A cost-benefit analysis of rice field winter flooding for conservation purposes in Camargue, Southern France

Niang, Abdoulaye; Pernollet, Claire A.; Gauthier‐Clerc, Michel; Guillemain, Matthieu

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2016.06.018

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In our case, we advise landowners to refrain from winter plowing or to delay it as long as possible because this activity greatly reduces rice seed forage available to birds. We also recommend conservation planners to promote winter flooding of harvested fields, which is economically realistic in Camargue (Niang et al ). Where active flooding is deemed impossible or infeasible, passive flooding, achieved by closing field water gates to retain rainwater, is done with success in Portugal (Lourenço and Piersma ) and is another practice worth promoting.…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed density and waterfowl use of rice fields in Camargue, France

et al. 2016

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European rice fields provide potential nocturnal foraging habitat to waterfowl during winter. Agricultural practices may influence seed density and accessibility, thereby influencing the extent to which ducks use this managed habitat. To assess the potential influence of post‐harvest stubble‐management practices (i.e., flooding, burning, chopping, disking, plowing, and their combinations) on waste rice and weeds, and to evaluate the link of the latter 2 with nocturnal duck abundance, we conducted an experiment in rice fields of the Camargue, France. We assessed the density of available seeds 3 times across the winter, from harvest in late October to departure of the wintering ducks in early February, over 2 winters (2012–2013, 2013–2014). We monitored nocturnal duck use of the fields during the second year. Initial post‐harvest rice and weed seed densities were positively correlated and highly variable. Mean seed density was not dependent on straw management procedure (i.e., burning, chopping, disking). Average rice density decreased by 89% and weed seed density by 69% between harvest and late winter. Seed depletion rate was dependent on initial seed density, and was greatest in plowed fields for rice. Winter flooding did not significantly affect seed depletion rate but was the main determinant of nocturnal duck use of the fields. Duck numbers were lower in burned fields than in chopped or disked fields. One hectare of rice field could support an average of 43 mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)‐sized ducks/day for the entire wintering season (i.e., 5,202 duck‐energy days/ha) given initial post‐harvest seed densities. Harvested rice fields have a great potential as nocturnal foraging habitat for wintering ducks in the Camargue. Plowing should be avoided and flooding promoted to better allow ducks to use these fields. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed density and waterfowl use of rice fields in Camargue, France

et al. 2016

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“…Farmers are encouraged to roll their fields and maintain a water cover not too high to obtain both agronomic benefits and ecosystem services for waterbirds, while at the same time promoting the conservation of their habitats (Pernollet et al 2015a;Niang et al 2016). However, because not all waterbird species react positively to rolled rice fields, a combination of rolled and non-rolled fields would be ideal, with plowing spread across the winter to guarantee the availability of standing stubble fields throughout the period (Lourenço and Piersma 2009;Strum et al 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Especially in countries with a long tradition of rice farming, rice fields may represent a significant proportion of suitable habitat for waterbirds, to the point of being considered as surrogates of natural wetlands (e.g., Fasola and Ruiz 1996;Toral and Figuerola 2010). However, the suitability of rice fields for waterbirds largely depends on the type of farming practices implemented (Elphick et al 2010;Longoni 2010;Pernollet et al 2015b;Niang et al 2016). As an example, during the post-harvest period, straw management activities may involve cutting the straw into small pieces and rolling the field to mix the stubble and incorporate it into the soil (Elphick and Oring 1998;Elphick et al 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

Benefits of the European Agri-Environment Schemes for Wintering Lapwings: A Case Study from Rice Fields in the Mediterranean Region

et al. 2020

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“…Various management practices (e.g., application of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, tillage methods, cultivation periods, and water management methods) conducted for agricultural production significantly influence agricultural ecosystem services, such as soil carbon storage, soil erosion prevention, and wildlife habitat conservation [3]. For example, winter flooding in paddy fields is specifically done to provide habitat conservation services [7][8][9]. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) [10] has been used for evaluating the performance of agricultural systems by evaluating ecosystem services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling Life Cycle Environmental Impacts with Ecosystem Services: A Management Perspective on Agricultural Land Use

et al. 2018

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Impacts on ecosystem services that are related to agricultural land use greatly differ depending on management practices employed. This study aimed to reveal issues associated with evaluating ecosystem services related to land use at the management level during life cycle assessment (LCA) and to consider future challenges. Firstly, a relationship between agricultural ecosystem services and management practices was outlined. Then, a survey was performed to disclose the current status of assessment of impact of land use in agricultural LCA case studies that compared between different management practices. In addition, this study also investigated how management practices have been differently considered by factors that characterize ecosystem services that are related to land use. The results show that the number of agricultural LCA cases where land use impacts instead of land areas were assessed was still small. The results of limited LCA case studies, which using factors could differentiate between various management practices, suggest that although organic farming methods have been employed over large land areas, lower impact may be caused by agricultural land use. For factors developed in existing research, services related to soil quality, and some of the regulatory services were considered, those unique to agriculture were missing. Although most of factors were calculated at levels of intensity or land use type, some of them were based on a process-based model that could consider management practices. In the future, factors that characterize the impacts of land use on ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and erosion prevention, will need to be calculated at the management level. For ecosystem services, such as habitat conservation and pollination, further efforts in accumulating evaluation case studies that collect and accumulate foreground data are important.

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A cost-benefit analysis of rice field winter flooding for conservation purposes in Camargue, Southern France

Cited by 15 publications

References 24 publications

Seed density and waterfowl use of rice fields in Camargue, France

Seed density and waterfowl use of rice fields in Camargue, France

Benefits of the European Agri-Environment Schemes for Wintering Lapwings: A Case Study from Rice Fields in the Mediterranean Region

Reconciling Life Cycle Environmental Impacts with Ecosystem Services: A Management Perspective on Agricultural Land Use

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