Landscape complexity and farmland biodiversity: Evaluating the CAP target on natural elements

A. Cormont; H. Siepel; J. Clement; T. C. P. Melman; M. F. WallisDeVries; C. A. M. van Turnhout; L. B. Sparrius; M. Reemer; J. C. Biesmeijer; F. Berendse; G. R. de Snoo

doi:10.1016/j.jnc.2015.12.006

Landscape complexity and farmland biodiversity: Evaluating the CAP target on natural elements

A. Cormont, H. Siepel, J. Clement, T. C. P. Melman, M. F. WallisDeVries, C. A. M. van Turnhout, L. B. Sparrius, M. Reemer, J. C. Biesmeijer, F. Berendse, G. R. de Snoo

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Increasing pressures on natural areas and limited conservation budgets require, particularly in rural landscapes in the Western world, an immediate answer to the question how much natural area is required to provide a sustainable future for wild plant and animal species on farmland. The European Union proposed in its Common Agricultural Policy that 3-7% of EU farmland should be managed as ecological focus area (EFA) in order to halt biodiversity loss. For the first time, we empirically assessed the implications of this policy by evaluating the effects of the density of natural elements in agricultural landscapes on multi-taxon species richness, including vascular plants, breeding birds, butterflies, hoverflies, dragonflies, and grasshoppers for an entire European country. We found that species richness increased either as linear or as a logarithmic function of the proportion of natural elements in the landscape, but not with a sigmoid function as predicted by the 'intermediate landscape complexity' hypothesis. Even landscapes with 3-7% of natural elements harboured generally 37-75% of maximum species richness, indicating good potential of implementing the CAP target to preserve farmland biodiversity. However, differences between the 3 and 7% limits were considerable for butterflies, birds, and hoverflies. Also, the shape of the species richness response was shown to differ between landscape types for butterflies. Thus, it may be necessary to develop tailor-made guidelines at regional levels. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	19-26
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal for Nature Conservation
Volume	30
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2015.12.006
Publication status	Published - 2016
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Common Agricultural Policy Ecological focus area Farmland biodiversity Landscape complexity Species richness conservation strategies species-diversity patterns determinants Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology

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10.1016/j.jnc.2015.12.006

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title = "Landscape complexity and farmland biodiversity: Evaluating the CAP target on natural elements",

abstract = "Increasing pressures on natural areas and limited conservation budgets require, particularly in rural landscapes in the Western world, an immediate answer to the question how much natural area is required to provide a sustainable future for wild plant and animal species on farmland. The European Union proposed in its Common Agricultural Policy that 3-7% of EU farmland should be managed as ecological focus area (EFA) in order to halt biodiversity loss. For the first time, we empirically assessed the implications of this policy by evaluating the effects of the density of natural elements in agricultural landscapes on multi-taxon species richness, including vascular plants, breeding birds, butterflies, hoverflies, dragonflies, and grasshoppers for an entire European country. We found that species richness increased either as linear or as a logarithmic function of the proportion of natural elements in the landscape, but not with a sigmoid function as predicted by the 'intermediate landscape complexity' hypothesis. Even landscapes with 3-7% of natural elements harboured generally 37-75% of maximum species richness, indicating good potential of implementing the CAP target to preserve farmland biodiversity. However, differences between the 3 and 7% limits were considerable for butterflies, birds, and hoverflies. Also, the shape of the species richness response was shown to differ between landscape types for butterflies. Thus, it may be necessary to develop tailor-made guidelines at regional levels. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.",

keywords = "Common Agricultural Policy Ecological focus area Farmland biodiversity Landscape complexity Species richness conservation strategies species-diversity patterns determinants Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology",

author = "A. Cormont and H. Siepel and J. Clement and Melman, {T. C. P.} and WallisDeVries, {M. F.} and {van Turnhout}, {C. A. M.} and Sparrius, {L. B.} and M. Reemer and Biesmeijer, {J. C.} and F. Berendse and {de Snoo}, {G. R.}",

note = "ISI Document Delivery No.: DH0EQ Times Cited: 12 Cited Reference Count: 29 Cormont, A. Siepel, H. Clement, J. Melman, T. C. P. WallisDeVries, M. F. van Turnhout, C. A. M. Sparrius, L. B. Reemer, M. Biesmeijer, J. C. Berendse, F. de Snoo, G. R. Sparrius, Laurens/Z-3562-2019; Siepel, Henk/C-2579-2011; Siepel, Henk/Q-8145-2019 Sparrius, Laurens/0000-0002-4925-9289; Siepel, Henk/0000-0003-4503-4485; Siepel, Henk/0000-0003-4503-4485 Dutch Ministry of Economic AffairsMinistry of Economic Affairs, Netherlands; Alterra, Wageningen University & Research Centre This research is part of the KBIV strategic research programme {"}Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions{"} which is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, and carried out by Alterra, Wageningen University & Research Centre. We thank Paul Goedhart for his advice on statistics. We are grateful to the thousands of observers who gathered vascular plant, breeding bird, butterfly, and grasshopper data in the past decennium, organised by coordinators of FLORON, SOVON, Dutch Butterfly Conservation, and the European Invertebrate Survey - without their efforts this research would not have been possible. 14 1 69 Elsevier gmbh, urban & fischer verlag Jena 1618-1093 <Go to ISI>://WOS:000372455700003",

year = "2016",

doi = "10.1016/j.jnc.2015.12.006",

language = "English",

volume = "30",

pages = "19--26",

journal = "Journal for Nature Conservation",

issn = "1617-1381",

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T1 - Landscape complexity and farmland biodiversity: Evaluating the CAP target on natural elements

AU - Cormont, A.

AU - Siepel, H.

AU - Clement, J.

AU - Melman, T. C. P.

AU - WallisDeVries, M. F.

AU - van Turnhout, C. A. M.

AU - Sparrius, L. B.

AU - Reemer, M.

AU - Biesmeijer, J. C.

AU - Berendse, F.

AU - de Snoo, G. R.

N1 - ISI Document Delivery No.: DH0EQ Times Cited: 12 Cited Reference Count: 29 Cormont, A. Siepel, H. Clement, J. Melman, T. C. P. WallisDeVries, M. F. van Turnhout, C. A. M. Sparrius, L. B. Reemer, M. Biesmeijer, J. C. Berendse, F. de Snoo, G. R. Sparrius, Laurens/Z-3562-2019; Siepel, Henk/C-2579-2011; Siepel, Henk/Q-8145-2019 Sparrius, Laurens/0000-0002-4925-9289; Siepel, Henk/0000-0003-4503-4485; Siepel, Henk/0000-0003-4503-4485 Dutch Ministry of Economic AffairsMinistry of Economic Affairs, Netherlands; Alterra, Wageningen University & Research Centre This research is part of the KBIV strategic research programme "Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions" which is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, and carried out by Alterra, Wageningen University & Research Centre. We thank Paul Goedhart for his advice on statistics. We are grateful to the thousands of observers who gathered vascular plant, breeding bird, butterfly, and grasshopper data in the past decennium, organised by coordinators of FLORON, SOVON, Dutch Butterfly Conservation, and the European Invertebrate Survey - without their efforts this research would not have been possible. 14 1 69 Elsevier gmbh, urban & fischer verlag Jena 1618-1093 <Go to ISI>://WOS:000372455700003

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Increasing pressures on natural areas and limited conservation budgets require, particularly in rural landscapes in the Western world, an immediate answer to the question how much natural area is required to provide a sustainable future for wild plant and animal species on farmland. The European Union proposed in its Common Agricultural Policy that 3-7% of EU farmland should be managed as ecological focus area (EFA) in order to halt biodiversity loss. For the first time, we empirically assessed the implications of this policy by evaluating the effects of the density of natural elements in agricultural landscapes on multi-taxon species richness, including vascular plants, breeding birds, butterflies, hoverflies, dragonflies, and grasshoppers for an entire European country. We found that species richness increased either as linear or as a logarithmic function of the proportion of natural elements in the landscape, but not with a sigmoid function as predicted by the 'intermediate landscape complexity' hypothesis. Even landscapes with 3-7% of natural elements harboured generally 37-75% of maximum species richness, indicating good potential of implementing the CAP target to preserve farmland biodiversity. However, differences between the 3 and 7% limits were considerable for butterflies, birds, and hoverflies. Also, the shape of the species richness response was shown to differ between landscape types for butterflies. Thus, it may be necessary to develop tailor-made guidelines at regional levels. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

AB - Increasing pressures on natural areas and limited conservation budgets require, particularly in rural landscapes in the Western world, an immediate answer to the question how much natural area is required to provide a sustainable future for wild plant and animal species on farmland. The European Union proposed in its Common Agricultural Policy that 3-7% of EU farmland should be managed as ecological focus area (EFA) in order to halt biodiversity loss. For the first time, we empirically assessed the implications of this policy by evaluating the effects of the density of natural elements in agricultural landscapes on multi-taxon species richness, including vascular plants, breeding birds, butterflies, hoverflies, dragonflies, and grasshoppers for an entire European country. We found that species richness increased either as linear or as a logarithmic function of the proportion of natural elements in the landscape, but not with a sigmoid function as predicted by the 'intermediate landscape complexity' hypothesis. Even landscapes with 3-7% of natural elements harboured generally 37-75% of maximum species richness, indicating good potential of implementing the CAP target to preserve farmland biodiversity. However, differences between the 3 and 7% limits were considerable for butterflies, birds, and hoverflies. Also, the shape of the species richness response was shown to differ between landscape types for butterflies. Thus, it may be necessary to develop tailor-made guidelines at regional levels. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

KW - Common Agricultural Policy Ecological focus area Farmland biodiversity Landscape complexity Species richness conservation strategies species-diversity patterns determinants Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology

U2 - 10.1016/j.jnc.2015.12.006

DO - 10.1016/j.jnc.2015.12.006

M3 - Article

SN - 1617-1381

VL - 30

SP - 19

EP - 26

JO - Journal for Nature Conservation

JF - Journal for Nature Conservation

ER -

Landscape complexity and farmland biodiversity: Evaluating the CAP target on natural elements

Abstract

Keywords

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