Landscape ecology and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Abstract

Agriculture is mainly seen as a threat for biodiversity of agroecosystems. Intensification of agriculture and its expansion into marginal lands has substantially modified the physiognomy of rural landscapes through fragmentation and homogenisation, promoting the loss of both natural habitats and biodiversity (Benton et al., 2003). Nevertheless, agricultural landscapes harbour an important range of biodiversity, both within crops and in non-crop habitat (Storkey et al., 2012). The landscape level controls part of biodiversity structure and dynamics. In agricultural landscapes, emphasis has been put on the role of semi-natural elements for the fate of biodiversity (Tscharntke et al., 2005, Billeter et al., 2008). But it has been shown for many taxa that agricultural matrix matters (Kuroe et al., 2011, Anderson et al., 2007, Watling et al., 2010). In this special issue we address the role of semi natural areas at the landscape level, and consider the landscape effects on biodiversity for agriculture, e.g. weeds, pests and auxiliary organisms. Moreover, this issue comprises a wide variety of agricultural environments, which range from the millennial farming systems of China and Europe to the much more recent ones in the New World, as well as the contrasting levels of agricultural intensification, such as in Western and Eastern Europe