Beyond agroecology: Agricultural rewilding, a prospect for livestock systems

Corson, Michael S.; Mondière, Aymeric; Morel, Loïs; Werf, H.M.G. van der

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103410

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Integration of production and biodiversity conservation is increasingly recommended as a management approach to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems [ 53 ]. However, we found only a small number of studies examined how agricultural outcomes (e.g., livestock use) were influenced by the physical characteristics of dams, such as the influence of vegetation cover on water quality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams: A systematic review

Littlefair,

Scheele,

Westgate

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Biodiversity is in rapid decline globally with agriculture being one of the leading causes. Within agricultural landscapes, some features provide a benefit to biodiversity that is disproportionate to their spatial area. An interesting example is artificial ponds–or farm dams–which can support a large variety of taxa. Here, we present a global review of farm dam research related to biodiversity conservation objectives to provide an overview of the topics, key research insights, and the characteristics of current research. We used a three-stage process to screen literature and identified 104 relevant papers across 27 countries encompassing studies of 13 different taxa. Most of the studies were short-term (less than 5 years) with small sample sizes (less than 20 sites). Of the 104 papers, 88 were focussed primarily on ecological outcomes, such as species richness or abundance, and 15 on primary production outcomes, such as crop and livestock yield, despite addressing or measuring ecological metrics. Only one study measured both ecological and primary production outcomes. Studies frequently examined how the features of dams (79 studies) and attributes of the surrounding landscape (47 studies) impact particular species and communities. Terrestrial mammals (1 study) were under-represented in the literature with macrophytes (28 studies), macroinvertebrates (26 studies), and amphibians (19 studies) receiving the most attention. Our results reveal a growing trend towards recognizing farm dams as habitats for various taxa, including amphibians, beetles, dragonflies, and other macroinvertebrates within agricultural environments. Significant knowledge gaps exist in understanding how dam age, invasive species, and effective management practices impact the biodiversity conservation values of farm dams. Future research should emphasize enhancing biodiversity by collaborating with landholders to increase habitat through strategic vegetation planning, minimizing runoff and nutrient inflow, and restricting stock access.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams: A systematic review

Littlefair,

Scheele,

Westgate

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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“…Most baselines are either based on the Pleistocene or the Holocene period. Whereas the Pleistocenic approach goes back to the presence of mostly extinct megaherbivores, which eventually got substituted by domestic animals, the Holocenic approach considers animal domestication as a potential part of the baseline (Corson et al 2022;Fraanje and Garnett 2022). Considering that pastoral tradition in Spain has played an important role in social, ecological and economic terms for, at least, 2,500 years (Garzón 1992;San Miguel et al 2017) and that most landscapes could be de ned as the Open Ecosystems that pastoralism contributes to shaping, both baseline approaches (i.e., Pleistocenic and Holocenic) could be relevant in Spain.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivory baseline estimates in Spanish Protected Areas, and environmental implications.

Serrano-Zulueta

Pardo

Prado

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Context. There are no estimations of herbivory baselines in Spain. Due to the bioclimatic conditions, ungulates have maintained Open Ecosystems until the Holocene. Pastoral tradition later fulfilled the niche of wild grazers, but this role is not considered in environmental assessments of grazing livestock. Objectives. We attempted to better understand the scale of herbivory in Spain. We aimed to estimate the weight of current wild herbivory and evaluate the role of domestic herbivory in these baselines. We apply them to improve the allocation of environmental impacts and emissions from grazing livestock. Methods. We inferred equations relating Net Primary Productivity (NPP) with ungulate biomass and enteric CH4 with data from 11 Spanish Protected Areas. We applied the equations to the current grazable areas in Spain and we analysed the ecological conditions to get the herbivory baseline. We also estimated the proportion of grazing livestock that would be part of such baseline. Results. We found relationships between NPP and ungulate biomass and enteric CH4 emissions. However, current abundances are several times below the estimated baselines and the carrying capacity. There are major constraints for herbivore populations to reach their baseline state, particularly the absence of migration and the extinction of grazers among wild herbivores. Structural maintenance of Open Ecosystems must therefore be led by domestic grazers that cannot be replaced by the extant wild, mostly browser, ungulates. Conclusions. We concluded that Spain is widely susceptible to being populated by herbivores that generate Open Ecosystems as baseline landscapes. Current grazing livestock accounts for a significant part of them, so baselines must be included in their environmental assessments. For the case of Spain, we propose a minimum baseline of 36% of the herbivore biomass and 30% of the enteric CH4.

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“…Farmers are more interested in taxonomic groups supporting ecosystem services like pest regulation and concerned by groups involved in disservices like pest damage to crops (Busse et al, 2021). Therefore I-BIO which does not explicitly address biodiversity in relation to ecosystem services will not be of interest to all farmers but only those involved in biodiversity conservation, like farmers working on rewilding (Corson et al, 2022). Nevertheless, Kelemen et al (2013) showed that farmers are generally aware of the most obvious expressions of biodiversity (diverse species and varied landscape) and ethical and social values were important for all farmers.…”

Section: Implementation and Utilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A predictive indicator assessing effect of cropping system and surrounding landscape on biodiversity

Soulé

Hawes

Young

et al. 2023

Ecological Indicators

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Beyond agroecology: Agricultural rewilding, a prospect for livestock systems

Cited by 24 publications

References 48 publications

The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams: A systematic review

The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams: A systematic review

Herbivory baseline estimates in Spanish Protected Areas, and environmental implications.

A predictive indicator assessing effect of cropping system and surrounding landscape on biodiversity

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