| 1. |
- Josefsson, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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Improving scientific rigour in conservation evaluations and a plea deal for transparency on potential biases
- 2020
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Ingår i: Conservation Letters. - : Wiley. - 1755-263X. ; 13:5
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The delivery of rigorous and unbiased evidence on the effects of interventions lay at the heart of the scientific method. Here we examine scientific papers evaluating agri-environment schemes, the principal instrument to mitigate farmland biodiversity declines worldwide. Despite previous warnings about rudimentary study designs in this field, we found that the majority of studies published between 2008 and 2017 still lack robust study designs to strictly evaluate intervention effects. Potential sources of bias that arise from the correlative nature are rarely mentioned, and results are still promoted by using a causal language. This lack of robust study designs likely results from poor integration of research and policy, while the erroneous use of causal language and an unwillingness to discuss bias may stem from publication pressures. We conclude that scientific reporting and discussion of study limitations in intervention research must improve and propose some practices toward this goal.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Rosin, Zuzanna, et al.
(författare)
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Village modernization may contribute more to farmland bird declines than agricultural intensification
- 2021
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Ingår i: Conservation Letters. - : Wiley. - 1755-263X. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The central tenet of European farmland ecology is that agricultural intensification during the 20th century was largely responsible for dramatic declines in species abundances. However, during this time, human rural settlements were also undergoing radical changes through modernization, with undocumented biodiversity impacts in this important wildlife habitat. We performed the first ever large-scale study to disentangle the impact of these simultaneous processes on farmland bird diversity in 104 Polish villages. We show that modernized villages and their surrounding agricultural fields had 50-60% fewer birds than those in and around comparable older villages. The relative contribution of modernization versus agricultural intensification to predicted bird declines was 88% versus 12% for bird communities in villages and 56% versus 44% in surrounding croplands, with considerable variation among ecological species subgroups. These results challenge our current understanding of agricultural ecosystem ecology and how best to implement conservation measures costing billions of euros annually.
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| 4. |
- Aguilera Nuñez, Guillermo, et al.
(författare)
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Agriculturally Improved and Semi-Natural Permanent Grasslands Provide Complementary Ecosystem Services in Swedish Boreal Landscapes
- 2024
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Ingår i: Agronomy. - 2073-4395. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Permanent grasslands cover more than a third of European agricultural land and are important for a number of ecosystem services. Permanent grasslands used for agriculture are broadly separated into agriculturally improved and semi-natural grasslands. High cultural and natural values linked to semi-natural grasslands are well documented. However, in boreal and hemi-boreal agricultural landscapes, less information is available about the areal coverage of improved permanent grasslands and their role for ecosystem service provision and biodiversity. In Sweden, grasslands are administratively separated into semi-natural (i.e., land that cannot be ploughed) or arable (i.e., improved temporary or permanent grassland on land that can be ploughed). We used data from a large-scale environmental monitoring program to show that improved permanent grassland (i.e., permanent grasslands on arable fields) may be a previously unrecognised large area of the agricultural land use in Sweden. We show that improved permanent grasslands together with semi-natural grasslands are both comparable but also complementary providers of a range of ecosystem services (plant species richness, plant resources for pollinators and forage amount for livestock production). However, as expected, semi-natural grasslands with the highest-level AESs (special values) show high species richness values for vascular plants, plants indicating traditional semi-natural management conditions and red-listed species. Improved permanent grasslands on arable fields are likely an underestimated but integral part of the agricultural economy and ecological function in boreal landscapes that together with high nature value semi-natural grasslands provide a broad range of ecosystem services.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Eggers, Sönke, et al.
(författare)
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Do biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments inform stakeholders how to simultaneously conserve biodiversity and increase ecosystem service provisioning in grasslands?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207 .- 1873-2917. ; 245
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two key stakeholders primarily important for nature conservation are farmers (and their lobby groups) and conservationists. Both have substantial inputs into environmental strategies and policies calling for biodiversity conservation aimed to directly increase ecosystem services. The scientific literature concurs that as biological diversity increases so do ecosystem functions and services in grasslands. While the evidence for this is strong, the majority comes from controlled small-scale biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) experiments. Thus, it is unclear whether the scientific basis for implementing BEF relationships into practice is sufficiently evidenced. Here we explore the applicability of findings from BEF experiments to the conservation and management of temperate grassland, a widespread and potentially highly biodiverse habitat. While we acknowledge that BEF research can reveal insights into fundamental mechanisms, the saturation of biodiversity effects at low levels and unrealistic (management) treatments widely impede the applicability of these experimental results to permanent grasslands. Additionally, the integration of BEF research results into practice is considerably hampered by experimental studies not answering stakeholders' crucial questions, e.g. is there evidence of biodiversity conservation potentials? Thus, stakeholders do not have a strong evidence base for taking decisions for the addressed management goals, except intensive production in (species-poor) temporary grasslands. If BEF work is to inform stakeholders future research needs to overcome unrealistic management, missing stakeholder involvement and ineffective communication. A new generation of applied BEF experiments employing applied, multi-actor approaches is needed to facilitate the relevance of BEF research for nature conservation, agriculture and land management.
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| 7. |
- Elofsson, Katarina, et al.
(författare)
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Ecological compensation of stochastic wetland biodiversity : National or regional policy schemes?
- 2023
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Ingår i: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0921-8009 .- 1873-6106. ; 204
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study is to compare policy schemes for ecological compensation applied at national and regional levels, using exploited inland wetlands as an example. We study whether uncertainty, due to natural variability and measurement difficulties, motivates compensation that is carried out in the same region as that of the exploited site, or whether it rather motivates nationwide compensation schemes. For this purpose, we develop an empirical, chance-constrained programming model of cost-effective wetland management. The model is spatially differentiated and accounts for heterogeneity in wetland quality across wetland types and regions. Wetland quality is defined by three alternative biodiversity indices: species richness, population-weighted species richness, and red-listed species richness, estimated from voluntarily reported data on breeding bird species observations. Results show that regional schemes are more expensive, in particular if the policy maker dislikes uncertainty and wants to prioritize uncommon species. Contrary to expectations from the theoretical analysis, regional schemes would lead to a higher risk-adjusted level of biodiversity at the national level. However, regionalization also implies that targets cannot be achieved if a high safety margin is imposed. Trading ratios are robust to the choice of wetland quality index.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Glimskär, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainable Grazing by Cattle and Sheep for Semi-Natural Grasslands in Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Agronomy. - 2073-4395. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite their importance for biodiversity and other ecosystem services, many semi-natural grasslands deteriorate or have even disappeared due to insufficient grazing and neglect. Preservation of grassland habitats depends on a good understanding of sustainable grazing management as well as effective agricultural policy measures that ensure long-term economic sustainability for the farmer. Through meta-evaluation and synthesis of previous investigations and discussion of scientific literature, we aimed to evaluate factors that determine the extent to which cattle and sheep in Sweden graze semi-natural grasslands instead of more productive land and what this means for biodiversity and sustainability. We also aimed to propose which practises and policy measures may be the most cost-effective to promote habitat quality and the sustainable use of grasslands. Results from a nationwide survey of Swedish farmers' attitudes towards agri-environmental payment schemes are discussed in relation to farm characteristics and other factors influencing the use of cattle and sheep for sustainable grazing. This study supports recommendations by environmental economists that payments should be targeted more strongly at the most valuable grasslands, emphasising the need for a more detailed and nuanced framework for classifying grasslands in Europe. A comparison with independent estimates of the area of agricultural land from nation-wide, sample-based monitoring shows that the data from official statistics normally used for nationwide evaluations are partly biased and of insufficient quality, underscoring the need for more sophisticated and precise methods for monitoring both overall trends and detailed environmental effects related to the preservation of semi-natural grasslands.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
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| 13. |
- Glimskär, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Årsrapport för Regional miljöövervakning i landskapsrutor 2022
- 2023
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna årsrapport avser de uppdrag som SLU har haft från Länsstyrelsen i Örebro län m.fl. länsstyrelser under år 2022, att utföra miljöövervakning med riktad metodik för småbiotoper, gräsmarker och våtmarker i ett stickprov av landskapsrutor. År 2022 är det andra året av länsstyrelsernas löpande uppdrag med datainsamling som gäller för programperioden 2021-2026. Miljöövervakningen utförs inom ramen för tre så kallade gemensamma delprogram inom regional miljöövervakning: Småbiotoper i åkerlandskapet Gräsmarkernas gröna infrastruktur Vegetation och ingrepp i våtmarker
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| 14. |
- Glimskär, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Årsrapport för Regional miljöövervakning i landskapsrutor 2023
- 2023
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna årsrapport avser de uppdrag som SLU har haft från Länsstyrelsen i Örebro län m.fl. länsstyrelser från och med år 2021, att utföra miljöövervakning med riktad metodik för småbiotoper, gräsmarker och våtmarker i ett stickprov av landskapsrutor. År 2021 var det första året av länsstyrelsernas löpande uppdrag med datainsamling för programperioden 2021-2026, och det är till största delen en direkt fortsättning på verksamheten under föregående period, 2015-2020. Miljöövervakningen utförs inom ramen för tre så kallade gemensamma delprogram inom regional miljöövervakning:Småbiotoper i åkerlandskapetGräsmarkernas gröna infrastrukturVegetation och ingrepp i våtmarker
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| 15. |
- Hiron, Matthew, et al.
(författare)
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Hybrid bioacoustic and ecoacoustic analyses provide new links between bird assemblages and habitat quality in a winter boreal forest
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental and Sustainability Indicators. - : Elsevier BV. - 2665-9727. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Resident birds in boreal forests can serve as indicators of habitat quality and are often species of conservation interest, particularly in multifunctional forests also used for timber production. To make informed forest management decisions, we must first understand which structural features provide habitats useful for resident birds. This is particularly true in winter, an understudied and critical season for their survival. The objective of this study was to establish reliable methods for monitoring bird presence and activity during winter, and to use these methods to evaluate the relative importance of stand structural features to make inferences about which features support and increase winter survival potential. Using a hybrid bioacoustic and ecoacoustic approach, we tested the ability of acoustic recordings to identify links between bird diversity and components of structural complexity, and compared these results to those from the traditional point count method. We conducted a vegetation survey, point count surveys and collected acoustic recordings from December 2019–February 2020 in 19 sites in a Swedish boreal forest. First, we compared species richness values derived from point counts and bioacoustic monitoring methods. Bioacoustic species richness was significantly higher than point count richness, although only when the time spent identifying species from recordings exceeded the time spent conducting point counts in the field. Next, we demonstrated that bioacoustic species identification yields additional metrics of bird activity that point counts cannot. We tested the response of these metrics, and point count metrics, to variables of structural heterogeneity and complexity of our sites. Almost all bioacoustic metrics increased significantly with increasing structural complexity, while point count richness and abundance did not, indicating that automated recording is more effective in identifying forest patches of high quality in winter. Lastly, using an ecoacoustic approach, we calculated six of the most common acoustic indices and tested if any could effectively reflect the bird-structure relationships described above. Two indices showed significant positive relationships to bioacoustic metrics, demonstrating their potential as biodiversity assessment proxies that respond to differences in habitat quality. This is the first winter acoustic study to monitor bird assemblages in detail; it employed both bioacoustic and multi-index ecoacoustic approaches, which provided evidence that automated acoustic recording can be an effective and superior method for monitoring resident forest birds.
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| 16. |
- Hiron, Matthew
(författare)
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Permanent grasslands in Europe: Land use change and intensification decrease their multifunctionality
- 2022
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Ingår i: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-8809 .- 1873-2305. ; 330
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Permanent grasslands cover 34% of the European Union's agricultural area and are vital for a wide variety of ecosystem services essential for our society. Over recent decades, the permanent grassland area has declined and land use change continues to threaten its extent. Simultaneously, the management intensity of permanent grasslands increased. We performed a systematic literature review on the multifunctionality of permanent grasslands in Europe, examining the effects of land use and management on 19 grassland ecosystem service indicators. Based on the evidence in 696 out of 70,456 screened papers, published since 1980, we found that both land use change and intensification of management decreased multifunctionality. In particular, preventing conversion of permanent grasslands to croplands secured the delivery of multiple ecosystem services. A lower management intensity was associated with benefits for biodiversity, climate regulation and water purification, but impacted the provision of high-quality animal feed. Increasing the number of species in the sward enhanced multifunctionality of permanent grassland without significant trade-offs such as losses in production. Our review covered many aspects of land use, management and ecosystem services, but we also identified areas with no or only few studies. The most prominent gaps were related to comparisons between permanent and temporary grasslands, and effects of management practices on the provision of cultural values, and on erosion and flood control. We suggest that, despite apparent changes in human dietary preferences, the protection of permanent grasslands in Europe must be prioritised. At the same time, considering the need to reduce ruminant livestock's contribution to climate change, the time seems ripe to increase support for low-intensity grassland management to optimise the provision of essential ecosystem services from Europe's permanent grasslands.
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| 17. |
- Hiron, Matthew
(författare)
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The Effects of Nitrogen Fertilisation on Plant Species Richness in European Permanent Grasslands: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
- 2022
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Ingår i: Agronomy. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-4395. ; 12
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nitrogen fertilisation is a common form of agricultural intensification, aimed at increasing biomass, which can affect plant species diversity and ecosystem functioning. Using a systematic review and meta-analysis of nitrogen fertilisation studies in European permanent grasslands, we asked: (i) what relationship form exists between nitrogen application rate and change in plant diversity, compared to zero fertilisation controls; and (ii) how grassland, management and study characteristics affect this relationship. Meta-analysis of 34 control-treatment effects from 14 studies conducted across nine European countries revealed a negative linear relationship between nitrogen fertilisation rate and change in plant species richness, equivalent to approximately 1.5 species/m(2) lost for every 100 Kg ha(-1) yr(-1) of nitrogen added. Fertilisation induced reductions in plant species richness were greater when defoliation rates were lower. We found some evidence that grasslands with a higher baseline plant diversity lost more species when fertilised compared to more species poor grasslands, although uncertainty was high. Due to the diverse grassland types included in the analysis, the variability in fertilisation-driven changes in plant diversity was high. We identified several remaining limitations to our understanding, including uncertainty about non-linear effects, which could aid efforts to optimise the trade-off of plant diversity and increasing grassland yields.
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| 18. |
- Hultgren, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental Quality and Compliance with Animal Welfare Legislation at Swedish Cattle and Sheep Farms
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Conflicts between different goals can obstruct progress in sustainability, but interests may also coincide. We evaluated relationships between environmental quality and animal welfare on Swedish farms with grazing livestock, using publicly available databases. Data were collected from 8700 official animal welfare inspections on 5808 cattle farms and 2823 inspections on 2280 sheep farms in 2012-2017. Compliance with three animal-based checkpoints was modeled using logistic regression, including a random farm effect to account for repeated inspections. Compliance was regressed on semi-natural grassland area, participation in the National Meadow and Pasture Inventory, Agri-Environmental Scheme (AES) grassland payments, presence of indicator plant species, and the presence of Natura 2000 habitats. Cattle farms complied more often if they received AES payments for grasslands of special values compared with if they did not apply for them (OR = 1.55-1.65; p <= 0.0001) and there was a similar tendency for cattle farms that applied for but were denied such payments (OR = 1.29; p = 0.074). There was also a strong tendency for Natura 2000 habitats on cattle farms to be associated with higher compliance (OR = 1.36; p = 0.059). These results suggest a direct or indirect causal effect of biodiversity on cattle welfare. The same associations could not be shown in sheep.
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| 19. |
- Rosin, Zuzanna, et al.
(författare)
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Reduced biodiversity in modernized villages: A conflict between sustainable development goals
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8901 .- 1365-2664. ; 57, s. 467-475
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite large conservation efforts to halt the loss of farmland biodiversity in Europe, negative population trends are still observed, especially for common species. Old villages and human settlements are biodiversity hotspots and important breeding habitats for farmland birds, but recent requirements for energy saving measures and improved living comfort have changed their architecture and habitats. Consequently, modernization of villages may negatively affect bird diversity due to the loss of nesting and foraging sites. We investigated how the abundance and diversity of birds breeding in 104 Polish villages varied in relation to the degree of modernization as estimated by the proportion of new and renovated homesteads. Abundance of building-nesting species, but not tree-nesting species, declined by 50% across a gradient of old to highly modernized villages. The contribution of new versus renovated houses to the observed decline was similar. Synthesis and applications. Rural modernization may have a dramatic effect on abundance of birds nesting on buildings, thus may be an important and overlooked contributor to farmland bird population declines in Europe. Villages and rural properties fall outside of current conservation policy as they are neither protected areas nor agricultural lands (where agri-environmental schemes can be applied). The observed conflict between sustainability goals such as increased building energy efficiency and biodiversity conservation suggests that sustainable rural development should better link modernization with conservation measures, for example, by constructing nesting sites when renovating and building new houses. The challenge is to design modern buildings that are both energy-efficient and biodiversity-friendly to generally improve quality of life for rural communities and to halt or reduce farmland bird declines in rural landscapes. Designers and architects can find inspiration from traditional architecture and add a variety of nest-box types.
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| 20. |
- Wahlund, Lotten, et al.
(författare)
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Virtuella stängsel: ett flexibelt verktyg för skötsel av naturbetesmarker
- 2023
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Variation i livsmiljöer knutna till åker- och betesmark har identifierats som avgörande för en varierad flora och fauna i jordbrukslandskapet och särskilt viktiga för den biologiska mångfalden är gräsmarker som betas. Idag sköts många gräsmarker homogent med antingen för högt eller lågt betestryck, vilket kan leda till att marker betas för intensivt eller att de växer igen. Att skapa variation inom en betesmark genom optimerad och kontrollerad styrning av betestrycket utifrån naturvårdsbehov kräver stor arbetsinsats. För att främja den biologiska mångfalden i jordbrukslandskapet finns ett stort behov av flexibla lösningar för skötsel av värdefulla betesmarker. Virtuella stängsel, en teknik där betesdjuren hägnas in digitalt med hjälp av GPS-halsband som avger ljudsignaler och elstötar om djuren går utanför en definierad GPS-gräns (virtuell stängselgräns) skulle kunna underlätta för en mer flexibel och skräddarsydd skötsel av gräsmarker med höga naturvärden. Syftet med studien var att undersöka möjligheten att med hjälp av virtuell stängselteknik hägna in nötkreatur och styra betestrycket i en naturbetesmark. Tekniken testades på sju kvigor under sju veckor från maj-juli 2022. Flera olika virtuella stängselgränser introducerades och flyttades inom en befintlig hage med konventionellt elstängsel runt. Djuren lärde sig snabbt att associera ljudsignalen med de virtuella gränserna och anpassade sin vistelseyta utifrån dessa. Detta avspeglades även i resultatet från vegetationsmätningar som visade på en variation i gräshöjd i olika delar av hagen. Virtuell stängselteknik kan därför vara ett snabbt, flexibelt och effektivt verktyg för skötsel och styrning av betestryck. Vi ser många möjliga naturvårdstillämpningar för tekniken i Sverige men fler studier kring specifika skötselåtgärder bör prioriteras för att få mer kunskap om teknikens fulla potential.
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