What evidence exists on the impact of agricultural practices in fruit orchards on biodiversity? A systematic map

Abstract

Background: Biodiversity loss, partly due to intensification of agriculture, has become a global issue. In this context, fruit producers have been looking for nature-friendly production methods. By reducing intensive pesticide use and enhancing orchard management, they aim to create habitats suitable for beneficial organisms. Fruit production, especially in low-stem orchards, requires several interventions (plant protection, tillage, greenwork) throughout the year, each of them representing a disturbance. Thus, an expert system that evaluates and aggregates the impact of individual farming activities on a set of biodiversity indicators would be a valuable tool for developing new, less biodiversitydamaging scenarios. This expert system should be based on expert knowledge and scientific evidence. Surprisingly, our literature searches suggested that international journals contain few publications on the impact of most practices (except pesticide use) in orchards on biodiversity in general and beneficial organisms in particular. However, in the last decade, an increasing number of published articles have pointed out the rising importance of biodiversity in life cycle assessment. We therefore compiled and structured the available evidence to (1) assess the state of research on discrete biodiversity indicators and agricultural practices, (2) identify the literature relevant for assessing production impact and habitat suitability for supporting biodiversity and (3) provide a wide-ranging overview of existing evidence of the impact of agricultural practices in fruit orchards on biodiversity. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in scientific journals, agronomy magazines and across the internet in English, German and French. The main reviewer followed a step-by-step eligibility scheme that was validated by a Kappa test between two reviewers. Additionally, a third reviewer checked a subset of articles. We mapped a large range of parameters, which were structured in code sets. To compute a study validity assessment, we used 13 parameters that reflected the relevance of each article to the impact of agricultural practices in fruit orchards on biodiversity indicator species groups. Results: The search returned 947 included articles. The map identified major differences in the attention given to different indicators and practices over time, ranging from closely investigated (clusters) to neglected (gaps)-e.g. spiders and birds or amphibians and reptiles, respectively. The majority of studies were short-term surveys, mainly done in low-stem orchards. Main areas studied were Western Europe and Eastern North America. The resulting database is presented along with descriptive statistics of the distribution and abundance of evidence across time, interventions and outcomes.

Stable Isotopes Reveal the Dominant Species to Have the Widest Trophic Niche of Three Syntopic Microtus Voles

“…According to [ 80 ], 76% of publications related to biological diversity in fruit orchards were from West Europe and North America, and only 8.7% were devoted to mammals. Voles and mice in agricultural habitats are mostly treated as pests [ 81 ] (and references therein) and agrophilic rodents are mostly treated as invasive species [ 82 ].…”

What evidence exists on the relationship between agricultural production and biodiversity in tropical rainforest areas? A systematic map protocol

“…Furthermore, almost all the systematic map papers on the related subject we found undertaking this review focused on a very narrow scope of agricultural matters and were not specific to the rainforest landscapes. For instance, Van Der Meer et al [15] mapped the evidence of fruit orchard impacts on biodiversity indicator species groups in temperate climates; Shin et al [32] conducted a systematic map study on agroforestry practices in the Asia-Pacific region. Hence, we aim to conduct a systematic map study that captures agricultural activities at the multi-spatial scale and identify their relations with biodiversity in tropical agroecosystems and natural ecosystems.…”

“…As required in RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses (ROSES, Additional file 4), a predesigned data collection coding sheet was made prior to the study (Additional file 5) and will be filled during the data extraction stage. The coding tool was developed based on similar studies [15,44] with adjustments to meet our needs. To anticipate a large number of articles needed to be extracted, one person is assigned to extract one article.…”

“…For example, 99% of the global consumptive freshwater footprint is used for agriculture [14], while water itself is essential for human beings. Moreover, maximizing monoculture plantations and crop protection from pests in agricultural production requires crop interventions, such as pesticide use [15]. Hence, even though pest management can be naturally provided by ecosystem service-related biodiversity [16,17], intervention using chemical pesticides is preferred given the costs, results, and effectiveness [18].…”

“…Fewer environmental regulations are one of the factors driving driven forest-rich tropical countries to increase agricultural demand [20]. Accordingly, regulations and policies for biodiversity and nature-friendly agriculture require methods and indicators for assessing the effects on both biodiversity conservation and function [15]. Currently, sustainable agriculture certification standards can integrate biodiversity protection and social justice despite the uncertainty in maintaining long-term sustainability.…”