Friday's Agripop Talk
31 May 2013 - 15:30 - 16:30 Salle Seminaire
Managing and restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford (UK)
Given that the Earth’s sixth mass extinction may be already approaching steadily (e.g. see here) and that farming is more damaging to wild nature than any other human activity (see here) you may understand why James looks so exhausted from his attempts to improve the prospects of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes ...
However, not all is bleak and actually James' research highlights encouraging prospects for preserving biodiversity and the ecosystem services these landscapes provide to us. Here a summary of what you will hear about:
Agricultural intensification has greatly benefited humankind by providing abundant and cheap food, but there have been many detrimental consequences as well. Global biodiversity declines are linked in part to intensive farming, and certain ecosystem services have been compromised. Ecosystem services - the benefits that people derive from ecosystem - directly affected by modern farming include water quality, carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions and flood water storage. Negative feedbacks onto the farming system may also be occurring, due to declines in pollinators, pest natural enemies, and soil structure and quality.
Actions to address declines can be broadly classified as land sharing and land sparing/separation. Agri-environment schemes are a land sharing option available across the whole EU. While these schemes are controversial, I present evidence that they can be very successful in reversing biodiversity declines. The impacts of these schemes on ecosystem services are unclear, although some positive evidence is emerging. At larger scales, sparing of land by protection or restoring semi-natural habitats has clear benefits for biodiversity, and we have shown linked increases in ecosystem services.
While such findings are encouraging, there is a large evidence gap in linking actions which aid biodiversity with increases in ecosystem services. We are carrying out meta-analyses and large-scale experiments to understand how biodiversity and ecosystem services are linked.
Actions to address declines can be broadly classified as land sharing and land sparing/separation. Agri-environment schemes are a land sharing option available across the whole EU. While these schemes are controversial, I present evidence that they can be very successful in reversing biodiversity declines. The impacts of these schemes on ecosystem services are unclear, although some positive evidence is emerging. At larger scales, sparing of land by protection or restoring semi-natural habitats has clear benefits for biodiversity, and we have shown linked increases in ecosystem services.
While such findings are encouraging, there is a large evidence gap in linking actions which aid biodiversity with increases in ecosystem services. We are carrying out meta-analyses and large-scale experiments to understand how biodiversity and ecosystem services are linked.
James' research interest extend also to several other areas, such as population dynamics, spatial ecology and dispersal, invasion biology, conservation ecology and policy.
Thus, to favour interactions and discussions the talk will be followed by an apero et soirée barbecue chez la riviere starting at around 17:30.
Tous sont le bienvenus!
