Policy recommendations for increasing ecosystem services from trees in agricultural landscapes

Trees provide a wide range of benefits for agriculture and farmers, with the potential to increase economic returns and support agricultural resilience. Planting more trees on farms can address multiple policy goals, including the UK’s aim to become carbon neutral by 2050 and the overhaul of the UK agricultural policies to a better, fairer and sustainable farming system. This policy brief summarises the current evidence base around tree planting on agricultural land, outlining the positive and negative impacts different tree-planting interventions can have for different stakeholders. Benefit of tree-planting schemes will depend on the planting scheme, agricultural system, scale of implementation and landscape context. To increase the uptake and positive environmental impact of tree planting on agricultural land in the UK, the following challenges should be addressed: Support farmer decision making Increase empirical evidence Provide concrete funding opportunities through the Environmental Land Management Schem

Effects of large herbivores on grassland arthropod diversity

Both arthropods and large grazing herbivores are important components and drivers of biodiversity in grassland ecosystems, but a synthesis of how arthropod diversity is affected by large herbivores has been largely missing. To fill this gap, we conducted a literature search, which yielded 141 studies on this topic of which 24 simultaneously investigated plant and arthropod diversity. Using the data from these 24 studies, we compared the responses of plant and arthropod diversity to an increase in grazing intensity. This quantitative assessment showed no overall significant effect of increasing grazing intensity on plant diversity, while arthropod diversity was generally negatively affected. To understand these negative effects, we explored the mechanisms by which large herbivores affect arthropod communities: direct effects, changes in vegetation structure, changes in plant community composition, changes in soil conditions, and cascading effects within the arthropod interaction web. We identify three main factors determining the effects of large herbivores on arthropod diversity: (i) unintentional predation and increased disturbance, (ii) decreases in total resource abundance for arthropods (biomass) and (iii) changes in plant diversity, vegetation structure and abiotic conditions. In general, heterogeneity in vegetation structure and abiotic conditions increases at intermediate grazing intensity, but declines at both low and high grazing intensity. We conclude that large herbivores can only increase arthropod diversity if they cause an increase in (a)biotic heterogeneity, and then only if this increase is large enough to compensate for the loss of total resource abundance and the increased mortality rate. This is expected to occur only at low herbivore densities or with spatio-temporal variation in herbivore densities. As we demonstrate that arthropod diversity is often more negatively affected by grazing than plant diversity, we strongly recommend considering the specific requirements of arthropods when applying grazing management and to include arthropods in monitoring schemes. Conservation strategies aiming at maximizing heterogeneity, including regulation of herbivore densities (through human interventions or top-down control), maintenance of different types of management in close proximity and rotational grazing regimes, are the most promising options to conserve arthropod diversity

Species-area relationships are modulated by trophic rank, habitat affinity, and dispersal ability

Contains fulltext : 140052.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Citizen Science Monitoring for Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 6.3.2 in England and Zambia

Citizen science has the potential to support the delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its integration into national monitoring schemes. In this study, we explored the opportunities and biases of citizen science (CS) data when used either as a primary or secondary source for SDG 6.3.2 reporting. We used data from waterbodies with both CS and regulatory monitoring in England and Zambia to explore their biases and complementarity. A comparative analysis of regulatory and CS data provided key information on appropriate sampling frequency, site selection, and measurement parameters necessary for robust SDG reporting. The results showed elevated agreement for pass/fail ratios and indicator scores for English waterbodies (80%) and demonstrated that CS data improved for granularity and spatial coverage for SDG indicator scoring, even when extensive statutory monitoring programs were present. In Zambia, management authorities are actively using citizen science projects to increase spatial and temporal coverage for SDG reporting. Our results indicate that design considerations for SDG focused citizen science can address local needs and provide a more representative indicator of the state of a nation’s freshwater ecosystems for international reporting requirements

Appendix E. Output for GLMM analysis to test for separate effect of trophic rank within medium/good dispersing species.

Output for GLMM analysis to test for separate effect of trophic rank within medium/good dispersing species

Appendix D. AIC scores for the generalized linear mixed models of activity density per habitat preference group.

AIC scores for the generalized linear mixed models of activity density per habitat preference group

Appendix C. Output for GLMM analyses testing for effects of trophic rank, dispersal ability, and body size on SAR.

Output for GLMM analyses testing for effects of trophic rank, dispersal ability, and body size on SAR

Appendix A. Map of sampling sites across Europe and data selection method.

Map of sampling sites across Europe and data selection method

Appendix B. Table of all carabid beetle species in our data set and their characteristics.

Table of all carabid beetle species in our data set and their characteristics