On the relationship between farmland biodiversity and land-use intensity in Europe
2009-03 | journal article
Jump to: Cite & Linked | Documents & Media | Details | Version history
Cite this publication
On the relationship between farmland biodiversity and land-use intensity in Europe
Kleijn, D.; Kohler, F.; Báldi, A.; Batáry, P. ; Concepcion, E.; Clough, Y. & Díaz, M. et al. (2009)
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276(1658) pp. 903-909. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1509
Documents & Media
Details
- Authors
- Kleijn, David; Kohler, Florian; Báldi, András; Batáry, Péter ; Concepcion, E.D.; Clough, Yann ; Díaz, Mario; Gabriel, Doreen; Holzschuh, Andrea ; Knop, Eva; Kovacs, A.; Marshall, E. Jon P.; Tscharntke, Teja ; Verhulst, Jort
- Abstract
- Worldwide agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity decline. Effective conservation strategies depend on the type of relationship between biodiversity and land-use intensity, but to date the shape of this relationship is unknown. We linked plant species richness with nitrogen (N) input as an indicator of land-use intensity on 130 grasslands and 141 arable fields in six European countries. Using Poisson regression, we found that plant species richness was significantly negatively related to N input on both field types after the effects of confounding environmental factors had been accounted for. Subsequent analyses showed that exponentially declining relationships provided a better fit than linear or unimodal relationships and that this was largely the result of the response of rare species (relative cover less than 1%). Our results indicate that conservation benefits are disproportionally more costly on high-intensity than on low-intensity farmland. For example, reducing N inputs from 75 to 0 and 400 to 60 kg ha−1 yr−1 resulted in about the same estimated species gain for arable plants. Conservation initiatives are most (cost-)effective if they are preferentially implemented in extensively farmed areas that still support high levels of biodiversity.
- Issue Date
- March-2009
- Journal
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Organization
- Fakultät für Agrarwissenschaften ; Department für Nutzpflanzenwissenschaften ; Abteilung Agrarökologie
- ISSN
- 0962-8452
- Language
- English