Trends in High Nature Value farmland studies: A systematic review

Abstract

Background. Since the High Nature Value (HNV) concept was defined in the early 1990s, several studies on HNV farmland has been increasing over the past 30 years in Europe, highlighting the interest by scientific community of HNV farming systems supporting biodiversity conservation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trends and main gaps on HNV farmland peer-reviewed publications in order to contribute to the effectiveness of future research in this field. Methods. Searches were conducted using the databases Web of SciencesTM and Scopus in order to identify only peer-reviewed articles on HNV farmland, published prior to July 2017. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed a priori. Data as year, country, type of document, subject area, taxa studied and biodiversity metrics assessed were extracted and explored in order to analyse the spatial and temporal distribution of the concept, including the main topics addressed in HNV farmland literature. Results. After screening 308 original articles, 90 were selected for this review. HNV farmland studies involved several disciplines, mainly biodiversity and conservation and environmental sciences and ecology. Most peer-reviewed articles focused on HNV farming were conducted in Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal. The main studied taxa were plants and birds. Taxonomic diversity was the biodiversity metric more often used to assess the biodiversity status on HNV farmland areas. A positive correlation was found between HNV farmland area and HNV farmland studies conducted in respective countries. Discussion. The HNV farmland research subject is a relative novel approach, and this systematic review provides a comprehensive overview about the main topics in the HNV farmland peer-reviewed literature contributing to highlight the main gaps and provide some considerations in order to assist the performance of HNV farming systems and conservation policies, addressed to sustain high levels of biodiversity.

Semi-natural habitats in boreal Europe: a rise of a social-ecological research agenda

“…Such research typically focuses on the impacts of management practices on species communities, mostly species diversity (cf. Benedetti 2017). Studies on population genetics or genetic diversity are rare but might increase as cost of genetic analyses decreases (Plue et al 2019).…”

“…These have been and remain the predominant research topics in all boreal countries and probably across the EU. A recent review on high nature value farming similarly reported that biodiversity and conservation is the key research inquiry in over 50% of publications, followed by the third on agricultural policy (Benedetti 2017). Ecological studies are often accompanied by other research perspectives: most papers classified as multi-aspect studies combine ecology, management, land use change, and restoration.…”

Innovation Gaps and Barriers in Alternative Innovative Solutions for Sustainable High Nature Value Grasslands. Evidence from Romania

“…The sustainability of HNV farmland is equally important for the local communities and for the entire society due to its important cultural and environmental values [71]. For the next decades, the European Union established ambitious targets to tackle important environmental and climate challenges through the European Green Deal [72].…”

Identifying High Nature Value farmlands on a national scale based on multivariate typology at municipality (LAU 2) level

“…provide varied habitats for many wild plants and animals. Biodiversity on farmlands has been declining throughout Europe as a result of intensification of agriculture and abandonment of marginal lands since the second half of the 20th century (Keenleyside et al 2014;Lomba et al 2014;Benedetti 2017). Due to increasing awareness regarding the declining biodiversity on farmlands, the term High Nature Value farmland (HNVf) has become established (Beaufoy et al 1994;Andersen et al 2003).…”

“…HNV farming systems support the existence of agriculture-dependent species and their habitat, as they are low-intensity farming systems (Lomba et al 2014(Lomba et al , 2015(Lomba et al , 2017. HNVf is characterized based on the proportion of semi-natural vegetation and the extent of permanently or periodically uncultivated landscape elements in farmland; the density of livestock; and the input of nutrients, agrochemicals, and irrigation in cropping systems (Andersen et al 2003;Lomba et al 2014;Benedetti 2017). Andersen et al (2003) defined three types of HNV farmland, and this categorization has been commonly followed.…”