Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes can be increased with conversion of some production lands into 'more-natural'- unmanaged or extensively managed - lands. However, it remains unknown to what extent biodiversity can be enhanced by altering landscape pattern without reducing agricultural production. We propose a framework for this problem, considering separately compositional heterogeneity (the number and proportions of different cover types) and configurational heterogeneity (the spatial arrangement of cover types). Cover type classification and mapping is based on species requirements, such as feeding and nesting, resulting in measures of 'functional landscape heterogeneity'. We then identify three important questions: does biodiversity increase with (1) increasing heterogeneity of the more-natural areas, (2) increasing compositional heterogeneity of production cover types and (3) increasing configurational heterogeneity of production cover types? We discuss approaches for addressing these questions. Such studies should have high priority because biodiversity protection globally depends increasingly on maintaining biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes.

Landscapes generate a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, yet land use decisions often ignore the value of these services. Using the example of the UK, we show the significance of land use change not only for agricultural production but also for emissions and sequestration of greenhouse gases, open-access recreational visits, urban green space and wild species diversity. We use spatially explicit models in conjunction with valuation methods to estimate comparable economic values for these services, taking account of climate change impacts. We show that, while decisions which focus solely upon agriculture reduce overall ecosystem service values, highly significant value increases can be obtained from targeted planning incorporating all potential services and their values, and that this approach also conserves wild species diversity.One Sentence Summary: Valuation of ecosystem services within land-use planning creates significant gains relative to current, market-dominated, decision making. Main Text:The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (1) provided important evidence of the ongoing global degradation of ecosystem services and highlighted the need to incorporate their value into the economic analyses which underpin real-world decision-making. Previous studies have shown that the overall values of unconverted natural habitats can exceed the private benefits following conversion (2, 3), that knowledge of landscape heterogeneity and ecological processes can support cost effective land planning (4-7), that trade-offs in land-use decisions affect values from ecosystem services and biodiversity at local level (8, 9), and that current land use is vulnerable to the impacts of global change (10, 11). In the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) (12), a comprehensive assessment of the UK's ecosystems was linked to a systematic, environmental and economic analysis of the benefits they generate. Here we show how taking account of multiple objectives in a changing environment (including, but not restricted to, climate change) fundamentally alters decisions regarding optimal land use. The NEA analyses are based upon highly detailed, spatially-referenced environmental data covering all of Great Britain. These data supported the design and parameterization of models of both the drivers and consequences of land use decisions, incorporating the complexity of the natural environment and its variation across space and time (13). Model outputs provide inputs to economic analyses which assess the value of both marketed and non-marketed goods (Table 1).The NEA specifically addressed the consequences of land use change driven by either just agricultural or a wider set of values, all within the context of ongoing climate change. To assess this, raw data on land use and its determinants were drawn from multiple sources to compile a 40 year dataset, spatially disaggregated at a resolution of 2km grid squares (400ha) or finer across all of Great Britain, forming more than ½ million sets of spatially referenced, time specific...

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Summary 0[ Widespread declines in the populations of many British farmland birds have occurred since the early 0869s[ We must understand the causes of these declines to make recommendations about conservation and agricultural management\ and this can be approached by investigating the relationships\ across species\ between abundance and agricultural change[ We describe novel\ quantitative approaches to the interpretation of abundance indices from which reliable inferences about conservation status can be made[ 1[ We calculated farmland Common Birds Census indices for 31 species\ smoothed the series to reveal underlying trends and estimated con_dence intervals for the changes in abundance[ 2[ Between 0857 and 0884\ the abundance of 01 species declined signi_cantly and that of 03 species increased[ 3[ Specialization was the only signi_cant determinant of changes in abundance "of 09 tests against species characteristics#] 02 farmland specialists declined\ on average\ by 29)\ whilst 18 more generalist species underwent an average increase of 12)\ con_rming that farmland birds should engender conservation concern[ 4[ Smoothed abundance curves\ transformed to emphasize trend direction and timing\ were then compared quantitatively to identify whether groups of species had shared common trends[ 5[ Species tended not to be strongly grouped\ but small groups of species with common trends were identi_ed[ Similarities in ecology among grouped species clarify the possible environmental causes of their population trends\ indicating future research priorities[ 6[ The groups identi_ed included] one group consisting of three thrush species Turdus and the skylark Alauda arvensis L[ which all declined from the mid!0869s after being stable previously^one group comprising three trans!Saharan migrant warblers "Sylvidae#\ whose abundance fell in the early 0869s and later increased^and a diverse group of six smoothly increasing species[ 7[ Turning points were identi_ed as where each species| population trend turned signi_cantly\ revealing critical periods during which populations are likely to have been a}ected by environmental change[ 8[ Three collections of downward turning points were found\ including one in the mid!0869s when many farmland bird declines began[ Four other periods each included many upturns[ The groups of turning points should facilitate the identi_cation of environmental changes which have had widespread e}ects[ Management prescriptions can then be designed to reverse or to mirror such key changes and thereby focus conservation e}ort e}ectively[ Key!words] agriculture\ bird populations\ conservation\ environmental change\ turn! ing points[