Monitoring and modelling landscape structure, land use intensity and landscape change as drivers of water quality using remote sensing

The interactions between landscape structure, land use intensity (LUI), climate change, and ecological processes significantly impact hydrological processes, affecting water quality. Monitoring these factors is crucial for understanding their influence on water quality. Remote sensing (RS) provides a continuous, standardized approach to capture landscape structures, LUI, and landscape changes over long-term time series. In this study, RS-based indicators from Landsat data (2018-2021) were used to assess landscape structure, LUI, and land use change for a study area in northern Germany, applying the ESIS/Imalys tool. These indicators were then used to model and predict water quality (Chla) in 119 standing waters. Various machine learning methods, including Generalised Linear Models, Support Vector Machines, Deep Learning, Decision Trees, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosted Trees, were tested. The Random Forest model performed best, with a correlation of 0.744 ± 0.11. Indicators related to landscape structure, such as diversity_mean (0.376) and relation_mean (0.292), had the highest global correlation weights, while LUI and land use change indicators like NirV2_mean (0.369) and NirV_regme (0.284) were also significant. All indicators and their effects on water quality (Chla) are discussed in detail. The study highlights the potential of the ESIS/Imalys tool for quantifying landscape structure, LUI, and land use change with RS to model and predict water quality and suggests directions for future model improvements by incorporating additional influencing factors.

Plant Species Diversity and Composition Differ Significantly Between the Boundaries of Kettle Holes and Field Borders

The boundaries around habitat islands in agricultural fields are rather unexamined, although they may be an important part of agroecosystems in some regions. In this study, we surveyed field boundaries in northeastern Brandenburg both at outer field borders and around kettle holes, which are typical habitat islands in the region. We examined, described, and compared the plant species diversity and composition at both the inner and outer field boundaries in the arable fields (crop edge) as well as in permanent vegetation (field margins). Diversity was assessed and compared with Hill diversity values, using the iNext framework. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and permutational analysis of variance were used to compare species composition at different field boundaries and to search for variables that drive species composition at the local scale. The results revealed that both species diversity and composition differed significantly between the inner and outer boundary along the crop edges and at the field margins. Local site conditions, namely a moisture gradient, influenced the species composition of the field margins, resulting in differences between the inner and outer field margins. Mitigated through crop growth and cover, the moisture gradient influenced also the species composition of the inner and outer crop edges, despite the management practices on the fields were the same.

What evidence exists on the effect of the main European lowland crop and grassland management practices on biodiversity indicator species groups? a systematic map

Background

The intensification of the agricultural practices in Europe over the last decades has drastically transformed the agroecosystems. The simplification of the landscape, the loss of semi-natural habitats and the application of chemicals on crops led to biodiversity decline in agricultural landscapes, raising substantial concerns about the loss of essential ecosystem services, such as pollination or pest control. Depending on the location, the scale and the regional context, different indicator species groups (ISGs) are regularly surveyed to assess the state and trend of biodiversity changes in agroecosystems. Although the high diversity of these ISGs allows assessing different biodiversity aspects (e.g., trophic levels, bio-physical compartments, scale of indication), it complicates the interpretation of the results and thus their practical application. In addition, species diversity metrics are various, from simple species counts to more complex measurements of diversity indices, sometimes with antagonistic responses. Here, to meet the pressing need for synthesis in this complex topic, we follow a standardized systematic map protocol to collect and summarize the literature reporting field evidence of the effects of the main agricultural management practices (AMPs) in arable crops, grasslands and ecological infrastructures on a set of ISGs in European lowland farming areas.

Methods

Searches of literature were made using online publication databases, search engine and specialist websites in English. Gathered publications were screened for relevance following inclusion/exclusion criteria published in a prior protocol. We extracted and mapped information about experimental design, monitoring methods, ISGs and AMPs studied and the diversity measures presented in each included publication. These parameters are structured in available data coding sheets.

Results

The search gathered 20,162 references from which 1208 remained after full text eligibility screening. Main areas studied are in Western Europe, and the number of studies increased exponentially from 1984 to 2022. Most publications are experimental and on-farm studies which assess AMPs effects at the field scale. Main studied AMPs are fertilization, grazing, organic farming, tillage, mowing and herbicide application. Most ISGs used to study their impacts are flora, carabids, spiders, birds, bees and annelids, often combined with other ISGs. The combinations between AMPs and ISGs studied are detailed as well as monitoring methods. The most used diversity measures are abundance, species richness, Shannon index, evenness, and community composition.

Conclusions

We identified several knowledge clusters: (1) organic farming, fertilization, tillage, grazing and mowing impact on a wide range of ISGs, (2) flora response to agricultural practices, (3) annelids response to agronomic interventions that impact soil structure (e.g., tillage, fertilization, crop rotation, crop residue management), (4) butterflies and orthopterans response to mowing and grazing effects in grasslands, (5) the use of bird monitoring for the impact for assessing the efficiency of AES implementation at the landscape scale. We highlight that further research should be conducted on ISGs that are until now poorly studied regarding agricultural practices, such as amphibians, reptiles, gastropods, millipedes and centipedes. More field evidence of the effects of diversification practices such as intercropping, undersowing, intermediate cropping, and agroforestry are needed to draw conclusions on their benefits on biodiversity.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13750-024-00347-0.

Comment on "Solar parks can enhance bird diversity in agricultural landscape" by Jarčuška et al

This commentary critiques the methodology, interpretation of results, and broader implications of a study by Jarčuška et al. (2024). We argue that the study's design and analysis fail to conclusively demonstrate any causal link between solar parks and bird diversity or community composition. Furthermore, focusing solely on species diversity and community composition, the study overlooks the importance of functional diversity and functional structure of communities in assessing the ecological impacts of solar parks on agricultural ecosystems. By exposing these shortcomings and recommending well-established methods for future research, we aim to ensure robust and informative studies that guide balanced decision-making for conservation and all stakeholders.

Bumblebees mediate landscape effects on a forest herb's population genetic structure in European agricultural landscapes

Spatially isolated plant populations in agricultural landscapes exhibit genetic responses not only to habitat fragmentation per se but also to the composition of the landscape matrix between habitat patches. These responses can only be understood by examining how the landscape matrix influences among-habitat movements of pollinators and seed vectors, which act as genetic linkers among populations. We studied the forest herb Polygonatum multiflorum and its associated pollinator and genetic linker, the bumblebee Bombus pascuorum, in three European agricultural landscapes. We aimed to identify which landscape features affect the movement activity of B. pascuorum between forest patches and to assess the relative importance of these features in explaining the forest herb's population genetic structure. We applied microsatellite markers to estimate the movement activity of the bumblebee as well as the population genetic structure of the forest herb. We modelled the movement activity as a function of various landscape metrics. Those metrics found to explain the movement activity best were then used to explain the population genetic structure of the forest herb. The bumblebee movement activity was affected by the cover of maize fields and semi-natural grasslands on a larger spatial scale and by landscape heterogeneity on a smaller spatial scale. For some measures of the forest herb's population genetic structure, that is, allelic richness, observed heterozygosity and the F-value, the combinations of landscape metrics, which explained the linker movement activity best, yielded lower AICc values than 95% of the models including all possible combinations of landscape metrics. Synthesis: The genetic linker, B. pascuorum, mediates landscape effects on the population genetic structure of the forest herb P. multiflorum. Our study indicates, that the movement of the genetic linker among forest patches, and thus the pollen driven gene flow of the herb, depends on the relative value of floral resources in the specific landscape setting. Noteworthy, the population genetic structure of the long-lived, clonal forest herb species correlated with recent land-use types such as maize, which have been existing for not more than a few decades within these landscapes. This underscores the short time in which land-use changes can influence the evolutionary potential of long-lived wild plants.

The Low Congruence between Plant and Animal Diversity in Field Ridges of Intensively Managed Paddy Landscapes, China

Field ridges are commonly viewed as the stable semi-natural habitats for maintaining plant diversity in the agricultural landscape. The high plant diversity could further support higher animal diversity. But following the adoption of well-facilitated farmland construction measures in China, many field ridges have been disproportionately neglected or destroyed. Empirical studies delineating the relationships between plant and animal diversity in these field ridges in the paddy landscape remain scant, especially in China, which has the most rice production. A two-year field ridge evaluation was conducted in the Chengdu Plain area, covering 30 paddy landscapes. This investigation scrutinizes the shape attributes of field ridges, their plant diversity, and the associated animal α-diversity and community compositions, including spiders, carabids, birds, frogs, and rice planthoppers. In the results of Pearson's correlation analysis, a significant inconsistent correlation was observed between plant diversity and animal diversity. The analysis of community structure heterogeneity also revealed no correspondence for species composition between plant and animal communities (i.e., spiders, carabids, and birds), while the non-metric multidimensional scale analysis indicated a substantial difference in the species composition of spiders or plants even within the same field ridge between 2020 and 2021. We argue that the implementation of intensive management practices in paddy landscapes, such as machine ploughing and harvesting and herbicide spraying with drones, leads to a scarcity of stable animal and plant communities in field ridges. Therefore, besides retaining these field ridges in paddy landscapes, maintaining the long-term stable ridges by refraining from herbicide spraying or artificial weeding, as well as avoiding winter wheat cultivating in field ridges, will contribute to protecting biodiversity of field ridges as semi-natural habitats.

The relationship between remotely-sensed spectral heterogeneity and bird diversity is modulated by landscape type

To identify areas of high biodiversity and prioritize conservation efforts, it is crucial to understand the drivers of species richness patterns and their scale dependence. While classified land cover products are commonly used to explain bird species richness, recent studies suggest that unclassified remote-sensed images can provide equally good or better results. In our study, we aimed to investigate whether unclassified multispectral data from Landsat 8 can replace image classification for bird diversity modeling. Moreover, we also tested the Spectral Variability Hypothesis. Using the Atlas of Breeding Birds in the Czech Republic 2014-2017, we modeled species richness at two spatial resolutions of approx. 131 km2 (large squares) and 8 km2 (small squares). As predictors of the richness, we assessed 1) classified land cover data (Corine Land Cover 2018 database), 2) spectral heterogeneity (computed in three ways) and landscape composition derived from unclassified remote-sensed reflectance and vegetation indices. Furthermore, we integrated information about the landscape types (expressed by the most prevalent land cover class) into models based on unclassified remote-sensed data to investigate whether the landscape type plays a role in explaining bird species richness. We found that unclassified remote-sensed data, particularly spectral heterogeneity metrics, were better predictors of bird species richness than classified land cover data. The best results were achieved by models that included interactions between the unclassified data and landscape types, indicating that relationships between bird diversity and spectral heterogeneity vary across landscape types. Our findings demonstrate that spectral heterogeneity derived from unclassified multispectral data is effective for assessing bird diversity across the Czech Republic. When explaining bird species richness, it is important to account for the type of landscape and carefully consider the significance of the chosen spatial scale.

High temporal resolution data reveal low bat and insect activity over managed meadows in central Europe

Increasing agriculture and pesticide use have led to declines in insect populations and biodiversity worldwide. In addition to insect diversity, it is also important to consider insect abundance, due to the importance of insects as food for species at higher trophic levels such as bats. We monitored spatiotemporal variation in abundance of nocturnal flying insects over meadows, a common open landscape structure in central Europe, and correlated it with bat feeding activity. Our most important result was that insect abundance was almost always extremely low. This was true regardless of management intensity of the different meadows monitored. We also found no correlation of insect abundance or the presence of insect swarms with bat feeding activity. This suggests that insect abundance over meadows was too low and insect swarms too rare for bats to risk expending energy to search for them. Meadows appeared to be poor habitat for nocturnal flying insects, and of low value as a foraging habitat for bats. Our study highlights the importance of long-term monitoring of insect abundance, especially at high temporal scales to identify and protect foraging habitats. This will become increasingly important given the rapid decline of insects.

Farming practices to enhance biodiversity across biomes: a systematic review

Intensive agriculture for food and feed production is a key driver of global biodiversity loss. It is generally assumed that more extensive practices are needed to reconcile food production with biodiversity conservation. In a literature review across biomes and for seven taxa, we retrieved 35 alternative practices (e.g. no-tillage, cover crops, organic fertilizer) from 331 studies. We found that no single practice enhanced all taxonomic groups, but that overall less intensive agricultural practices are beneficial to biodiversity. Nevertheless, often practices had no effects observed and very rarely contrasting impacts on aboveground versus belowground taxa. Species responses to practices were mostly consistent across biomes, except for fertilization. We conclude that alternative practices generally enhance biodiversity, but there is also variation in impacts depending on taxonomic group or type of practice. This suggests that a careful selection of practices is needed to secure biodiversity across taxa in future food systems worldwide.

Both long-term grasslands and crop diversity are needed to limit pest and weed infestations in agricultural landscapes

Increasing landscape heterogeneity has been suggested to be an important strategy to strengthen natural pest control in crops, especially through enhancing the amount of seminatural habitats. Increasing crop diversity is also a promising strategy to complement or replace seminatural habitat when seminatural habitat is scarce. However, their relative or possibly interactive effects on pest and weed infestation remain poorly investigated, and the role of different types of seminatural habitats has been understudied. Using an extensive sampling effort in 974 arable fields across 7 y, we evaluated the separate and interactive effects of crop diversity (seven arable crop types) and the amount of four types of seminatural habitats (meadows, hay, forests, and hedgerows) in the landscape on pest and weed control. Meadows and crop diversity, respectively, supported insect pest and weed control services in agricultural landscapes through a complementarity effect. Crop diversity increased weed seed predation rate (by 16%) and reduced weed infestation (by 6%), whereas long-term grasslands (to a much higher degree than hay or woody habitats) increased insect pest predation rates (by 23%) and reduced pest infestation (by 19%) in most arable crops. Our results demonstrate that diversification of the agricultural landscape requires long-term grasslands as well as improved crop diversity to ensure the delivery of efficient pest and weed control services.

The impact of the German timber footprint on potential species loss in supply regions

Previous own assessments have shown that a) Germany has a wood consumption above global average, b) is strongly dependent on imports and c) has a domestic roundwood production that is at the limit of the sustainable harvest potential. Thereby Germany further increases the pressures on global forests which are already stressed by climate-change related impacts and a continuously growing global demand for wood. This leads to negative impacts on the biodiversity in the areas where wood is harvested. This paper aims to show the connection between Germany's timber consumption footprint and the impact on the biodiversity in the regions where the roundwood is sourced. A two-step process is used. In the first step, high-resolution land cover and land use maps are used as a basis for the countryside species-area relationship model, assessing the projected loss of the four taxa amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles in relation to undisturbed natural ecosystems due to forests occupied for roundwood production. In the second step, roundwood equivalents consumed in Germany in 2015 are traced back to the region of origin using an environmentally-extended input-output analysis and the thereby induced potential species loss is calculated. We show that the highest impact on projected species richness loss caused by roundwood logging is taking place in Oceania (3.34E-03 species/m3), Carribean (1.56E-04 species/m3), and East Asia (1.43E-04 species/m3). German roundwood consumption has the highest projected species loss in the United States (7.4 species), followed by China (7.3 species) and Brazil (4.8 species). From a biodiversity impact perspective, Germany could theoretically reduce its impact by relocating imports to European countries. In view of the planetary boundary of sustainable roundwood consumption, which has already been exceeded, reducing consumption appears to be the only viable long-term option for high-consumption countries such as Germany to reduce negative impacts on global biodiversity.

Effect of nature protection and management of grassland on biodiversity - Case from big flooded river valley (NE Poland)

Agriculturally used meadows are habitats whose biodiversity depends on anthropogenic disturbances such as fertilization or mowing. Intensified agricultural practices (too frequent mowing, use of mineral fertilizers and insecticides) lead to declines in the abundance and species diversity of the biota inhabiting them. The intensification of agricultural production in north-eastern Poland relates primarily to the increase in cattle numbers and the intensification of grassland management, but many areas were included in Natura 2000 network. Our study was aimed at indicating the impact of diverse use of meadows on the species richness and diversity of invertebrates, amphibians, and birds in the grasslands of Narew river valley, Special Bird Protection Area, where the intensification of grassland use was noted in the last decades, and part of the meadows was included in the agri-environmental program. The agri-environmental program is a very good tool for the protection of grassland biotic diversity. The highest taxonomic richness and diversity of the studied animal groups were found in meadows included in these programs with extensive use, while the lowest was in the over- and intensively used meadows fertilized with mineral fertilizers and liquid manure. Only the meadows in the agri-environment program were inhabited by the fire-bellied toad and the tree frog - amphibians from Annex IV of the Habitats Directive. The number of breeding bird species globally threatened (IUCN Red List), listed in Annex I of the EU Birds Directive, and with negative population trend in Europe (SPEC1-3) was highest in meadows included in EU conservation programs. The main factors reducing biotic diversity in the grassland of flooded river valley were the high number of grassland mowing per season, intensive fertilization, especially with liquid manure, the great distance of meadows to the river, low soil humidity, and low share of shrubs and trees in the meadows border zone.

Use of the term "landscape" in sustainable agriculture research: A literature review

Finding consensus in definitions of commonly-used terms and concepts is a key requirement to enable cooperations between interdisciplinary scientists and practitioners in inter- or transdisciplinary projects. In research on sustainable agriculture, the term 'landscape' is emphasised in particular, being used in studies that range from biogeochemical to socio-economic topics. However, it is normally used in a rather unspecific manner. Moreover, different disciplines assign deviating meanings to this term, which impedes interdisciplinary understanding and synthesis. To close this gap, a systematic literature review from relevant disciplines was conducted to identify a common understanding of the term "landscape". Three general categories of landscape conceptualizations were identified. In a small subset of studies, "landscape" is defined by area size or by natural or anthropogenic borders. The majority of reviewed papers, though, define landscapes as sets of relationships between various elements. Selection of respective elements differed widely depending on research objects. Based on these findings, a new definition of landscape is proposed, which can be operationalized by interdisciplinary researchers to define a common study object and which allows for sufficient flexibility depending on specific research questions. It also avoids over-emphasis on specific spatio-temporal relations at the "landscape scale", which may be context-dependent. Agricultural landscape research demands for study-specific definitions which should be meticulously provided in the future.

Sustainable transformation of agriculture requires landscape experiments

Transformation of agriculture to realise sustainable site-specific management requires comprehensive scientific support based on field experiments to capture the complex agroecological process, incite new policies and integrate them into farmers' decisions. However, current experimental approaches are limited in addressing the wide spectrum of sustainable agroecosystem and landscape characteristics and in supplying stakeholders with suitable solutions and measures. This review identifies major constraints in current field experimentation, such as a lack of consideration of multiple processes and scales and a limited ability to address interactions between them. It emphasizes the urgent need to establish a new category of landscape experimentation that empowers agricultural research on sustainable agricultural systems, aiming at elucidating interactions among various landscape structures and functions, encompassing both natural and anthropogenic features. It extensively discusses the key characteristics of landscape experiments and major opportunities to include them in the agricultural research agenda. In particular, simultaneously considering multiple factors, and thus processes at different scales and possible synergies or antagonisms among them would boost our understanding of heterogeneous agricultural landscapes. We also highlight that though various studies identified promising approaches with respect to experimental design and data analysis, further developments are still required to build a fully functional and integrated framework for landscape experimentation in agricultural settings.

Disentangling direct and indirect drivers of farmland biodiversity at landscape scale

To stop the ongoing decline of farmland biodiversity there are increasing claims for a paradigm shift in agriculture, namely from conserving and restoring farmland biodiversity at field scale (α-diversity) to doing it at landscape scale (γ-diversity). However, knowledge on factors driving farmland γ-diversity is currently limited. Here, we quantified farmland γ-diversity in 123 landscapes and analysed direct and indirect effects of abiotic and land-use factors shaping it using structural equation models. The direction and strength of effects of factors shaping γ-diversity were only partially consistent with what is known about factors shaping α-diversity, and indirect effects were often stronger than direct effects or even opposite. Thus, relationships between factors shaping α-diversity cannot simply be up-scaled to γ-diversity, and also indirect effects should no longer be neglected. Finally, we show that local mitigation measures benefit farmland γ-diversity at landscape scale and are therefore a useful tool for designing biodiversity-friendly landscapes.

Pollinator movement activity influences genetic diversity and differentiation of spatially isolated populations of clonal forest herbs

In agricultural landscapes, forest herbs live in small, spatially isolated forest patches. For their long-term survival, their populations depend on animals as genetic linkers that provide pollen- or seed-mediated gene flow among different forest patches. However, whether insect pollinators serve as genetic linkers among spatially isolated forest herb populations in agricultural landscapes remains to be shown. Here, we used population genetic methods to analyze: (A) the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of populations of two common, slow-colonizing temperate forest herb species [Polygonatum multiflorum (L.) All. and Anemone nemorosa L.] in spatially isolated populations within three agricultural landscapes in Germany and Sweden and (B) the movement activity of their most relevant associated pollinator species, i.e., the bumblebee Bombus pascuorum (Scopoli, 1,763) and the hoverfly Melanostoma scalare (Fabricus, 1,794), respectively, which differ in their mobility. We tested whether the indicated pollinator movement activity affected the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of the forest herb populations. Bumblebee movement indicators that solely indicated movement activity between the forest patches affected both genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of the associated forest herb P. multiflorum in a way that can be explained by pollen-mediated gene flow among the forest herb populations. In contrast, movement indicators reflecting the total movement activity at a forest patch (including within-forest patch movement activity) showed unexpected effects for both plant-pollinator pairs that might be explained by accelerated genetic drift due to enhanced sexual reproduction. Our integrated approach revealed that bumblebees serve as genetic linkers of associated forest herb populations, even if they are more than 2 km apart from each other. No such evidence was found for the forest associated hoverfly species which showed significant genetic differentiation among forest patches itself. Our approach also indicated that a higher within-forest patch movement activity of both pollinator species might enhance sexual recruitment and thus diminishes the temporal buffer that clonal growth provides against habitat fragmentation effects.

Connectivity, landscape structure, and plant diversity across agricultural landscapes: novel insight into effective ecological network planning

Natural habitats in rural and urban areas are increasingly fragmented and altered by human impacts that are limiting the animal and plant dispersal process. Fragmentation and isolation can be reversed by restoring landscape connectivity through effective Ecological Network (EN) planning. However, most of the studies analyzing the influence of connectivity and landscape structure on biodiversity are focused on animals, while the understanding of their interplaying role on plant diversity remains limited. We studied the relationships between α and β diversity pattern and landscape structure and connectivity in the nodes of an EN developed in agricultural landscapes, as a part of regional landscape planning framework in Friuli Venezia Giulia region (North-East of Italy). As an innovation, the study aims at parsing the interacting effect of landscape structure, surrounding habitats and nodes, and structural connectivity on EN plant diversity at two specific scales of investigation i.e., the habitat and the node scale. The habitat was the basic ecological unit, while the node was the basic cartographical unit for the EN mapping (multi-habitat or mono-habitat nodes). A total of 443 plant species were collected across 219 sample plots, in 14 different habitats and 87 nodes of the EN. We found that high node connectivity leads to higher species richness (α-diversity) but also increases plant community similarity (i.e., low β-diversity) at both scales. The effect of landscape structure showed differing trends depending on the habitat. In general, landscape composition of semi-natural land cover (i.e., hedgerows, watercourses) showed a positive effect on species diversity as opposed to that of the configuration of anthropogenic elements on both scales. Our results provided crucial information on the landscape processes useful to improving biodiversity conservation by EN. Our findings suggest that i) improving connectivity within ENs favors α plant diversity ii) different habitats have different sensibility to landscape structure iii) semi-natural land cover around nodes improve plant diversity; iv) planning both mono-habitat and multi-habitats nodes, increases the biodiversity conserved therein; v) nodes with more compact shapes are to be preferred.

What evidence exists on the effect of the main European lowland crop and grassland management practices on biodiversity indicator species groups? A systematic map protocol

BACKGROUND

The intensification of the agricultural practices in Europe over the last decades has drastically transformed the agroecosystems. The simplification of the landscape, the loss of semi-natural habitats and the application of chemicals on crops are known to have led to biodiversity decline in agricultural landscapes, raising substantial concerns about the loss of essential ecosystem services, such as pollination or pest control. Depending on the location, the scale and the regional context, different indicator species groups (ISGs) are often surveyed to assess the state and trend of biodiversity changes in agroecosystems. Although the high diversity of these ISGs allows a broad overview of the biodiversity, it complicates the interpretation of the results and thus their application. In addition, species diversity metrics are various, from simple species counts to more complex measurements of diversity indices, sometimes with antagonistic responses. Here, to meet the pressing need for synthesis in this complex topic, we will follow a standardized systematic map protocol to collect and summarize the literature reporting the effects of the main European lowland agricultural management practices (AMPs) on a set of ISGs.

METHODS

Following the systematic evidence synthesis standards, we developed the question to address in the systematic map using the PICO framework. We established a preliminary search string by combining search terms for the categories Population (ISGs), Intervention (AMPs) and Outcome (species diversity), as well as with two additional groups (Environment-to focus on lowland crop and grassland-and Location-to restrict the study area to Europe). We will conduct a comprehensive literature search of relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature using Web of Science and CABI platforms, Google Scholar, specialized websites and through our professional collaborator network. The comprehensiveness of the search will be assessed by comparing the literature collected to a test-list of ninety relevant articles. The repeatability of the literature screening process will be ensured by a list of inclusion/exclusion criteria and inter-reviewer consistency statistical tests. Data extraction will be organized in three complementary tables (article references, study characteristics, species diversity), on which we will perform queries to produce the tables, figures and maps that will compose the systematic map.

Difference in small mammal assemblages in the diet of the Common Barn-Owl Tyto alba between two landscapes

As an opportunistic predator, the Common Barn-owl (Tyto alba) proved to be an appropriate model organism to survey the composition of small mammal assemblages. This study analysed barn owls’ pellet samples from 14 localities containing 34 animal taxa and 4,088 prey items in two years (2015–2016). Two groups of samples (7–7 localities) were separated based on the dominance of semi-natural habitats and agricultural lands. Rarefaction analysis proved that the species richness and diversity of barn owls’ diet were significantly higher in semi-natural landscapes. The multiple regression analysis between PCA scores showed that in the agrarian landscape the abundance of generalist species was influenced by the proportion of forests, while the value of the trophic level index was determined by the size of arable fields. In the case of semi-natural landscapes, the abundance of the synantrop guild and generalist species, especially S. araneus and A. agrarius, was influenced by the proportion of urban areas, the number of habitats and the size of arable fields. The results of this study suggested that the small mammal consumption of the Common Barn-owl is significantly different in the two landscapes, which reflects the impact of habitat heterogeneity and agricultural activity on prey availability.

Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians

Transport infrastructures, such as highways, disrupt animal migrations and cause roadkill. To mitigate the latter problem, fences have been built but their effectiveness has rarely been tested under controlled conditions. Here, we tested the effectiveness of the most commonly used fence in France and probably in Europe (wire netting fence) to block animals. We tested the wire netting fence, with and without a structural modification (i.e. an overhang), with three small mammalian species (the European hamster: Cricetus cricetus Linnaeus, 1758; the common vole: Microtus arvalis Pallas, 1778 & the wood mouse: Apodemus sylvaticus Linnaeus, 1758) and two amphibian species (the marsh frog: Pelophylax ridibundus Pallas, 1771 & the European green toad: Bufotes viridis Laurenti, 1768). During testing, all small vertebrate species tested were placed into an arena, from which they could only escape by crossing the wire netting fence. Without an overhang, almost all adult individuals of all tested species were able to climb over a 30 to 40 cm high wire netting fence. Furthermore, the addition of an 8 cm long overhang at the top of the fence stopped the amphibian species tested but not the most agile mammalian species, such as the hamster and the wood mouse. Based on these results, we do not support the construction of wire netting fences along roads as a measure to stop small animals from crossing. We recommend the use of more effective and durable fences, which, in addition, can be associated with wildlife passages to reconnect isolated populations.

Limited reciprocal surrogacy of bird and habitat diversity and inconsistencies in their representation in Romanian protected areas

Because it is impossible to comprehensively characterize biodiversity at all levels of organization, conservation prioritization efforts need to rely on surrogates. As species distribution maps of relished groups as well as high-resolution remotely sensed data increasingly become available, both types of surrogates are commonly used. A good surrogate should represent as much of biodiversity as possible, but it often remains unclear to what extent this is the case. Here, we aimed to address this question by assessing how well bird species and habitat diversity represent one another. We conducted our study in Romania, a species-rich country with high landscape heterogeneity where bird species distribution data have only recently started to become available. First, we prioritized areas for conservation based on either 137 breeding bird species or 36 habitat classes, and then evaluated their reciprocal surrogacy performance. Second, we examined how well these features are represented in already existing protected areas. Finally, we identified target regions of high conservation value for the potential expansion of the current network of reserves (as planned under the new EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030). We found a limited reciprocal surrogacy performance, with bird species performing slightly better as a conservation surrogate for habitat diversity than vice versa. We could also show that areas with a high conservation value based on habitat diversity were represented better in already existing protected areas than areas based on bird species, which varied considerably between species. Our results highlight that taxonomic and environmental (i.e., habitat types) data may perform rather poorly as reciprocal surrogates, and multiple sources of data are required for a full evaluation of protected areas expansion.

Farming practices and biodiversity: Evidence from a Mediterranean semi-extensive system on the island of Lemnos (North Aegean, Greece)

The management of agroecosystems affects biodiversity at all levels from genetic to food-web complexity. Low-input farming systems support higher levels of genetic, species and habitat diversity than high-input, industrial ones. In Greece, as in other Mediterranean countries, the role of traditional farming practices has been underlined in studies concerning conservation in agricultural landscapes. With this study, we aim to provide evidence for the potential of semi-extensive farming for biodiversity conservation at landscape-scale, focusing on Lemnos, a medium-sized island in the North Aegean. Evidence was gathered by species- and community-level local-scale surveys on various trophic levels (vascular plants, arthropods, birds). The surveys took place in 2018 and 2019 in 25 sampling areas comprising 106 plots of 100 m² (vascular plants, arthropods) and 57 points where bird species were recorded. The plots were classified into three landscape types: mosaic agriculture, mixed rangelands and uniform rangelands. The relevés of Lemnos farmlands were assigned to plant communities of 18 phytosociological alliances, grouped into 12 classes. The most abundant arthropods were Coleoptera, Chilopoda, and Hymenoptera, followed by Opiliones and Isopoda, while 133 different bird species were recorded in total, including the recording for the first time on the island of five species. Farming on Lemnos is rather extensive compared to most agricultural landscapes of Europe. Our approach has demonstrated that, given the geographic characteristics of the area, the measured data reveal very high biodiversity. Our explorative findings suggest that moderate seasonal grazing, the mixed habitat mosaic with ecotones, fallow and stubble fields at the landscape scale, and the small size of fields, the kinds of crop, and farm-scale crop diversification, like mixed cultivation and crop rotation, are key practices supporting this diversity. These explorative findings are considered as a first step providing the baseline for future assessments. A wider effort, for systematic evaluation of the impacts of farming practices to biodiversity, is required, as part of a subsidized agri-environmental scheme and/or through a market-oriented product certification system for the area.

An approach for comparing agricultural development to societal visions

There is broad agreement that agriculture has to become more sustainable in order to provide enough affordable, healthy food at minimal environmental and social costs. But what is "more sustainable"? More often than not, different stakeholders have opposing opinions on what a more sustainable future should look like. This normative dimension is rarely explicitly addressed in sustainability assessments. In this study, we present an approach to assess the sustainability of agricultural development that explicitly accounts for the normative dimension by comparing observed development with various societal visions. We illustrate the approach by analyzing farm- and landscape-scale development as well as sustainability outcomes in a Swiss case study landscape. Observed changes were juxtaposed with desired changes by Avenir Suisse, a liberal think tank representing free-market interests; the Swiss Farmers Association, representing a conservative force; and Landwirtschaft mit Zukunft, an exponent of the Swiss agroecological movement. Overall, the observed developments aligned most closely with desired developments of the liberal think-tank (72%). Farmer interviews revealed that in the case study area farms increased in size (+ 57%) and became more specialized and more productive (+ 223%) over the past 20 years. In addition, interpretation of aerial photographs indicated that farming became more rationalized at the landscape level, with increasing field sizes (+ 34%) and removal of solitary field trees (- 18%). The case study example highlights the varying degrees to which current developments in agriculture align with societal visions. By using societal visions as benchmarks to track the progress of agricultural development, while explicitly addressing their narratives and respective systems of values and norms, this approach offers opportunities to inform also the wider public on the extent to which current developments are consistent with different visions. This could help identify mismatches between desired and actual development and pave the way for designing new policies.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13593-021-00739-3.

Effects of natural and seminatural elements on the composition and dispersion of carabid beetles inhabiting an agroecosystem in Northern Italy

The natural and seminatural components of agricultural landscapes play a key role in maintaining a high level of biodiversity. Being the Po Valley one of the most human-dominated and intensively cultivated landscapes in Europe, we investigated the effect of no-crop habitats on carabid richness and composition and evaluated the role of tree row as corridor for forest carabid dispersion. Carabids were sampled with 70 pitfall traps arranged in 35 sampling plots along three parallel transects (80, 100, and 140 m long) and encompassing five different habitats: tree row, tree row edge, grassland, forest edge, and forest. We found 5,615 individuals belonging to 55 species. Despite the similarity in species richness, all the habitats investigated showed a peculiar and distinct species assemblage. The main distinction was between the "open habitat" cluster composed of grassland and tree row edge and the "forest" cluster composed of forest, tree row, and forest edge. We found that forest species are able to penetrate the grassland matrix up to 30 m from the forest edge and that a distance of no more than 60 m between tree row and forest can allow the passage of up to 50% of the forest species. Beyond this distance, the grassland matrix becomes a barrier, preventing them from reaching other suitable habitats. Our findings confirm the importance of maintaining different types of natural habitats to significantly increase biodiversity in an intensively cultivated agroecosystem and demonstrated the role of linear elements as a corridor and "stepping stones" for many forest species.

Why a landscape view is important: nearby urban and agricultural land affects bird abundances in protected areas

Protected areas are one of the primary conservation tools used worldwide. However, they are often embedded in a landscape that is intensely used by people, such as for agriculture or urban development. The proximity of these land-use types to protected areas can potentially affect the ecological effectiveness (or conservation effectiveness) of protected areas. In this article, we examine to what degree adjacent agricultural and urban land uses affect the ecological effectiveness of protected areas over the greater Gauteng region of South Africa. We selected 198 common, resident bird species, and analysed detection/non-detection data for these species collected over regular grid cells (approximately 61 km² in area). For each species, we estimated abundance per grid cell with the Royle-Nichols model in relation to the proportion of protected area as a covariate. Our study focused on how this relationship between proportion of protected area and abundance (which we term the ‘protection–abundance relationship’) changed as a function of other land-use types in the grid cell. Specifically, we examined the interaction effects between protected area and both urban and agricultural land-use type per grid cell on bird abundance. We assigned each species to one of seven guilds, namely: frugivores, gleaners, granivores, ground-feeders, hawkers, predators and vegivores, and examined how the protection–abundance relationship varied across guilds in relation to agriculture and urban area. As urban area within a grid cell increased, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for 58% of all species. At the level of guilds, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for two guilds (granivores and ground-feeders), more negative for frugivores, and remained unchanged for the other four guilds (gleaners, hawkers, predators and vegivores). As agricultural area within a grid cell increased, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for 49% of all species. At the guild level, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for six guilds (frugivores, gleaners, ground-feeders, hawkers, predators and vegivores) and remained unchanged for the granivores. Our results show land-use type near protected areas modified the effect protected areas had on bird abundances, and hence the ecological effectiveness of protected areas. Our results suggest that protected areas should be viewed as constituents within the landscape, rather than islands of protection.

Agroecology landscapes

Context

Agroecology combines agronomic and ecological concepts. It relies on the enhancement of biodiversity and related ecosystem services to support agricultural production. It is dependent on biological interactions for the design and management of agricultural systems in agricultural landscapes.

Objectives

We review the role of landscape ecology to understand and promote biodiversity, pest regulation and crop pollination for the designing of "agroecology landscapes". We illustrate the use of landscape ecological methods for supporting agroforestry systems as an example of agroecological development, and we propose pathways to implement agroecology at landscape scale.

Methods

The state of the art of how landscape ecology contributes to agroecology development is summarized based on a literature review.

Results

Agroecology requires thinking beyond the field scale to consider the positioning, quality and connectivity of fields and semi-natural habitats at larger spatial scales. The spatial and temporal organisation of semi-natural elements and the crop mosaic interact. Understanding this interaction is the pre-requisite for promoting patterns and mechanisms that foster biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Promoting agroecological practices beyond individual farm borders can be rooted in a bottom-up approach from agroecological lighthouse farms to farm networks to amplify agroecology adoption at the landscape scale.

Conclusions

Achieving agricultural landscapes composed of fields and farms following agroecological management requires understanding of biodiversity patterns, biological interactions and mechanisms that determine and boost ecosystem functioning to improve services at landscape scale, involving farmers in a bottom-up and context-specific approach.

The Relationship Between Landscape Diversity and Crops Productivity: Landscape Scale Study

The present study evaluates the relationship between the crops productivity and ecosystem diversity. The spatial variability in ecosystem diversity was measured using the Shannon landscape diversity index and distance from biodiversity hotspots that are nature conservation areas. Three crops were selected for the study: soybeans, sunflowers and winter rye. The initial data included the average crops yields in administrative districts within 10 regions of Ukraine. It was found that the studied crops yield dynamics from the mid-90s of the previous century to the current period could be described by a sigmoid curve (log-logistic model). The parameters of the yield model are the following indicators: the minimum level of yield (Lower Limit); maximum level of productivity (Upper limit); the slope of the model, which shows the rate of change in yields over time; ED50 - the time required to achieve half, from the maximum yield level. Our studies have shown that there is a statistically significant regression relationship between the yield parameters of all the studied crops and biodiversity, even at the landscape level. Among the studied crops, soybean shows the strongest regression relationship between yields and indicators of landscape diversity. Sunflower yield is the least dependent on landscape diversity. Most of the established dependencies are nonlinear, which indicates the existence of an optimal level of landscape diversity to achieve the maximum possible crop yields. Therefore, the obtained patterns can be the basis for land-use planning and management, especially while creating new natural protected areas.

Fluctuating asymmetry as biomarker of pesticides exposure in the Italian wall lizards (Podarcis siculus)

The extensive use of pesticides in agricultural environments produces drastic effects on wildlife, hence the need for less invasive indicators of environmental stress to monitoring the impact of agriculture treatments on biological systems. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), as measure of developmental instability, has recently been proposed as reliable biomarker of populations stress due to environmental disturbance. We investigate femoral pores (FP) and dorsal head shape (HS) traits in populations of the Italian wall lizard inhabiting agricultural environments to examine whether different pesticide exposures (conventional, organic and control) can cause distinctive degree of FA. High-resolution photographs of FP and HS were taken in the field with a digital camera. The number of FP were counted twice on both sides and HS was analysed using geometric morphometrics with 25 landmarks and 12 semilandmarks. Individuals under conventional management showed higher levels of FA compared to control ones, and females exhibited higher FA levels than males for the FP. However, no significant difference was found for the HS trait. Our study provided evidence that FA may have a real potential as biomarker of population stress in wall lizards, highlighting the importance in the choice of the experimental design and the traits adopted for estimating DI.

A small effect of conservation agriculture on soil biodiversity that differs between biological kingdoms and geographic locations

Larger easily visible animals and plants are negatively affected by agrochemicals used for intensive food production, but we do not understand the general spatial and temporal effects of agrochemicals on the multitudes of bacteria, fungi, and small invertebrate animals that underpin ecosystem productivity. We sequenced the 16S, ITS2, and COI DNA barcode regions from 648 New Zealand vineyard soil samples managed under either conventional or low-agrochemical-input conservation approaches across two regions and three seasons in 1 year and discovered at least 170,000 phylotypes (taxa) with >97% genetic identity. Management approach correlated with a significant 2%–10% difference in the abundances of phylotypes that differed over regions and seasons. Although the data show that agrochemicals do not have a large effect on soil biodiversity on average, the important finding is that the magnitude of impact differs between taxa types and locations, and some taxa most affected also influence the quality of agricultural produce.

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Agrochemicals have a small effect on soil bacterial, fungal, and animal biodiversity

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The effect differs in space (and less so time) and affects taxa abundances greatest

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There is no effect of agrochemicals on taxa richness

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The size of the effect differs between taxa but is greatest for eukaryotic taxa

The Importance of Low-Intensive Agricultural Landscape for Birds of Prey

Low-intensive agricultural areas of Romania sustain high species diversity. Together with natural habitats, these areas are very important for European biodiversity. The ecosystem´s health is reflected in the predator status because of their position at the top of the trophic networks. The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is the most common bird of prey species in Europe. During the first survey census conducted in Eastern Romania (2011–2012 breeding seasons), 8.55–10.35 breeding pairs/100 square km have been counted. The Common Buzzard density varies between breeding seasons and with differences in habitat structure. Their density is positively influenced by the density of forest edge and Simpson diversity index of habitats but is negatively influenced by the total habitat fragmentation and mean daily temperature. According to this analysis, the selection of breeding territories by common buzzards is positively influenced by a heterogeneous landscape in an area with low-intensive agriculture and with large areas of open habitats made up of natural or semi-natural vegetation.

Assessing the conservation and enhancement value of revegetated strips on arthropod assemblages in a pasture landscape

Examining population dynamics of arthropod communities in habitats neighboring arable lands is essential to understanding how agroecosystems can be engineered to enhance ecosystem services and contribute to sustainable intensification. Arthropods comprise the bulk of faunal biomass on farms, are taxonomically diverse, and are the main drivers of many ecosystem functions. This study aimed to compare arthropod assemblages in revegetated strips of native plants and exotic pastures, and examine taxa of beneficial arthropods in revegetated strips and adjacent pasture in early spring (September 2009) and mid-summer (December 2009-January 2010) on two farms in southeastern Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Arthropod community assemblages were distinctly different between revegetated strips and adjacent pasture with the exception of functional groups in early spring. Several taxa of beneficial arthropods including Carabidae (ground beetles) and Syrphidae (hoverflies) were of similar abundance in the two habitats. Only Formicidae (ants) were of higher abundances in revegetated strips compared to adjacent pasture in both seasons. Five of the 10 ant genera present, seven spider families and Dolichopodidae flies (long-legged flies) were found exclusively in revegetated strips. Apidae (bees) and Tachinidae (tachinid flies) had higher abundances in revegetated strips compared to 80 m into the adjacent pasture in mid-summer. Lycosidae (wolf spiders) were more abundant along the edge of revegetated strips and 20 m into adjacent pasture compared to the center (core) of revegetated strips and 80 m into pasture. These results illustrate that beneficial arthropods use revegetated strips as refugia and that revegetated strips clearly enhanced biological conservation of arthropods in pasturelands. Relevance of findings to enhanced biological control is also discussed.

Local-scale dynamics of plant-pesticide interactions in a northern Brittany agricultural landscape

Soil pollution by anthropogenic chemicals is a major concern for sustainability of crop production and of ecosystem functions mediated by natural plant biodiversity. Understanding the complex effects of soil pollution requires multi-level and multi-scale approaches. Non-target and agri-environmental plant communities of field margins and vegetative filter strips are confronted with agricultural xenobiotics through soil contamination, drift, run-off and leaching events that result from chemical applications. Plant-pesticide dynamics in vegetative filter strips was studied at field scale in the agricultural landscape of a long-term ecological research network in northern Brittany (France). Vegetative filter strips effected significant pesticide abatement between the field and riparian compartments. However, comparison of pesticide usage modalities and soil chemical analysis revealed the extent and complexity of pesticide persistence in fields and vegetative filter strips, and suggested the contribution of multiple sources (yearly carry-over, interannual persistence, landscape-scale contamination). In order to determine the impact of such persistence, plant dynamics was followed in experimentally-designed vegetative filter strips of identical initial composition (Agrostis stolonifera, Anthemis tinctoria/Cota tinctoria, Centaurea cyanus, Fagopyrum esculentum, Festuca rubra, Lolium perenne, Lotus corniculatus, Phleum pratense, Trifolium pratense). After homogeneous vegetation establishment, experimental vegetative filter strips underwent rapid changes within the following two years, with Agrostis stolonifera, Festuca rubra, Lolium perenne and Phleum pratense becoming dominant and with the establishment of spontaneous vegetation. Co-inertia analysis showed that plant dynamics and soil residual pesticides could be significantly correlated, with the triazole fungicide epoxiconazole, the imidazole fungicide prochloraz and the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam as strong drivers of the correlation. However, the correlation was vegetative-filter-strip-specific, thus showing that correlation between plant dynamics and soil pesticides likely involved additional factors, such as threshold levels of residual pesticides. This situation of complex interactions between plants and soil contamination is further discussed in terms of agronomical, environmental and health issues.

Wooded Semi-Natural Habitats Complement Permanent Grasslands in Supporting Wild Bee Diversity in Agricultural Landscapes

Simple Summary

Loss of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes negatively affects wild bees. These pollinators are, however, very important in agricultural landscapes as they enable the pollination of crops and wild plants. The aim of this study was thus to understand the respective roles of different wooded and herbaceous habitats in their ability to support a diversity of wild bees. We first found that wild bee communities differed between wooded and herbaceous habitats, some bee species being found in one type of habitat and not in the other. We also showed that wooded semi-natural habitats provide some species of pollen preferred by the bees. Finally, we found that in wooded habitats there are some interactions between plant and bee species that do not happen in permanent grasslands. However, the latter also plays an important role in the diversity of bees and plants, and these wooded and herbaceous habitats complement each other. Overall, our results underline the importance of maintaining a diversity of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes to maintain a diversity of wild bees and thus promote the pollination of wild plants and crops.

Abstract

Loss of semi-natural habitats (SNH) in agricultural landscapes affects wild bees, often negatively. However, how bee communities respond varies and is still unclear. To date, few studies have used precise descriptors to understand these effects. Our aim was to understand the respective and complementary influences of different wooded and herbaceous habitats on wild bee communities. We selected thirty 500-m radius landscapes on a gradient of a percentage of wooded SNH in south-western France. At each landscape, we sampled wild bees in spring 2016 and plants in spring 2015 and 2016 at the forest edge, in a hedgerow, and in a permanent grassland. Pollen carried by the most abundant bee species was collected and identified. Using beta diversity indices, we showed that wild bee community composition differs between the three SNH types, and especially between herbaceous and wooded SNH. Based on Jacobs’ selection index, we showed that pollen of some plant species recorded in wooded SNH are preferentially selected by wild bees. Studying the impact of the loss of each SNH type on the global bee-pollen interaction network, we found that wooded SNH contributed to its resilience, enabling specific plant–bee interactions. Overall, our results underline the non-negligible contribution of wooded SNH to the diversity of wild bees in agricultural landscapes, and thus the importance of maintaining different types of SNH.

Scale-dependent impact of land management on above- and belowground biodiversity

Land management is known to have consequences for biodiversity; however, our synthetic understanding of its effects is limited due to highly variable results across studies, which vary in the focal taxa and spatial grain considered, as well as the response variables reported. Such synthetic knowledge is necessary for management of agroecosystems for high diversity and function.To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated the importance of scale-dependent effects of land management (LM) (pastures vs. meadows), on plant and soil microbe diversity (fungi and bacteria) across 5 study sites in Central Germany. Analyses included diversity partitioning of species richness and related biodiversity components (i.e., density of individuals, species-abundance distribution, and spatial aggregation) at two spatial grains (α- and γ-scale, 1 m2 and 16 km2, respectively).Our results show scale-dependent patterns in response to LM to be the norm rather than the exception and highlight the importance of measuring species richness and its underlying components at multiple spatial grains.Our outcomes provide new insight to the complexity of scale-dependent responses within and across taxonomic groups. They suggest that, despite close associations between taxa, LM responses are not easily extrapolated across multiple spatial grains and taxa. Responses of biodiversity to LM are often driven by changes to evenness and spatial aggregation, rather than by changes in individual density. High-site specificity of LM effects might be due to a variety of context-specific factors, such as historic land management, identity of grazers, and grazing regime. Synthesis and applications: Our results suggest that links between taxa are not necessarily strong enough to allow for generalization of biodiversity patterns. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple taxa and spatial grains when investigating LM responses, while promoting management practices that do the same and are tailored to local and regional conditions.

Changing Agricultural Systems and Food Diets to Prevent and Mitigate Global Health Shocks

No one would dispute that agricultural systems and food diets are not sustainable from an environmental and health point of view, and that increasing their sustainability must be a major objective of farm and food policies. Simultaneously, climatic, environmental, and health shocks are likely to increase in the coming years. This note defends the idea of an additional double benefit of public policies, aiming at favoring environmentally friendly food systems and healthy diets through two channels: by reducing the risks of developing shocks and by limiting their negative impacts on populations when they occur. As a result, public policies should address, simultaneously and consistently, supply and demand issues. This is illustrated in the case of the European Union. Supply measures should favor the agro-ecological transition of agricultural systems through a more rigorous application of the polluter pays principle, implying notably the taxation of the main determinants of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (cattle heads and nitrogen fertilizers) and biodiversity loss (mineral fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, and antibiotic treatments). This would send the right signals to farmers and would legitimize an extended use of the provider gets principle, allowing the remuneration of positive externalities. Demand measures should favor the adoption of healthier and environmentally friendly food diets by changing consumer behaviors through dietary recommendations, information campaigns, nutritional labeling, and fiscal instruments.

An Actor-Oriented Multi-Criteria Assessment Framework to Support a Transition towards Sustainable Agricultural Systems Based on Crop Diversification

Crop diversification represents a key lever to support the development of sustainable agri-food systems. Knowledge on trade-offs and carry over effects from different crop diversification strategies is essential to inform agricultural stakeholders of potential costs and benefits. This knowledge is limited by existing data and performance measures predominantly focused on single crops, rather than complete rotations. Moreover, sustainability performance indicators are often used for assessment purposes, rather than supporting stakeholder learning and actions. A new set of 32 indicators was developed to address these needs, and used to evaluate the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the diversified agricultural systems highlighted in the case studies, which are often characterized by data availability constraints. This approach was tested in France, Germany and Italy to determine a critical ex-post diagnosis of the existing systems, and for the assessment of ex-ante innovative scenarios. The results will be used to support these case studies in the identification and design of more sustainable agricultural systems. Although the framework is based on feasible and proxy indicators, the assessment outcomes have allowed local actors to reflect on the effects generated by the implemented crop diversification strategies. Key issues include trade-offs occurring between optimizing economic and environmental performance.

Effects of Natura 2000 on nontarget bird and butterfly species based on citizen science data

The European Union's Natura 2000 (N2000) is among the largest international networks of protected areas. One of its aims is to secure the status of a predetermined set of (targeted) bird and butterfly species. However, nontarget species may also benefit from N2000. We evaluated how the terrestrial component of this network affects the abundance of nontargeted, more common bird and butterfly species based on data from long-term volunteer-based monitoring programs in 9602 sites for birds and 2001 sites for butterflies. In almost half of the 155 bird species assessed, and particularly among woodland specialists, abundance increased (slope estimates ranged from 0.101 [SD 0.042] to 3.51 [SD 1.30]) as the proportion of landscape covered by N2000 sites increased. This positive relationship existed for 27 of the 104 butterfly species (estimates ranged from 0.382 [SD 0.163] to 4.28 [SD 0.768]), although most butterflies were generalists. For most species, when land-cover covariates were accounted for these positive relationships were not evident, meaning land cover may be a determinant of positive effects of the N2000 network. The increase in abundance as N2000 coverage increased correlated with the specialization index for birds, but not for butterflies. Although the N2000 network supports high abundance of a large spectrum of species, the low number of specialist butterflies with a positive association with the N2000 network shows the need to improve the habitat quality of N2000 sites that could harbor open-land butterfly specialists. For a better understanding of the processes involved, we advocate for standardized collection of data at N2000 sites.

Noncrop features and heterogeneity mediate overwintering bird diversity in agricultural landscapes of southwest China

Farmland birds are of conservation concerns around the world. In China, conservation management has focused primarily on natural habitats, whereas little attention has been given to agricultural landscapes. Although agricultural land use is intensive in China, environmental heterogeneity can be highly variable in some regions due to variations in crop and noncrop elements within a landscape. We examined how noncrop heterogeneity, crop heterogeneity, and noncrop features (noncrop vegetation and water body such as open water) influenced species richness and abundance of all birds as well as three functional groups (woodland species, agricultural land species, and agricultural wetland species) in the paddy-dominated landscapes of Erhai water basin situated in northwest Yunnan, China. Birds, crop, and noncrop vegetation surveys in twenty 1 km × 1 km landscape plots were conducted during the winter season (from 2014 to 2015). The results revealed that bird community compositions were best explained by amounts of noncrop vegetation and compositional heterogeneity of noncrop habitat (Shannon-Wiener index). Both variables also had a positive effect on richness and abundance of woodland species. Richness of agricultural wetland species increased with increasing areas of water bodies within the landscape plot. Richness of total species was also greater in the landscapes characterized by larger areas of water bodies, high proportion of noncrop vegetation, high compositional heterogeneity of noncrop habitat, or small field patches (high crop configurational heterogeneity). Crop compositional heterogeneity did not show significant effects neither on the whole community (all birds) nor on any of the three functional groups considered. These findings suggest that total bird diversity and some functional groups, especially woodland species, would benefit from increases in the proportion of noncrop features such as woody vegetation and water bodies as well as compositional heterogeneity of noncrop features within landscape.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Maintains Useful Plant Diversity in Semi-natural Grasslands in the Kiso Region, Japan

Wild plant species provide a variety of ecosystem services that contribute to human well-being. However, much of the legacy of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in Japan is rapidly being lost because of environmental changes; therefore, it is important to study the relationship between TEK of ecosystem management practices and plant diversity. Our study area is located in the southwest of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. We compared plant diversity among three land management types including traditional, labor-saving, and land abandonment sites, where we recorded 103 useful plant species based on interviews concerning the traditional use of local ecological resources; among them, 45 species are used for horse livestock, 32 for agriculture, 16 as edible plants, and 19 for manufacture of diverse every-day life goods. Data analyses demonstrated that useful plant diversity was significantly higher in the traditional sites than in other sites. We found highly diverse traditional uses of plant species (e.g., edible plants, horse feed, and rainwear) provided by TEK of local management. These results imply that when local farmers perform traditional management practices, they increase plant species diversity. With our work we investigated the effect of the loss of cultural values and the impact of biodiversity changes on the opportunities that people have to use ecosystem resources in Japan. This aspect particularly highlights the urgency of reconnecting nature and people. Conservation planning based on TEK has been and will be vital in addressing the goal of reducing biodiversity loss on a global scale.

Addressing Environmental Change through Emergent Integrated Environmental Observatories: A Case Study in the Czech Republic

A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that we have entered the Anthropocene Epoch. Many assert that society has exceeded sustainable ecological planetary boundaries and that altered biogeophysical processes are no longer reversible to natural rates of ecosystem functioning. To properly and successfully address societal needs for the future, more holistic and complex methods need to be applied at various spatial and temporal scales. The increasingly interconnected nature of human and natural environments—from individuals to large megacities and entire continents and from cells through ecosystems to the biosphere as a whole (e.g., as seen in the carbon cycle)—demand new and often interdisciplinary and international approaches to address emerging global challenges. With that perspective in mind, the Czech Republic’s National Climate Program was established in 1991 with the aim to understand the impact of global environmental change on society. The National Climate Program was updated in 2017 to formulate a new Climate Protection Policy. Here, we outline the multifaceted problems that climate change poses for the Czech Republic, as well as a new scientific infrastructure and approaches directed to better understanding the effects of climate change on our ecosystems, water resources, urban environment, agriculture, human health, and general economy.