Benefits of organic farming to biodiversity vary among taxa

Fuller, Robert; Norton, Lisa; Feber, Ruth E.; Johnson, Paul J.; Chamberlain, Dan; Joys, Andrew; Mathews, Fiona; Stuart, R. C.; Townsend, M. C.; Manley, Will; Wolfe, Martin S.; Macdonald, David W.; Firbank, L. G.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0357

Cited by 291 publications

(227 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The study suggests that farm management practices result in greater complexity on organic farms at the scales investigated which may be associated with positive impacts of organic farming on biodiversity (Bengtsson et al, 2005) including those found for the farms in this study (see Fuller et al, 2005). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 50%

Consequences of organic and non-organic farming practices for field, farm and landscape complexity

Norton

Johnson

Joys

et al. 2009

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

134

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 50%

Consequences of organic and non-organic farming practices for field, farm and landscape complexity

Norton

Johnson

Joys

et al. 2009

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

134

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“…The general lack of farm-type differences could be strongly influenced by stubble availability. Although higher arable weed abundance on organic farms (Fuller et al 2005) may be expected to increase winter food resources, at the time of the study stubbles were more prevalent on conventional farms (Norton et al 2009), as organic farmers cannot afford the resulting weed burden. The majority of species identified in this paper likely to most benefit from organic farming practices in winter were increasing species and as such are not of conservation priority.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Does organic farming benefit farmland birds in winter?

et al. 2009

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The generally higher biodiversity on organic farms may be influenced by management features such as no synthetic pesticide and fertilizer inputs and/or by differences in uncropped habitat at the site and landscape scale. We analysed bird and habitat data collected on 48 paired organic and conventional farms over two winters to determine the extent to which broad-scale habitat differences between systems could explain overall differences in farmland bird abundance. Density was significantly higher on organic farms for six out of 16 species, and none on conventional. Total abundance of all species combined was higher on organic farms in both years. Analyses using an information-theoretic approach suggested that both habitat extent and farm type were important predictors only for starling and greenfinch. Organic farming as currently practised may not provide significant benefits to those bird species that are limited by winter food resources, in particular, several declining granivores.

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“…Gibson et al [13] reported that hedgerows on organic farms did not have greater plant species diversity or two-dimensional area in comparison to conventional hedgerows. However, there is evidence that organic hedgerows are cut less frequently (and so are taller) and have a greater three-dimensional area than conventional hedgerows [31]. This may have some impact on the number and diversity of parasitoid species produced.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasitoid diversity reduces the variability in pest control services across time on farms

et al. 2011

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Recent declines in biodiversity have increased interest in the link between biodiversity and the provision and sustainability of ecosystem services across space and time. We mapped the complex network of interactions between herbivores and parasitoids to examine the relationship between parasitoid species richness, functional group diversity and the provision of natural pest control services. Quantitative food webs were constructed for 10 organic and 10 conventional farms. Parasitoid species richness varied from 26 to 58 species and we found a significant positive relationship between parasitoid species richness and temporal stability in parasitism rates. Higher species richness was associated with lower variation in parasitism rate. A functional group analysis showed significantly greater parasitoid species complementarity on organic farms, with on average more species in each functional group. We simulated parasitoid removal to predict whether organic farms experienced greater robustness of parasitism in the face of local extinctions. This analysis showed no consistent differences between the organic and conventional farm pairs in terms of loss of pest control service. Finally, it was found that the different habitats that make up each farm do not contribute equally to parasitoid species diversity, and that hedgerows produced more parasitoid species, significantly more so on organic farms.

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Benefits of organic farming to biodiversity vary among taxa

Cited by 291 publications

References 9 publications

Consequences of organic and non-organic farming practices for field, farm and landscape complexity

Consequences of organic and non-organic farming practices for field, farm and landscape complexity

Does organic farming benefit farmland birds in winter?

Parasitoid diversity reduces the variability in pest control services across time on farms

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