4. Farmland Conservation

Expert assessors Lynn V. Dicks, University of Cambridge, UK Ian Hodge, University of Cambridge, UK Clunie Keenleyside, Institute for European Environmental Policy, UK Will Peach, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK Nicola Randall, Harper Adams University, UK Jörn Scharlemann, United Nations Environment Programme — World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UK Gavin Siriwardena, British Trust for Ornithology, UK Henrik Smith, Lund University, Sweden Rebecca K. Smith, University of Cambrid..

The interplay of landscape composition and configuration: new pathways to manage functional biodiversity and agroecosystem services across Europe

Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity and ecosystem services is a key aim of a sustainable agriculture. However, how the spatial arrangement of crop fields and other habitats in landscapes impacts arthropods and their functions is poorly known. Synthesising data from 49 studies (1515 landscapes) across Europe, we examined effects of landscape composition (% habitats) and configuration (edge density) on arthropods in fields and their margins, pest control, pollination and yields. Configuration effects interacted with the proportions of crop and non‐crop habitats, and species’ dietary, dispersal and overwintering traits led to contrasting responses to landscape variables. Overall, however, in landscapes with high edge density, 70% of pollinator and 44% of natural enemy species reached highest abundances and pollination and pest control improved 1.7‐ and 1.4‐fold respectively. Arable‐dominated landscapes with high edge densities achieved high yields. This suggests that enhancing edge density in European agroecosystems can promote functional biodiversity and yield‐enhancing ecosystem services

What Works in Conservation 2018

This book provides an assessment of the effectiveness of 1277 conservation interventions based on summarized scientific evidence. The 2018 edition contains new chapters covering practical global conservation of primates, peatlands, shrublands and heathlands, management of captive animals as well as an extended chapter on control of freshwater invasive species. Other chapters cover global conservation of amphibians, bats, birds and forests, conservation of European farmland biodiversity and some aspects of enhancing natural pest control, enhancing soil fertility and control of freshwater invasive species. It contains key results from the summarized evidence for each conservation intervention and an assessment of the effectiveness of each by international expert panels. The accompanying website www.conservationevidence.com describes each of the studies individually, and provides full references

Ecological interventions in agricultural landscapes - scale matters!

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) affects about half of the land area of the EU and allocates close to 40% of the EU’s budget. Consequently, CAP has great potential to guide land management decisions towards multifunctional agricultural landscapes supporting both commodity production and biodiversity. The 2015 “greening” reform was an attempt to increase the multifunctionality of agricultural landscapes, but has been heavily criticized as a failure. Among other things, there are complaints that interventions proposed to benefit public goods are of inadequate quality and the rules for their implementation lack a landscape perspective. The research done in MULTAGRI investigated how a landscape perspective could be used to develop more cost-efficient interventions and Agricultural policies

Landskapsperspektivet

Ett landskapsperspektiv krävs för att effektivt bevara biologisk mångfald och gynna ekosystemtjänster, eftersom de bakomliggande ekologiska processerna sker på rumsliga skalor som är större än enskilda fält och gårdar. Genom att förstå dessa processer bidrar forskningsmiljön SAPES och associerade forskningsprojekt till att visa värdet av att lantbrukare samarbetar för att gemensamt gynna ekosystemtjänster, liksom hur samhället kan rikta åtgärder för olika typer av landskap för att bäst gynna biologisk mångfald och ekosystemtjänster. Vi föreslår att naturliga habitat bör bevaras på flera rumsliga skalor, från småbiotoper på små skalor till reservat på stora skalor, så att både arter viktiga för ekosystemtjänster och sällsynta arter gynnas