42 research outputs found
Agroforestry systems of high nature and cultural value in Europe: provision of commercial goods and other ecosystem services
Land use systems that integrate woody vegetation with livestock and/or crops and are recognised for their biodiversity and cultural importance can be termed high nature and cultural value (HNCV) agroforestry. In this review, based on the literature and stakeholder knowledge, we describe the structure, components and management practices of ten contrasting HNCV agroforestry systems distributed across five European bioclimatic regions. We also compile and categorize the ecosystem services provided by these agroforestry systems, following the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services. HNCV agroforestry in Europe generally enhances biodiversity and regulating ecosystem services relative to conventional agriculture and forestry. These systems can reduce fire risk, compared to conventional forestry, and can increase carbon sequestration, moderate the microclimate, and reduce soil erosion and nutrient leaching compared to conventional agriculture. However, some of the evidence is location specific and a better geographical coverage is needed to generalize patterns at broader scales. Although some traditional practices and products have been abandoned, many of the studied systems continue to provide multiple woody and non-woody plant products and high-quality food from livestock and game. Some of the cultural value of these systems can also be captured through tourism and local events. However there remains a continual challenge for farmers, landowners and society to fully translate the positive social and environmental impacts of HNCV agroforestry into market prices for the products and services
Agricultural land-use change and ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) colonization in Pyrenean landscapes: an interdisciplinary case study
 ONLINE FIRSTInternational audienceChanges in agricultural land use are responsible for significant modifications in mountain landscapes. This study is part of an interdisciplinary research on the processes and consequences of spontaneous afforestation of Pyrenean landscapes by ash, and the possibilities for its management. We address the relationships between vegetation dynamics and land-use change from the combination of an agricultural study of change in farm management and an ecological study of grassland colonization by ash. In the framework of a village case study, we characterized parcels management and land-use histories, and analyzed the dynamics of the composition of grassland vegetation communities. From a joint analysis of the results obtained in each discipline, we discuss the limitations and comple-mentarities of the two approaches for the interdisciplinary assessment of the afforestation process
Combining farmers' decision rules and landscape stochastic regularities for landscape modelling
International audienceLandscape spatial organization (LSO) strongly impacts many environmental issues. Modelling agricultural landscapes and describing meaningful landscape patterns are thus regarded as key-issues for designing sustainable landscapes. Agricultural landscapes are mostly designed by farmers. Their decisions dealing with crop choices and crop allocation to land can be generic and result in landscape regularities, which determine LSO. This paper comes within the emerging discipline called "landscape agronomy", aiming at studying the organization of farming practices at the landscape scale. We here aim at articulating the farm and the landscape scales for landscape modelling. To do so, we develop an original approach consisting in the combination of two methods used separately so far: the identification of explicit farmer decision rules through on-farm surveys methods and the identification of landscape stochastic regularities through data-mining. We applied this approach to the Niort plain landscape in France. Results show that generic farmer decision rules dealing with sunflower or maize area and location within landscapes are consistent with spatiotemporal regularities identified at the landscape scale. It results in a segmentation of the landscape, based on both its spatial and temporal organization and partly explained by generic farmer decision rules. This consistency between results points out that the two modelling methods aid one another for land-use modelling at landscape scale and for understanding the driving forces of its spatial organization. Despite some remaining challenges, our study in landscape agronomy accounts for both spatial and temporal dimensions of crop allocation: it allows the drawing of new spatial patterns coherent with land-use dynamics at the landscape scale, which improves the links to the scale of ecological processes and therefore contributes to landscape ecology.L'organisation du paysage influe sur les problèmes environnementaux. Modéliser les paysages pour les décrire à l'aide de formes significatives est une étage clé. Les paysages agricoles sont principalement construits par les agriculteurs dont les décision d'assolement peuvent être génériques et déterminer des régularités dans l'organisation du paysage. Cet article contribue à l'agronomie des paysage qui est une discipline émergente. Nous cherchons à articuler les échelles du paysage et de l'exploitation agricole en développant deux méthodes : l'une consiste à identifier les décisions des agriculteurs par le bais d'enquêtes, l'autre consiste à retrouver des régularités stochastiques dans le paysage par le bais de fouille de données. Nous avons appliqué cette approche au paysage de la plaine de Niort en France. Les résultats montrent que les décisions des agriculteurs en matière de tournesol et maïs sont génériques et ont des effets sur le paysages que des méthodes de fouille de données révèlent et quantifient
Farmers' involvement in landscape activities:an analysis of the relationship between farm location, farm characteristics and landscape changes in two study areas in Jutland, Denmark
Crop patterns and habitat preferences of the grey partridge farmland bird
Agricultural changes such as intensification and specialization are thought
to be the major source of the severe decline of farmland bird populations
observed on large spatial scales and over long time spans in Europe. We
studied farmers' practices at a local level on 22 farms from the Beauce
area, France, with regard to habitat preferences of grey partridge, Perdix perdix L. We
focused on the study of vegetation cover because it influences grey
partridge's reproduction and survival. The results revealed a high
diversity of vegetation cover over the municipal territory. This high diversity
can be explained by (1) the difference in the crops cultivated by the farmers, only
wheat being cultivated by all the farmers; (2)Â the diversity of elementary
crop sequences implemented, as many as 51 having been identified; and (3)
the field size, which varies from 0.5 ha to 57 ha, with 54% of fields
smaller than 10 ha. Altogether, this potentially creates six different
habitat types, 32% of the arable land surveyed being a likely suitable
habitat for the grey partridge. We found that irrigation was the main
driving factor of vegetation cover diversity. Indeed irrigation controls the
farms' crop acreage, the crop sequences and their spatial pattern and field
size. Nonetheless, irrigation practices show both positive, e.g. crop diversity,
and negative aspects, e.g. large fields and clutch failure, for
ground-nesting birds such as the grey partridge. Based on these results, a
GIS modeling of the municipal landscape related to grey partridge's
habitat requirements is possible and would allow a deeper analysis of the
impact of crop diversity on grey partridge populations
Crop patterns and habitat preferences of the grey partridge farmland bird
Agricultural changes such as intensification and specialization are thought
to be the major source of the severe decline of farmland bird populations
observed on large spatial scales and over long time spans in Europe. We
studied farmers' practices at a local level on 22 farms from the Beauce
area, France, with regard to habitat preferences of grey partridge, Perdix perdix L. We
focused on the study of vegetation cover because it influences grey
partridge's reproduction and survival. The results revealed a high
diversity of vegetation cover over the municipal territory. This high diversity
can be explained by (1) the difference in the crops cultivated by the farmers, only
wheat being cultivated by all the farmers; (2)Â the diversity of elementary
crop sequences implemented, as many as 51 having been identified; and (3)
the field size, which varies from 0.5 ha to 57 ha, with 54% of fields
smaller than 10 ha. Altogether, this potentially creates six different
habitat types, 32% of the arable land surveyed being a likely suitable
habitat for the grey partridge. We found that irrigation was the main
driving factor of vegetation cover diversity. Indeed irrigation controls the
farms' crop acreage, the crop sequences and their spatial pattern and field
size. Nonetheless, irrigation practices show both positive, e.g. crop diversity,
and negative aspects, e.g. large fields and clutch failure, for
ground-nesting birds such as the grey partridge. Based on these results, a
GIS modeling of the municipal landscape related to grey partridge's
habitat requirements is possible and would allow a deeper analysis of the
impact of crop diversity on grey partridge populations
Aménagement du paysage et pratiques agricoles : quelles combinaisons dans la gestion des bassins versants
National audienc
N-NITRATE SIGNATURE IN LOW-ORDER STREAMS: EFFECTS OF LAND COVER AND AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES
International audienceMany studies have shown that intensive agricultural practices significantly increase the nitrogen concentration of stream surface waters, but it remains difficult to identify, quantify, and differentiate between terrestrial and in-stream sources or sinks of nitrogen, and rates of transformation. In this study we used the d 15 N-NO 3 signature in a watershed dominated by agriculture as an integrating marker to trace (1) the effects of the land cover and agricultural practices on stream-water N concentration in the upstream area of the hydrographic network, (2) influence of the in-stream processes on the NO 3-N loads at the reach scale (100 m and 1000 m long), and (3) changes in d 15 N-NO 3 signature with increasing stream order (from first to third order). This study suggests that land cover and fertilization practices were the major determinants of d 15 N-NO 3 signature in first-order streams. NO 3-N loads and d 15 N-NO 3 signature increased with fertilization intensity. Small changes in d 15 N-NO 3 signature and minor inputs of groundwater were observed along both types of reaches, suggesting the NO 3-N load was slightly influenced by in-stream processes. The variability of NO 3-N concentrations and d 15 N signature decreased with increasing stream order, and the d 15 N signature was positively correlated with watershed areas devoted to crops, supporting a dominant effect of agriculture compared to the effect of in-stream N processing. Consequently, land cover and fertilization practices are integrated in the natural isotopic signal at the third-order stream scale. The GIS analysis of the land cover coupled with natural-abundance isotope signature (d 15 N) represents a potential tool to evaluate the effects of agricultural practices in rural catchments and the consequences of future changes in management policies at the regional scale
Gestion de la biodiversite dans une reion d'elevage bovin: Les prairies permanentes du Pays d'Auge, France
The analysis of grassland vegetation in the Pays d'Auge (France) is done from several standpoints: botany, ecology and agronomy. A description of the grassland habitats and of the landscape as a function of the physical environment is performed. The agroecological approach, taking the diversity of farming practices into account, points out the effects of those practices on plant species richness and composition in different habitats. Field experiment on abandonment and extensification leads to new questions on their efficiency to restore floristic diversity. Remote sensing provides a global image of the region consistent with the previous approaches. In conclusion the authors emphasize the interdisciplinary and multi—level approach which is needed for a better assessment and management of grassland plant diversity at the regional scale
N-NITRATE SIGNATURE IN LOW-ORDER STREAMS: EFFECTS OF LAND COVER AND AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES
International audienceMany studies have shown that intensive agricultural practices significantly increase the nitrogen concentration of stream surface waters, but it remains difficult to identify, quantify, and differentiate between terrestrial and in-stream sources or sinks of nitrogen, and rates of transformation. In this study we used the d 15 N-NO 3 signature in a watershed dominated by agriculture as an integrating marker to trace (1) the effects of the land cover and agricultural practices on stream-water N concentration in the upstream area of the hydrographic network, (2) influence of the in-stream processes on the NO 3-N loads at the reach scale (100 m and 1000 m long), and (3) changes in d 15 N-NO 3 signature with increasing stream order (from first to third order). This study suggests that land cover and fertilization practices were the major determinants of d 15 N-NO 3 signature in first-order streams. NO 3-N loads and d 15 N-NO 3 signature increased with fertilization intensity. Small changes in d 15 N-NO 3 signature and minor inputs of groundwater were observed along both types of reaches, suggesting the NO 3-N load was slightly influenced by in-stream processes. The variability of NO 3-N concentrations and d 15 N signature decreased with increasing stream order, and the d 15 N signature was positively correlated with watershed areas devoted to crops, supporting a dominant effect of agriculture compared to the effect of in-stream N processing. Consequently, land cover and fertilization practices are integrated in the natural isotopic signal at the third-order stream scale. The GIS analysis of the land cover coupled with natural-abundance isotope signature (d 15 N) represents a potential tool to evaluate the effects of agricultural practices in rural catchments and the consequences of future changes in management policies at the regional scale