Preventing biotic homogenization of farmland bird communities: The role of High Nature Value farmland

Aim: There is now increasing evidence that agriculture intensification acts as a major driving force of the observed decline in farmland biodiversity. However, whether agricultural intensification is affecting all types of farmland equally and/or which farmland habitat types are yielding high level of biodiversity is still unclear. Some agro-ecosystems, where extensive and traditional practices are still in use (the so-called High Nature Value or HNV farmland), are expected to support high diversity levels but are continuously abandoned or replaced by more intensive farmlands in Europe. At large scale, farmland biodiversity could thus mostly be driven by the dynamics of HNV areas. Location: French farmland at the national scale. Methods: We used the French Breeding Bird Survey to test whether and to which extent the contemporary composition of bird communities and recent trends in farmland bird populations are related to past HNV dynamics estimated between two distinct time periods (1970 and 2000). Spatial and temporal variations at both population and community levels are examined over the gradient of trends in HNV scores in French farmland. Results: Farmland specialists bird populations had higher trends in sites that increased or retained their HNV scores in high levels. Species abundances were retained stable in sites with moderate changes in HNV. In sites where HNV scores decreased more sharply during the 30 year-period, bird communities were more homogeneous, composed mainly by generalists species. Main conclusions Maintaining a High Nature Value in farmland areas can assure higher levels of diversity at the community level and can more effectively halt decrease in farmland bird populations. Our results indicate that the HNV network is an excellent tool for identifying zones that favour farmland birds and can thus play a significant role in large-scale management solutions, giving new perspectives in accomplishing agricultural production and conservation goals.

DOXA Aggeliki;  PARACCHINI Maria-Luisa;  POINTEREAU Philippe;  DEVICTOR Vincent;  JIGUET Frederic; 

2012-04-06

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC58986

0167-8809,   

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880911004002,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC58986,   

10.1016/j.agee.2011.11.020,