On The Relationship Between Farmland Biodiversity And Land-use Intensity In Europe

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Article Date: 21 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Effective conservation strategies of farmland biodiversity depend on the type of relationship between biodiversity and land-use intensity.

To date the shape of this relationship is unknown. On 130 grasslands and 141 arable fields in six European countries we linked plant species richness with nitrogen input as an indicator of land-use intensity.

On both field types, plant species richness declined exponentially with increasing land-use intensity. This implies that conservation benefits are disproportionally more costly on high-intensity than on low-intensity farmland.

Conservation initiatives are most (cost-)effective if they are preferentially implemented in extensively farmed areas that still support high levels of biodiversity.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences