Journal ArticleDOI
Farmland biodiversity: is habitat heterogeneity the key?
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors argue that the loss of ecological heterogeneity at multiple spatial and temporal scales is a universal consequence of multivariate agricultural intensification and that future research should develop cross-cutting policy frameworks and management solutions that recreate that heterogeneity as the key to restoring and sustaining biodiversity in temperate agricultural systems.Abstract:
Agricultural intensification has led to a widespread decline in farmland biodiversity measured across many different taxa. The changes in agricultural practices affect many different aspects of the farmland habitat, but agricultural industry, policy and much previous research has tended to be concerned with specific sectors or practices (e.g. pesticide use or cereal husbandry). Here, we review the empirical literature to synthesize the research effort that has been directed to investigate specific practices or goals to make general statements regarding the causes and consequences of farmland biodiversity decline. We argue that the loss of ecological heterogeneity at multiple spatial and temporal scales is a universal consequence of multivariate agricultural intensification and, therefore, that future research should develop cross-cutting policy frameworks and management solutions that recreate that heterogeneity as the key to restoring and sustaining biodiversity in temperate agricultural systems.read more
Citations
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Landscape perspectives on agricultural intensification and biodiversity – ecosystem service management
TL;DR: In this article, the negative and positive effects of agricultural land use for the conservation of biodiversity, and its relation to ecosystem services, need a landscape perspective, which is difficult to be found in the literature.
REVIEWS AND SYNTHESES Landscape perspectives on agricultural intensification and biodiversity - ecosystem service management
TL;DR: In this article, the negative and positive effects of agricultural land use for the conservation of biodiversity, and its relation to ecosystem services, need a landscape perspective, which may compensate for local highintensity management.
Journal ArticleDOI
Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation: a synthesis
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on individual species and the processes threatening them, and human-perceived landscape patterns and their correlation with species and assemblages, as well as additional, stochastic threats such as habitat loss, habitat degradation, habitat isolation and habitat isolation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sustainable pest regulation in agricultural landscapes: a review on landscape composition, biodiversity and natural pest control
TL;DR: It is concluded that diversified landscapes hold most potential for the conservation of biodiversity and sustaining the pest control function and similar contributions of these landscape factors suggest that all are equally important in enhancing natural enemy populations.
Journal ArticleDOI
The effects of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta-analysis
TL;DR: It is suggested that positive effects of organic farming on species richness can be expected in intensively managed agricultural landscapes, but not in small-scale landscapes comprising many other biotopes as well as agricultural fields.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Behavioral decisions made under the risk of predation: a review and prospectus
Steven L. Lima,Lawrence M. Dill +1 more
TL;DR: This work has shown that predation is a major selective force in the evolution of several morphological and behavioral characteristics of animals and the importance of predation during evolutionary time has been underestimated.
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Agricultural intensification and the collapse of Europe's farmland bird populations
TL;DR: The results suggest that recent trends in agriculture have had deleterious and measurable effects on bird populations on a continental scale and predict that the introduction of EU agricultural policies into former communist countries hoping to accede to the EU in the near future will result in significant declines in the important bird populations there.
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Post‐war changes in arable farming and biodiversity in Great Britain
TL;DR: In this article, the changes in agriculture and biodiversity in Britain since the 1940s have been quantified, showing that since 1945, there has been a 65% decline in the number of farms, a 77% reduction in farm labour and an almost fourfold increase in yield.
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Changes in the abundance of farmland birds in relation to the timing of agricultural intensification in England and Wales.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed trends in agricultural management in order to quantify the degree of intensification, and have considered how they match change in the farmland bird community, and concluded that large shifts in agriculture management are a plausible explanation for the declines in farmland bird populations.
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The second Silent Spring
TL;DR: The drive to squeeze ever more food from the land has sent Europe's farmland wildlife into a precipitous decline as discussed by the authors, and how can agricultural policy be reformed so that we have fewer grain mountains and more skylarks?