The potential of fallow management to promote steppe bird conservation within the next EU Common Agricultural Policy reform

Sanz‐Pérez, Ana; Sardà‐Palomera, Francesc; Bota, Gérard; Sollmann, Rahel; Pou, Nuria; Giralt, David

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13902

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…We found both programs to reach comparable moderate mean effect sizes for bird abundance but a larger effect size for species richness for targeted programs. The benefits of targeted programs may (and should) primarily unfold for their target species (Sanz‐Pérez et al., 2019, 2021). Waders and ground‐breeders—and thus species of particularly high conservation concern—profited most strongly from targeted programs, indicating success for these guilds.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Member countries can adapt these rather general schemes to local conditions (European Commission, 2021). This allows national and regional authorities to define agri‐environment schemes (AES) that support conservation measures and are optimized to local conditions and specialist target species (Sanz‐Pérez et al., 2021). In the context of our review, we apply the term agri‐environment schemes as a generic summary for any biodiversity conservation option without differentiating by subsidy origin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long‐term fallows rate best among agri‐environment scheme effects on farmland birds—A meta‐analysis

Staggenborg¹,

Anthes

2022

CONSERVATION LETTERS

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Agri-environment schemes (AES) serve to counteract the ongoing decline of farmland bird populations, but their success remains controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare standardized effect size estimates among European AES options-classified into 15 categories that capture relevant management practices-for farmland bird abundance and species richness. Effect strengths varied substantially between AES categories. Long-term fallows, nonproductive crops such as wild bird seed mixtures, artificial food supply, and winter cover yielded the strongest positive associations with farmland bird abundance. Average effect sizes were larger but also more variable in cropland compared to grassland-dominated farming systems. This observation highlights the need to develop more effective conservation schemes for grassland inhabitants, which face similarly severe population declines as cropland inhabitants. Schemes that provided large ecological contrasts between treatment and control sites yielded particularly strong relative benefits, but AES-specific effect sizes further varied with foraging and nesting site guilds of the target species. Our study confirms that the AES that is currently implemented can benefit farmland birds. However, clear improvements require AES to focus on options with maximal improvements in habitat quality and to locally implement sufficiently diverse AES options to serve the often-incongruent needs of several bird guilds and species. K E Y W O R D Sagri-environment (climate) schemes, ecological contrast, fallow, farming intensity, farming system, farmland bird conservation, habitat quality, organic management INTRODUCTIONAbout 39% of the European landmass is under agricultural management (Cook, 2020), which thus plays a key role in determining landscape structure and biodiversity.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term fallows rate best among agri‐environment scheme effects on farmland birds—A meta‐analysis

Staggenborg¹,

Anthes

2022

CONSERVATION LETTERS

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“…Biodiversity benefits from fallows not only depend on the overall area left non-productive, but also on the way fallows are managed (Van Buskrik & Willi 2004, Sanz-Pérez et al 2021. There is evidence that extensive fallow management targeted to the requirements of individual species can be more effective in increasing local farmland bird abundance than conservation measures that adopt more generic management prescriptions (Sanz-Pérez et al 2021). A successful promotion and uptake of such targeted measures as part of eco-schemes and agri-climate environment schemes within the post-2020 CAP will depend on a better understanding of farmer motivations in addition to economic considerations (Brown et al 2021)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biodiversity benefits from fallows not only depend on the overall area left non-productive, but also strongly on fallow management (Van Buskrik & Willi 2004, Sanz-Pérez et al 2021). There is evidence that extensive fallow management targeted to the requirements of individual species can be more effective in increasing local farmland bird abundance than conservation measures that adopt more generic management prescriptions (Sanz-Pérez et al 2021). For instance, habitat suitability for farmland birds depends on fallow age, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our results show that dedicating 10% of the farmed land to fallows as an example of a particularly biodiversity-friendly measure as proposed by the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 or national conservation agencies (BfN 2021) will lead to markedly higher levels in farmland bird species richness and abundance. Biodiversity benefits from fallows not only depend on the overall area left non-productive, but also on the way fallows are managed(Van Buskrik & Willi 2004, Sanz-Pérez et al 2021. There is evidence that extensive fallow management targeted to the requirements of individual species can be more effective in increasing local farmland bird abundance than conservation measures that adopt more generic management prescriptions(Sanz-Pérez et al 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Losses and gains of fallows impact farmland bird populations over three funding periods of the EU Common Agricultural Policy

Hertzog

Roeder

Frank

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Fallow land provides habitat for threatened and declining farmland biodiversity. Policy change under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been driving the area of fallows over the past decades and influenced trends in farmland biodiversity. We analyzed the impact of changes in fallow area across Germany on species richness and abundance of farmland birds over three CAP funding periods. We examined whether responses to fallow land area were modulated by species habitat preferences and landscape complexity. We combined spatial data on fallow land area from three agricultural censuses in Germany (2007, 2010 and 2016) with country-wide, annual monitoring data on farmland birds. Farmland bird species richness and the abundance of edge- and field-breeders responded positively to increases in fallows. The effect of fallows on bird richness was strongest at intermediate levels of landscape complexity. There was support for an increasing effect strength of fallow land area on field-breeders' abundance with increasing landscape complexity. We conclude that the loss of fallows in the period 2007 to 2016 resulted in strong declines of farmland birds. We predict that a future increase of the proportion of fallow land to 4%, as envisaged in the post-2020 CAP for Germany, will result in an average increase of 7% in farmland bird species richness and of 11% in average farmland bird abundance compared to 2016, but will depend on species-specific habitat preferences. Increasing the proportion of fallow land will be a key lever to stabilize and revert negative farmland bird population trends. An increase of fallow area in all but the least complex landscapes will boost farmland bird richness and abundance of field breeders. Increasing the proportion of fallow land to 4% is projected to, on average, bring farmland bird richness and abundance back to the levels observed in 2007 acknowledging that farmland bird populations were already severely depleted in 2007. A more ambitious expansion of fallow land towards 10%, such as in the context of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, should be targeted towards areas that experienced the strongest loss of fallows and towards landscapes with intermediate structural complexity.

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High-resolution tracking data highlight the importance of fallow land during a seasonal habitat bottleneck for a steppe-land specialist

Sanz‐Pérez

Tarjuelo²,

Giralt³

et al. 2022

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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The potential of fallow management to promote steppe bird conservation within the next EU Common Agricultural Policy reform

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

Long‐term fallows rate best among agri‐environment scheme effects on farmland birds—A meta‐analysis

Long‐term fallows rate best among agri‐environment scheme effects on farmland birds—A meta‐analysis

Losses and gains of fallows impact farmland bird populations over three funding periods of the EU Common Agricultural Policy

High-resolution tracking data highlight the importance of fallow land during a seasonal habitat bottleneck for a steppe-land specialist

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