
- Butterfly Conservation Manor Yard East Lulworth Dorset BH20 5QP UK
| | - Chris D. Thomas
- Department of Biology University of York Wentworth Way York, North Yorkshire YO10 5DD UK
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38
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James DG, Seymour L, Lauby G, Buckley K. Beneficial insects attracted to native flowering buckwheats (Eriogonum Michx) in central Washington. ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY 2014; 43:942-948. [PMID: 24960157 DOI: 10.1603/en13342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Native plant and beneficial insect associations are relatively unstudied yet are important in native habitat restoration programs aimed at improving conservation biological control in perennial crops such as wine grapes. Beneficial insects (predators, parasitoids, pollinators) attracted to 10 species of flowering native wild buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.) in central Washington were identified and counted on transparent sticky traps. Combining all categories of beneficial insects, the mean number per trap ranged from 48.5 (Eriogonum umbellatum) to 167.7 (Eriogonum elatum). Three Eriogonum spp. (E. elatum, Eriogonum compositum, and Eriogonum niveum) attracted significantly more beneficial insects than the lowest-ranked species. E. niveum attracted greatest numbers of bees and parasitic wasps, and E. elatum was highly attractive to predatory true bugs and beneficial flies. Blooming periods of Eriogonum spp. extended from mid April to the end of September. This study demonstrates the attraction of beneficial insects to native flowering buckwheats and suggests their potential as a component of habitat restoration strategies to improve and sustain conservation biological control in Washington viticulture.
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Affiliation(s)
- David G James
- Department of Entomology, Washington State University, Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center, 24106 N. Bunn Road, Prosser, WA 99350, USA
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Schneider MK, Lüscher G, Jeanneret P, Arndorfer M, Ammari Y, Bailey D, Balázs K, Báldi A, Choisis JP, Dennis P, Eiter S, Fjellstad W, Fraser MD, Frank T, Friedel JK, Garchi S, Geijzendorffer IR, Gomiero T, Gonzalez-Bornay G, Hector A, Jerkovich G, Jongman RH, Kakudidi E, Kainz M, Kovács-Hostyánszki A, Moreno G, Nkwiine C, Opio J, Oschatz ML, Paoletti MG, Pointereau P, Pulido FJ, Sarthou JP, Siebrecht N, Sommaggio D, Turnbull LA, Wolfrum S, Herzog F. Gains to species diversity in organically farmed fields are not propagated at the farm level. Nat Commun 2014; 5:4151. [DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2013] [Accepted: 05/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
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Phalan B, Green R, Balmford A. Closing yield gaps: perils and possibilities for biodiversity conservation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2014; 369:20120285. [PMID: 24535392 PMCID: PMC3928889 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing agricultural productivity to 'close yield gaps' creates both perils and possibilities for biodiversity conservation. Yield increases often have negative impacts on species within farmland, but at the same time could potentially make it more feasible to minimize further cropland expansion into natural habitats. We combine global data on yield gaps, projected future production of maize, rice and wheat, the distributions of birds and their estimated sensitivity to changes in crop yields to map where it might be most beneficial for bird conservation to close yield gaps as part of a land-sparing strategy, and where doing so might be most damaging. Closing yield gaps to attainable levels to meet projected demand in 2050 could potentially help spare an area equivalent to that of the Indian subcontinent. Increasing yields this much on existing farmland would inevitably reduce its biodiversity, and therefore we advocate efforts both to constrain further increases in global food demand, and to identify the least harmful ways of increasing yields. The land-sparing potential of closing yield gaps will not be realized without specific mechanisms to link yield increases to habitat protection (and restoration), and therefore we suggest that conservationists, farmers, crop scientists and policy-makers collaborate to explore promising mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Phalan
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Rhys Green
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, UK
| | - Andrew Balmford
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
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41
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Godfray HCJ, Garnett T. Food security and sustainable intensification. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2014; 369:20120273. [PMID: 24535385 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 273] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The coming decades are likely to see increasing pressures on the global food system, both on the demand side from increasing population and per capita consumption, and on the supply side from greater competition for inputs and from climate change. This paper argues that the magnitude of the challenge is such that action is needed throughout the food system, on moderating demand, reducing waste, improving governance and producing more food. It discusses in detail the last component, arguing that more food should be produced using sustainable intensification (SI) strategies, and explores the rationale behind, and meaning of, this term. It also investigates how SI may interact with other food policy agendas, in particular, land use and biodiversity, animal welfare and human nutrition.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Charles J Godfray
- Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, Oxford University, , South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
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42
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Tuck SL, Winqvist C, Mota F, Ahnström J, Turnbull LA, Bengtsson J. Land-use intensity and the effects of organic farming on biodiversity: a hierarchical meta-analysis. J Appl Ecol 2014; 51:746-755. [PMID: 25653457 PMCID: PMC4299503 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 223] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2013] [Accepted: 12/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The benefits of organic farming to biodiversity in agricultural landscapes continue to be hotly debated, emphasizing the importance of precisely quantifying the effect of organic vs. conventional farming. We conducted an updated hierarchical meta‐analysis of studies that compared biodiversity under organic and conventional farming methods, measured as species richness. We calculated effect sizes for 184 observations garnered from 94 studies, and for each study, we obtained three standardized measures reflecting land‐use intensity. We investigated the stability of effect sizes through time, publication bias due to the ‘file drawer’ problem, and consider whether the current literature is representative of global organic farming patterns. On average, organic farming increased species richness by about 30%. This result has been robust over the last 30 years of published studies and shows no sign of diminishing. Organic farming had a greater effect on biodiversity as the percentage of the landscape consisting of arable fields increased, that is, it is higher in intensively farmed regions. The average effect size and the response to agricultural intensification depend on taxonomic group, functional group and crop type. There is some evidence for publication bias in the literature; however, our results are robust to its impact. Current studies are heavily biased towards northern and western Europe and North America, while other regions with large areas of organic farming remain poorly investigated. Synthesis and applications. Our analysis affirms that organic farming has large positive effects on biodiversity compared with conventional farming, but that the effect size varies with the organism group and crop studied, and is greater in landscapes with higher land‐use intensity. Decisions about where to site organic farms to maximize biodiversity will, however, depend on the costs as well as the potential benefits. Current studies have been heavily biased towards agricultural systems in the developed world. We recommend that future studies pay greater attention to other regions, in particular, areas with tropical, subtropical and Mediterranean climates, in which very few studies have been conducted.
Our analysis affirms that organic farming has large positive effects on biodiversity compared with conventional farming, but that the effect size varies with the organism group and crop studied, and is greater in landscapes with higher land‐use intensity. Decisions about where to site organic farms to maximize biodiversity will, however, depend on the costs as well as the potential benefits. Current studies have been heavily biased towards agricultural systems in the developed world. We recommend that future studies pay greater attention to other regions, in particular, areas with tropical, subtropical and Mediterranean climates, in which very few studies have been conducted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean L Tuck
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK
| | - Camilla Winqvist
- Section for Landscape and Soil Ecology, Department of Ecology, SLU Box 7044, Uppsala, S-750 07, Sweden
| | - Flávia Mota
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Johan Ahnström
- Section for Landscape and Soil Ecology, Department of Ecology, SLU Box 7044, Uppsala, S-750 07, Sweden
| | - Lindsay A Turnbull
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK ; Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Janne Bengtsson
- Section for Landscape and Soil Ecology, Department of Ecology, SLU Box 7044, Uppsala, S-750 07, Sweden
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Fischer J, Abson DJ, Butsic V, Chappell MJ, Ekroos J, Hanspach J, Kuemmerle T, Smith HG, Wehrden H. Land Sparing Versus Land Sharing: Moving Forward. Conserv Lett 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/conl.12084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 332] [Impact Index Per Article: 33.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Joern Fischer
- Faculty of Sustainability Leuphana University Lueneburg Scharnhorststrasse 1 21335 Lueneburg Germany
| | - David J. Abson
- Futures Research Center Leuphana University Lueneburg Scharnhorststrasse 1 21335 Lueneburg Germany
| | - Van Butsic
- Geography Department Humboldt‐University Berlin Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin Germany
- Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO) Theodor‐Lieser‐Str.2 D‐06120 Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - M. Jahi Chappell
- School of the Environment Washington State University Vancouver 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue Vancouver WA 98686‐9600 USA
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy 2105 First Avenue South Minneapolis MN 55404 USA
| | - Johan Ekroos
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Research Lund University Ecology Building 22362 Lund Sweden
| | - Jan Hanspach
- Faculty of Sustainability Leuphana University Lueneburg Scharnhorststrasse 1 21335 Lueneburg Germany
| | - Tobias Kuemmerle
- Geography Department & Integrative Research Institute on Human‐Environment Systems (IRI THESys) Humboldt‐University Berlin Germany
| | - Henrik G. Smith
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Research Lund University Ecology Building 22362 Lund Sweden
- Department of Biology Lund University Ecology Building 22362 Lund Sweden
| | - Henrik Wehrden
- Faculty of Sustainability Leuphana University Lueneburg Scharnhorststrasse 1 21335 Lueneburg Germany
- Futures Research Center Leuphana University Lueneburg Scharnhorststrasse 1 21335 Lueneburg Germany
- Center for Methods Leuphana University Lueneburg Scharnhorststrasse 1 21335 Lueneburg Germany
- Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology Savoyen Strasse 1 Vienna 1160 Austria
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44
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Gabriel D, Sait SM, Kunin WE, Benton TG. Food production vs. biodiversity: comparing organic and conventional agriculture. J Appl Ecol 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 113] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Doreen Gabriel
- School of Biology; University of Leeds; Leeds LS2 9JT UK
- Institute for Crop and Soil Science; Julius Kühn-Institute - Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants; Bundesallee 50 D-38116 Braunschweig Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity; Thünen Institute - Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Fisheries and Forestry; Bundesallee 50 D-38116 Braunschweig Germany
| | - Steven M. Sait
- School of Biology; University of Leeds; Leeds LS2 9JT UK
| | | | - Tim G. Benton
- School of Biology; University of Leeds; Leeds LS2 9JT UK
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Loeuille N, Barot S, Georgelin E, Kylafis G, Lavigne C. Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Agricultural Networks. ADV ECOL RES 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-420002-9.00006-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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A novel and cost-effective monitoring approach for outcomes in an Australian biodiversity conservation incentive program. PLoS One 2012; 7:e50872. [PMID: 23236399 PMCID: PMC3516526 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2012] [Accepted: 10/25/2012] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
We report on the design and implementation of ecological monitoring for an Australian biodiversity conservation incentive scheme – the Environmental Stewardship Program. The Program uses competitive auctions to contract individual land managers for up to 15 years to conserve matters of National Environmental Significance (with an initial priority on nationally threatened ecological communities). The ecological monitoring was explicitly aligned with the Program’s policy objective and desired outcomes and was applied to the Program’s initial Project which targeted the critically endangered White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland ecological community in south eastern Australia. These woodlands have been reduced to <3% of their original extent and persist mostly as small remnants of variable condition on private farmland. We established monitoring sites on 153 farms located over 172,232 sq km. On each farm we established a monitoring site within the woodland patch funded for management and, wherever possible, a matched control site. The monitoring has entailed gathering data on vegetation condition, reptiles and birds. We also gathered data on the costs of experimental design, site establishment, field survey, and data analysis. The costs of monitoring are approximately 8.5% of the Program’s investment in the first four years and hence are in broad accord with the general rule of thumb that 5–10% of a program’s funding should be invested in monitoring. Once initial monitoring and site benchmarking are completed we propose to implement a novel rotating sampling approach that will maintain scientific integrity while achieving an annual cost-efficiency of up to 23%. We discuss useful lessons relevant to other monitoring programs where there is a need to provide managers with reliable early evidence of program effectiveness and to demonstrate opportunities for cost-efficiencies.
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Mastrangelo ME, Gavin MC. Trade-offs between cattle production and bird conservation in an agricultural frontier of the Gran Chaco of Argentina. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2012; 26:1040-1051. [PMID: 22862688 DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01904.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2011] [Accepted: 04/11/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Intensification of food production in tropical landscapes in the absence of land-use planning can pose a major threat to biological diversity. Decisions on whether to spatially integrate or segregate lands for production and conservation depend in part on the functional relations between biological diversity and agricultural productivity. We measured diversity, density, and species composition of birds along a gradient of production intensification on an agricultural frontier of the Argentine Chaco, where dry tropical forests are cleared for cattle production. Bird species diversity in intact forests was higher than in any type of cattle-production system. Bird species richness decreased nonlinearly as cattle yield increased. Intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems, those in which forest understory is selectively cleared to grow pastures of non-native plants beneath the tree canopy, produced 80% of the mean cattle yield obtained in pastures on cleared areas and were occupied by 70-90% of the number of bird species present in the nearest forest fragments. Densities of >50% of bird species were significantly lower in open pastures than in silvopastoral systems. Therefore, intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems may have the greatest potential to sustain cattle yield and conserve a large percentage of bird species. However, compared with low-intensity production systems, in which forest structure and extent were intact, intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems supported significantly fewer forest-restricted bird species and fewer frugivorous birds. These data suggest that the integration of production and conservation through intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems combined with the protection of forest fragments may be required to maintain cattle yield, bird diversity, and conservation of forest-restricted species in this agricultural frontier.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matias E Mastrangelo
- Victoria University of Wellington, School of Geography, Environment, and Earth Sciences, P.O. Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
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50
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Anderson-Teixeira KJ, Duval BD, Long SP, DeLucia EH. Biofuels on the landscape: is "land sharing" preferable to "land sparing"? ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2012; 22:2035-2048. [PMID: 23387108 DOI: 10.1890/12-0711.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Widespread land use changes, and ensuing effects on ecosystem services, are expected from expanding bioenergy production. Although most U.S. production of ethanol is from corn, it is envisaged that future ethanol production will also draw from cellulosic sources such as perennial grasses. In selecting optimal bioenergy crops, there is debate as to whether it is preferable from an environmental standpoint to cultivate bioenergy crops with high ecosystem services (a "land-sharing" strategy) or to grow crops with lower ecosystem services but higher yield, thereby requiring less land to meet bioenergy demand (a "land-sparing" strategy). Here, we develop a simple model to address this question. Assuming that bioenergy crops are competing with uncultivated land, our model calculates land requirements to meet a given bioenergy demand intensity based upon the yields of bioenergy crops. The model combines fractional land cover of each ecosystem type with its associated ecosystem services to determine whether land-sharing or land-sparing strategies maximize ecosystem services at the landscape level. We apply this model to a case in which climate protection through GHG regulation--an ecosystem's greenhouse gas value (GHGV)--is the ecosystem service of interest. Our results show that the relative advantages of land sparing and land sharing depend upon the type of ecosystem displaced by the bioenergy crop; as the GHGV of the unfarmed land increases, the preferable strategy shifts from land sharing to land sparing. Although it may be preferable to replace ecologically degraded land with high-GHGV, lower yielding bioenergy crops, average landscape GHGV will most often be maximized through high-yielding bioenergy crops that leave more land for uncultivated, high-GHGV ecosystems. Although our case study focuses on GHGV, the same principles will be applicable to any ecosystem service whose value does not depend upon the spatial configuration of the landscape. Whenever bioenergy crops have substantially lower ecosystem services than the ecosystems with which they are competing for land, the most effective strategy for meeting bioenergy demand while maximizing ecosystem services on a landscape level is one of land sparing: focusing simultaneously on maximizing the yield of bioenergy crops while preserving or restoring natural ecosystems.
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