Farmland biodiversity and agricultural management on 237 farms in 13 European and two African regions

Farmland is a major land cover type in Europe and Africa and provides habitat for numerous species. The severe decline in farmland biodiversity of the last decades has been attributed to changes in farming practices, and organic and low-input farming are assumed to mitigate detrimental effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity. Since the farm enterprise is the primary unit of agricultural decision making, management-related effects at the field scale need to be assessed at the farm level. Therefore, in this study, data were collected on habitat characteristics, vascular plant, earthworm, spider, and bee communities and on the corresponding agricultural management in 237 farms in 13 European and two African regions. In 15 environmental and agricultural homogeneous regions, 6–20 farms with the same farm type (e.g., arable crops, grassland, or specific permanent crops) were selected. If available, an equal number of organic and non-organic farms were randomly selected. Alternatively, farms were sampled along a gradient of management intensity. For all selected farms, the entire farmed area was mapped, which resulted in total in the mapping of 11 338 units attributed to 194 standardized habitat types, provided together with additional descriptors. On each farm, one site per available habitat type was randomly selected for species diversity investigations. Species were sampled on 2115 sites and identified to the species level by expert taxonomists. Species lists and abundance estimates are provided for each site and sampling date (one date for plants and earthworms, three dates for spiders and bees). In addition, farmers provided information about their management practices in face-to-face interviews following a standardized questionnaire. Farm management indicators for each farm are available (e.g., nitrogen input, pesticide applications, or energy input). Analyses revealed a positive effect of unproductive areas and a negative effect of intensive management on biodiversity. Communities of the four taxonomic groups strongly differed in their response to habitat characteristics, agricultural management, and regional circumstances. The data has potential for further insights into interactions of farmland biodiversity and agricultural management at site, farm, and regional scale

Liberation Deliverable 3.2: Report on the effectiveness of a range of landscape management practices

Ecological intensification aims to enhance important ecosystem processes that contribute to the delivery of the ecosystem services that underpin agricultural production allowing us to reduce our reliance on synthetic inputs. The potential of ecological intensification will depend on many factors, among the most important of which are off-field management and landscape context. These factors, and importantly the interaction between them, are likely to vary across regions and countries. Identifying off-field management approaches that are successful in enhancing ecosystem services will require assessing a range of strategies. The empirical work carried out in task 3.2 provided original data on the effectiveness of three off-field interventions (hedgerow, set- aside and flower strips) on the delivery of biocontrol and yield in winter cereals across different European countries. For hedgerows we found that the quality of the hedgerow (flower diversity) generally increased biodiversity of several beneficial groups of insects (e.g. butterflies, tachinids, carabids, spiders), while the delivery of ecosystems services such as pollination and pest control tended to respond more to landscape factors (proportion of hedgerows or semi-natural habitats in general in the surrounding). For set-aside we found that this intervention increased locally the biodiversity of several beneficial insect groups (literature) but the spillover to winter wheat fields was small with no apparent benefit on the delivery of aphid biocontrol. Finally, we found that wildflower strips helped to reduce aphid pests in winter wheat fields, which, in turn, enhanced crop yield. However, this potential may only be reached in case strips are properly managed, in a way that optimizes floral diversity, and may only be relevant in agricultural landscapes with a low availability of habitat area for natural enemies. Irrespective of the intensity of the agricultural systems, the two most promising interventions to foster biocontrol and support yield in winter wheats are hedgerows and flower strips, but their effect appeared to be stronger in landscapes with low cover of existing semi-natural habitats

New measurements of thousand-seed weights of species in the Pannonian flora

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