Search

Abstract Biodiversity is rapidly declining, reducing the quantity and quality of human interactions with nature and constraining its contribution to human health and well‐being. Natural sounds are a key component of our experience of nature, but biodiversity losses are reflected in soundscapes, which are becoming less diverse and quieter. We characterised the soundscapes across 21 English vineyards using acoustic indices and related them to bird species richness and abundance. We found that higher bird species richness, but not abundance, led to more diverse and louder soundscapes, as reflected in higher values of Acoustic Complexity Index (ACI), Bioacoustic Index (BIO) and Normalised Difference Soundscape Index (NDSI), and lower values of Acoustic Entropy Index (H). Secondly, at three of the study vineyards that run vineyard tours, we measured visitors' experience of the tour in terms of sound enjoyment, soundscape connectedness and tour satisfaction and related these to ambient and experimentally enhanced soundscapes, where we used playback recordings of five additional birdsongs to increase the soundscapes' complexity and volume. Under ambient conditions, respondents' (n = 107) experience was significantly higher at sites with soundscapes that had higher ACI and BIO values, and lower H, Acoustic Diversity Index (ADI) and NDSI values, indicating a positive effect of more diverse and louder soundscapes. Natural sounds formed an important part of the tour experience at these sites, making visitors feel more present and connected to nature. Under experimental soundscape enhancement, respondents (n = 79) reported hearing significantly more bird species during the tour, and they reported significantly higher scores for sound enjoyment, soundscape connectedness and tour satisfaction than under ambient conditions. This effect was stronger in visitors who engaged more in pro‐environmental behaviours, such as purchasing organic foods. Our study demonstrates (i) the direct contribution of aural modes to our experience of nature and (ii) that the delivery of biodiversity conservation measures aimed at supporting bird diversity could simultaneously enhance the experience and well‐being benefits of spending time in nature. Natural soundscapes should therefore be recognised and valued as natural capital, and their protection should be incorporated into conservation planning and policy. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Abstract Agricultural intensification and expansion are the main drivers of biodiversity loss that continue to increase this century, especially in South America. International markets and global policy provide incentives and frameworks to address this, but these are unlikely to be effective unless farmers on the ground are enabled and motivated to respond to them by developing long‐term solutions that fit their production systems and local contexts. Here, we use a multi‐actor transdisciplinary approach to co‐design and test agroecological innovations suitable for intensive, exporting South American fruit farms. We focus on highly biodiverse regions experiencing habitat loss in the Mediterranean and dry tropical forest regions of Chile and Brazil, respectively. The innovations were designed to support local biodiversity without compromising productivity or quality. Fourteen farmers participated throughout the project, covering a total of 4178 ha of intensive table grape, mango and cherry production. All were under pressure from buyers to report action on biodiversity. Farmers worked with researchers and industry representatives through an iterative process of dialogues and workshops to select, co‐design and implement three agroecological innovations: perches for birds of prey, cover crops and native hedgerows. Farmers became engaged in monitoring their effectiveness and redesigning them to suit local contexts. We develop an extensive set of resources for ongoing dissemination, including an online sustainability metric to report the practices carried out. Eight farms continued to implement at least one agroecological innovation beyond the end of the project, motivated by its fit to their management system and their ability to report positive actions in their supply chains. Policy implications. Our model of knowledge co‐production demonstrates how transdisciplinary research in agriculture, fully localised in a particular food‐producing context, can enable farmers in the global South to engage with biodiversity conservation in response to top‐down market signals incentivising sustainability. We argue that many top‐down efforts to enhance the sustainability of food supply chains, whether through market incentives, voluntary codes or trade regulations, require locally based knowledge co‐production, in which multiple stakeholders from agriculture and the food industry can benefit from working with locally based researchers. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.