Search

Reversing the decline of biodiversity in European agricultural landscapes is urgent. We suggest eight measures addressing politics, economics, and civil society to instigate transformative changes in agricultural landscapes. We emphasize the need for a well-informed society and political measures promoting sustainable farming by combining food production and biodiversity conservation.

Environmental heterogeneity is an important driver of ecological communities. Here, we assessed the effects of local and landscape spatial environmental heterogeneity on ant community structure in temperate semi-natural upland grasslands of Central Germany. We surveyed 33 grassland sites representing a gradient in elevation and landscape composition. Local environmental heterogeneity was measured in terms of variability of temperature and moisture within and between grasslands sites. Grassland management type (pasture vs. meadows) was additionally included as a local environmental heterogeneity measure. The complexity of habitat types in the surroundings of grassland sites were used as a measure of landscape environmental heterogeneity. As descriptors of ant community structure, we considered species composition, community evenness, and functional response traits. We found that extensively grazed pastures and within-site heterogeneity in soil moisture at local scale, and a high diversity of land cover types at the landscape scale affected ant species composition by promoting nest densities. Ant community evenness was high in wetter grasslands with low within-site variability in soil moisture and surrounded by a less diverse landscape. Fourth-corner models revealed that ant community structure response to environmental heterogeneity was mediated mainly by worker size, colony size, and life history traits related with colony reproduction and foundation. We discuss how within-site local variability in soil moisture and low intensity grazing promote ant species densities, and highlight the role of habitat temperature and humidity affecting on community evenness. We hypothesize that a higher diversity of land cover types in a forest-dominated landscape buffers less favorable environmental conditions for ant species establishment and dispersal between grasslands. We conclude that spatial environmental heterogeneity at local and landscape scale plays an important role as deterministic force in filtering ant species and, along with neutral processes (e.g. stochastic colonization), in shaping ant community structure in temperate semi-natural upland grasslands.

Aim: In this study, we assessed the importance of local- to landscape-scale effects of land cover and land use on flying insect biomass. Location: Denmark and parts of Germany. Methods: We used rooftop-mounted car nets in a citizen science project (“InsectMobile”) to allow for large-scale geographic sampling of flying insects. Volunteers sampled insects along 278 five-km routes in urban, farmland, grassland, wetland and forest landscapes in the summer of 2018. The bulk insect samples were dried overnight to obtain the sample biomass. We extracted proportional land use variables in buffers between 50 and 1,000 m along the routes and compiled them into land cover categories to examine the effect of each land cover, and specific land use types, on insect biomass. Results: We found a negative association between urban cover and flying insect biomass (1% increase in urban cover = 1% [95% CI: −3.0 to 0.0] decrease in biomass in Denmark, and a 3% [95% CI: −3.0 to 0.0] decrease in Germany) at a landscape scale (1,000-m buffer). In Denmark, we also found positive effects of semi-natural land cover types, that is protected grassland (largest at the landscape scale, 1000 m) and forests (largest at intermediate scales, 250 m). Protected grassland cover had a stronger positive effect on insect biomass than forest cover did. For farmland cover, the positive association with insect biomass was not clearly modified by any variable associated with farmland use intensity. The negative association between insect biomass and urban land cover appeared to be reduced by increased urban green space. Main conclusions: Our results show that land cover has an impact on flying insect biomass with the magnitude of this effect varying across spatial scales. However, the vast expanse of grey space in urbanized areas has a direct negative impact on flying insect biomass across all spatial scales examined.

1. Concerns about insect declines are growing and the provisioning of ecosystem services like pollination may be threatened. To safeguard biodiversity, greening measures were introduced within the reform of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. One measure commonly applied by farmers is the cultivation of nitrogen fixing crops. Although underlying studies are largely missing, this measure is criticized as providing no significant biodiversity benefit. 2. Using a landscape-scale approach, we selected 30 paired study landscapes (1 km × 1 km) in Germany, that is, 15 study landscapes with faba bean (FB) fields (Vicia faba L .) a nd 15 w ithout a ny g rain l egumes. F lower-visiting w ild b ees were recorded with transect walks at the field margins of different crops using a stratified sampling approach. We analysed the effect of FB cultivation and landscape composition on the abundance and species richness of wild bees as well as on the functional composition of the bee communities. 3. Bumblebee densities (Bombus spp. Latreille) were more than twice as high in FB compared to control landscapes after the flowering of the beans. Non-Bombus wild bee densities, however, were not affected by FB cultivation, but were enhanced by increasing amounts of semi-natural habitats (SNH). 4. After the beans' blooming had ceased, FB landscapes had a higher proportion of wild bees collecting pollen from Fabaceae than control landscapes. The communityweighted means for bee size, measured as intertegular distance, were not affected by FB cultivation, but we found smaller species and species with shorter tongues with an increasing percentage of SNH. 5. Synthesis and applications. The cultivation of faba bean Vicia faba L . s trongly increased bumblebee densities throughout the season. This indicates that also on-field greening measures can support biodiversity. Nevertheless, since only functional groups adapted to faba bean benefit, measures to promote seminatural habitats in agricultural landscapes need to be implemented. We conclude that the combination of on- and off-field measures is essential to maintain farmland biodiversity and the Common Agricultural Policy should furthermore promote both.

Determining the effects of local and landscape drivers on endangered species and predicting potential suitable habitats for their persistence is crucial for effective conservation management. Here, we applied a multi-scale approach to disentangle the effects of host resources, local, and landscape variables on the occurrence pattern of Phengaris (= Maculinea) nausithous in semi-natural upland grasslands. Our approach comprised the assessment of host parameters (plant cover, density, height, flower heads density, ant nest density, ant colony size), local grassland management (pasture, meadow), site conditions (area, shape, terrain attributes), and landscape variables (landscape composition, connectivity). We used ensemble of small models based on bivariate generalized linear models for explaining and predicting the butterfly occurrence pattern. Bivariate models revealed that host ant nest density, plant cover and height, local grassland management type (pasture), slope and eastness, landscape forest cover and grassland connectivity had a positive effect on the occurrence of P. nausithous (average explained deviance 20.5%). Host ant density, host plant cover, and local grassland management were the most influential factors on the ensemble predictions. The presence of P. nausithous in upland grasslands is not only determined by host resources, but also by local and landscape factors. Such factors proved to be relevant for identifying and predicting suitable grassland sites for this endangered species. Consequently, we recommend that conservation actions should include a landscape perspective to promote connectivity by facilitating coherent grazing networks enabling dispersal between semi-natural upland grasslands and thus species persistence.

Im vorliegenden Beitrag identifizieren wir Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer Aufarbeitung bisher noch ungenutzter Datenquellen für raum-zeitliche Biodiversitätsanalysen in Deutschland. Im Rahmen des Syntheseprojekts sMon (https://www.idiv.de/smon) des Deutschen Zentrums für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig erprobt eine Arbeitsgemeinschaft aus Bundes- und Landesbehörden gemeinsam mit Fachgesellschaften, Verbänden und wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen Methoden, wie heterogene Daten der letzten Jahrzehnte für retrospektive Trendanalysen genutzt werden können. Darauf aufbauend schlagen wir gangbare Wege zur Zukunft des deutschen Biodiversitätsmonitorings vor und illustrieren, wie Daten aus der Vergangenheit helfen können, Monitoring künftig zu gestalten.

Recent studies report declines in biomass, abundance and diversity of terrestrial insect groups. While anthropogenic land use is one likely contributor to this decline, studies assessing land cover as a driver of insect dynamics are rare and mostly restricted in spatial scale and types of land cover. In this study, we used rooftop-mounted car nets in a citizen science project (‘InsectMobile’) to allow for large-scale geographic sampling of flying insects across Denmark and parts of Germany. Citizen scientists sampled insects along 278 10 km routes in urban, farmland and semi-natural (grassland, wetland and forest) landscapes in the summer of 2018. We assessed the importance of local to landscape-scale effects and land use intensity by relating insect biomass to land cover in buffers of 50, 250, 500 and 1000 m along the routes. We found a negative association of urban cover and a positive association of farmland on insect biomass at a landscape-scale (1000 m buffer) in both countries. In Denmark, we also found positive effects of all semi-natural land covers, i.e. grassland (largest at the landscape-scale, 1000 m), forests (largest at intermediate scales, 250 m), and wetlands (largest at the local-scale, 50 m). The negative association of insect biomass with urban land cover and positive association with farmland were not clearly modified by any variable associated with land use intensity. Our results show that land cover has an impact on flying insect biomass with the magnitude of this effect varying across spatial scales. Since we consistently found negative effects of urban land cover, our findings highlight the need for the conservation of semi-natural areas, such as wetlands, grasslands and forests, in Europe.

Associated data is available at: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.595718c; International audience; Habitat destruction is the single greatest anthropogenic threat to biodiversity. Decades of research on this issue have led to the accumulation of hundreds of data sets comparing species assemblages in larger, intact, habitats to smaller, more fragmented, habitats. Despite this, little synthesis or consensus has been achieved, primarily because of non-standardized sampling methodology and analyses of notoriously scale-dependent response variables (i.e., species richness). To be able to compare and contrast the results of habitat fragmentation on species’ assemblages, it is necessary to have the underlying data on species abundances and sampling intensity, so that standardization can be achieved. To accomplish this, we systematically searched the literature for studies where abundances of species in assemblages (of any taxa) were sampled from many habitat patches that varied in size. From these, we extracted data from several studies, and contacted authors of studies where appropriate data were collected but not published, giving us 117 studies that compared species assemblages among habitat fragments that varied in area. Less than one-half (41) of studies came from tropical forests of Central and South America, but there were many studies from temperate forests and grasslands from all continents except Antarctica. Fifty-four of the studies were on invertebrates (mostly insects), but there were several studies on plants (15), birds (16), mammals (19), and reptiles and amphibians (13). We also collected qualitative information on the length of time since fragmentation. With data on total and relative abundances (and identities) of species, sampling effort, and affiliated meta-data about the study sites, these data can be used to more definitively test hypotheses about the role of habitat fragmentation in altering patterns of biodiversity. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper and the associated Dryad data set if the data are used in publications.

Legume crops such as faba bean (Vicia faba L.) have been underrepresented in conventional cropping systems in Europe for decades for economic reasons, even though faba bean is a native crop and suitable to diversify local cropping systems. While the environmental benefits that go along with faba bean cropping are well established, there is a gap of knowledge on the effects faba bean may have on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, such as natural biocontrol in agricultural landscapes. The aim of the present field study was to quantify neighbourhood effects of faba bean on densities of vegetation- dwelling natural biocontrol agents and herbivores in adjacent winter wheat. Densities of predators, herbivores, parasitized aphids (mummies) and leaf damage by the cereal leaf beetle (CLB) were assessed by repeated visual counts in conventionally managed winter wheat crops. In winter wheat adjacent to faba bean, total predator density was higher than in wheat adjacent to winter wheat, independent of the observation period. This effect was not reflected in the predator-prey ratio though. The total density of mummies and parasitism rate were not affected by the neighbouring faba bean crop. Predator density decreased towards the field centre. CLB leaf damage and yield were not affected by the neighbouring crop. All densities were affected by the observation period. The effects were measurable in spite of the external management such as insecticide application, which had a negative effect on both predator and herbivore densities. The present study sheds first light on faba bean effects on natural biocontrol agents in conventionally managed agro-ecosystems. While few, effects were measurable, which shows the need for further research on the association of faba bean cropping with the ecosystem service natural biocontrol.

Trees growing in nutrient-limited temperate forest soils can gain nutrients by root proliferation into nutrient-rich hotspots and/or by forming mycorrhizal symbioses. In this study we investigated the effects of nutrient-rich hotspots (inhabited wood ant nests) on Norway spruce root biomass and occurrence of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) exploration types. Substrates were collected from the mineral soil layer in a temperate middle-European spruce forest (Nationalpark Harz, Germany) from four micro-regions within each of the five wood ant nests sampled, i.e. 1) centre of the belowground part of a nest, 2) nest's rim, 3) nest's run-off zone (ca. 20 cm from nest's rim), and 4) from the surrounding forest soil (>10 m from nest's rim). Root biomass, EcM exploration types, moisture and nutrient contents were determined in all substrates. Although naturally enriched, wood ant nests had neither root biomass nor occurrence of EcM exploration types higher compared to the surrounding forest soil. The probable main reasons were high phosphorus content and low moisture maintained inside inhabited nests, although the effect was not significant. Apparently, other substrate properties not determined in our study also affect the occurrence of exploration types in wood ant nest substrates. Inhabited wood ant nests thus seem unfavourable for root proliferation and their subsequent EcM colonization. However, roots can gain nutrients from the run-off zone around nests where low moisture is not maintained and nutrient contents are higher due to leaching from the nest substrate.

Agriculture has been, and still is, strongly shaping landscapes across Europe. In recent decades, agricultural land use has changed considerably, mainly driven by reforms of agricultural and bioenergy policies. Here, we related temporal and spatial changes in agricultural land use at both the landscape and regional scale to population trends of farmland birds. Monitoring data of the Common Breeding Bird Survey of Lower Saxony, Germany, and high-resolution data on agricultural land use from 2005 to 2012 were used to calculate the temporal trend slopes of farmland birds and agricultural variables at the landscape scale (1 km 2 ). Agricultural variables comprised the area covered by maize, set-aside, permanent grassland as well as crop diversity. The number of territories were analysed for all farmland birds together as well as for two subgroups (‘field nesters’ and ‘non-field nesters’). Further, we tested whether population trends of farmland birds differed between agricultural regions, characterised by different land-use change dynamics. Trends of farmland birds and non-field nesters were negatively related to increasing maize cultivation at the landscape scale. We further found that population trends of field nesters reacted region-specifically and performed worst in an agricultural region that was characterised by the strongest increase of maize and decrease of crop diversity, indicating a negative effect of broad-scale landscape homogenisation. To counteract the process of spatial and temporal land-use homogenisation and to inform policy-makers on options for mitigation, we conclude that conservation actions should be tailored at a regional scale to halt or even reverse negative farmland bird population trends.

Worldwide, the role of farmlands for biodiversity conservation and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services has been widely acknowledged. In the European Union (EU), societal demands to include environmental conservation concerns within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have resulted in the recognition of the importance of maintaining High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf). HNVf constitute complex social-ecological systems, which owe their nature conservation value to the maintenance of specific, mostly low-intensity farming systems, supporting high levels of species and habitats dependent on agricultural practices. Even though HNVf assessment in space and time is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of Rural Development Programmes, the diversity of rural landscapes across EU, the scarcity of data on farming systems, and the lack of common methodological guidelines has hampered the implementation of HNVf mapping and monitoring across Europe. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop and test methodological approaches that may support HNVf assessment across the EU.The Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) which is mandatory for all EU Member States constitutes a system for the management and control of CAP payments to farmers. Essentially, IACS comprises high-resolution, spatially explicit information on the type and intensity of agricultural land-use. Even though such data exhibits high thematic, spatial and temporal resolution, IACS has seldom been used, due to significant access restrictions. Here, the potential to use IACS data to support the assessment of HNVf was evaluated within the German Federal State of Lower Saxony by implementing a recently developed methodological framework. Sets of indicators known to be essential for identifying potential HNVf and underlying farming systems (expressing landscape structure and composition, farming systems, and crop diversity), were derived from IACS. Spatial patterns of indicators were analyzed at two different scales to delineate the potential distribution of HNVf across Lower Saxony. Results highlighted that most regions in Lower Saxony were characterized by intensive farming practices including high livestock density, high share of intensive crops and low density of linear elements.Only 3% of the Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) of Lower Saxony potentially constituted HNVf, with the majority of HNVf coinciding with mosaics of arable and/or permanent crops and semi-natural features under less intensive farming practices. Semi-natural grasslands, partially under agri-environment scheme management contracts, covered roughly 1% of the UAA and were mostly intermingled with other farmland habitats in extensively managed agricultural landscapes.

Flower-visiting insects are important crop pollinators, but their populations in agricultural landscapes are declining. One reason is the decreasing quantity and quality of floral resources. Deterioration of the situation caused by an increasing production of energy crops like maize, a pollen-only resource, may be mitigated by alternative crops such as Silphium perfoliatum L., which produces pollen and nectar over a long-lasting flowering period (July–September). The aim of this study was to assess the floral resources of S. perfoliatum. We calculated pollen grains and nectar sugar mass per inflorescence as well as inflorescences per plant using experimental plots and commercial fields in Germany. In addition, we analyzed free and protein-bound amino acids in pollen as well as sugars and free amino acids in nectar. The amount of pollen and nectar sugar per inflorescence decreased with increasing stem branching. The production of pollen and nectar sugar, however, was greatest in the second half of August due to the high number of inflorescences per plant at that stage. About half of the farmers harvested S. perfoliatum before the end of flowering to gain higher methane yields. With an early harvest around the beginning of September about one sixth of total pollen and one fifth of total nectar sugar production were lost to pollinators. Pollen and nectar showed high amounts of certain essential amino acids, particularly histidine, but total amino acids were low in concentration. Hence, S. perfoliatum should be complemented with different bee fodder plants to ensure a well-balanced diet.

Das Biodiversitätsmonitoring in Deutschland ist disziplinär und institutionell stark fragmentiert ‐ mit der Folge, dass weder der Zustand der Biodiversität noch ihre Entwicklungstrends einheitlich abgebildet werden. Das wäre jedoch die Voraussetzung, damit Deutschland dem Biodiversitätsverlust gezielt entgegentreten sowie seinen nationalen und internationalen Berichtspflichten nachkommen kann. Fur ein erfolgreiches Biodiversitätsmonitoring mussen Akteure aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Zivilgesellschaft besser zusammenarbeiten und ihre Strategien zum Biodiversitätsmonitoring abstimmen.

Agrarholz mit schnellwachsenden Baumen fur die Energiegewinnung hat, insbesondere in ausgeraumten Agrarlandschaften, ein groses Potenzial zu einer Bereicherung der strukturellen Vielfalt und anderer Lebensraumressourcen und damit der Biodiversitat beizutragen. Dies gilt sowohl fur Agrarholz in Plantagen als auch in Agroforstsystemen. Die grose Vielzahl an Studien, die zur Biodiversitat in Agrarholzbestanden durchgefuhrt wurden, und die zum Teil zu unterschiedlichen Bewertungen von Agrarholz im Hinblick auf dessen naturschutzfachliche, allgemein biodiversitatsfordernde oder funktionelle Bedeutung kamen, veranschaulicht die Komplexitat dieses Themas. Eine Etablierung von Agrarholz fuhrt nicht von selbst und ohne Beachtung einiger wichtiger Grundsatze zu einer Forderung der Biodiversitat. Eine rein auf Ertragsmaximierung ausgerichtete Produktion von Agrarholz konnte sogar zu einem weiteren Verlust an Biodiversitat fuhren.

The maintenance of High Nature Value (HNV) farming is a priority for reaching the target of halting biodiversity loss in the European Union by 2020. Nevertheless, since the introduction of the HNV farming concept in the early 1990s and the first call for HNV farmland indicators in 2000, farmland biodiversity has continued to decline in many parts of Europe. The main processes behind this decline are agricultural intensification and abandonment. Past and current agricultural subsidies and conservation measures have mainly failed to safeguard HNV farmland and the respective farming systems. In this paper, we revise current approaches for localizing and characterizing HNV farming, identify shortcomings and describe the next generation of HNV farming indicators; show how HNV farming is related to existing concepts aimed at biodiversity conservation; and provide an overview of EU policy instruments that could help preserve HNV farming. We finish by outlining which steps should be taken so that HNV farming remains a part of our modern agricultural landscape.

Feed in tariffs (FiTs) and renewable heat incentives (RHIs) are driving a rapid expansion in anaerobic digestion (AD) coupled with combined heat and power (CHP) plants in the UK. Farm models were combined with consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) to assess the net environmental balance of representative biogas, biofuel and biomass scenarios on a large arable farm, capturing crop rotation and digestate nutrient cycling effects. All bioenergy options led to avoided fossil resource depletion. Global warming potential (GWP) balances ranged from 1732 kg CO2 eM g 1 dry matter (DM) for pig slurry AD feedstock after accounting for avoided slurry storage to +2251 kg CO2 eM g 1 DM for oilseed rape biodiesel feedstock after attributing indirect land use change (iLUC) to displaced food production. Maize monoculture for AD led to net GWP increases via iLUC, but optimized integration of maize into an arable rotation resulted in negligible food crop displacement and iLUC. However, even under best-case assumptions such as full use of heat output from AD-CHP, crop–biogas achieved low GWP reductions per hectare compared with Miscanthus heating pellets under default estimates of iLUC. Ecosystem services (ES) assessment highlighted soil and water quality risks for maize cultivation. All bioenergy crop options led to net increases in eutrophication after displaced food production was accounted for. The environmental balance of AD is sensitive to design and management factors such as digestate storage and application techniques, which are not well regulated in the UK. Currently, FiT payments are not dependent on compliance with sustainability criteria. We conclude that CLCA and ES effects should be integrated into sustainability criteria for FiTs and RHIs, to direct public money towards resource-efficient renewable energy options that achieve genuine climate protection without degrading soil, air or water quality.

We present options for a National Ecosystem Assessment in Germany (NEA-DE) that could inform decision-makers on the state and trends of ecosystems and ecosystem services. Characterizing a NEA-DE, we argue that its cross-sectoral, integrative approach would have the advantages of increased scientific understanding, addressing specific policy questions and creating science-policy dialogues. Challenges include objections against a utilitarian perspective, reservations concerning power relations, and responsibilities concerning the funding., GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 26 (1), ISSN:0940-5550

Increasing crop productivity to meet rising demands for food and energy, but doing so in an environmentally sustainable manner, is one of the greatest challenges for agriculture to date. In Ireland, Miscanthus x giganteus has the potential to become a major feedstock for bioenergy production, but the economic feasibility of its cultivation depends on high yields. Miscanthus fields can have a large number of gaps in crop cover, adversely impacting yield and hence economic viability. Predominantly positive effects of Miscanthus on biodiversity reported from previous research might be attributable to high crop patchiness, particularly during the establishment phase. The aim of this research was to assess crop patchiness on a field scale and to analyse the relationship between Miscanthus yield and species richness and abundance of selected taxa of farmland wildlife. For 14 Miscanthus fields at the end of their establishment phase (4–5 years after planting), which had been planted either on improved grassland (MG) or tilled arable land (MT), we determined patchiness of the crop cover, percentage light penetration (LP) to the lower canopy, Miscanthus shoot density and height, vascular plants and epigeic arthropods. Plant species richness and noncrop vegetation cover in Miscanthus fields increased with increasing patchiness, due to higher levels of LP to the lower canopy. The species richness of ground beetles and the activity density of spiders followed the increase in vegetation cover. Plant species richness and activity density of spiders on both MT and MG fields, as well as vegetation cover and activity density of ground beetles on MG fields, were negatively associated with Miscanthus yield. In conclusion, positive effects of Miscanthus on biodiversity can diminish with increasing productivity. This matter needs to be considered when assessing the relative ecological impacts of developing biomass crops in comparison with other land use

Biodiversity is severely declining in intensively managed agriculture worldwide. In response, land-management strategies for biodiversity conservation on farmland are in debate, namely ecological intensification and land sparing vs. land sharing. In parallel, there is a recent food vs. energy debate stimulated by an increasing competition for land resources. Despite clear overlaps between these two debates, they were rarely connected in previous research. This paper aims to stimulate a discussion by providing a contextual link between biodiversity conservation strategies and options for future energy crop deployment. Therefore, nine conceptual land-use scenarios are developed, and then, the potential biodiversity implications are discussed based on the findings from past and ongoing research. These scenarios include the integration and segregation of both food and energy crops on lands with a range of productivity and suitability for agricultural production. We assume that the clear segregation between food crops on productive land and energy crops on marginal land is less likely to be a solution of mitigating the problems related to the biodiversity decline, especially in the European agricultural landscape context. In contrast, the integration of food and energy crop production systems at the farm to landscape scale has greater potential for ecological intensification, although conflicts with traditional nature conservation targets may arise. We conclude that broadening the perspectives of biodiversity conservation in agriculture is crucial, and the inclusion of energy crop production into the recent debates on biodiversity conservation strategies is helpful.

The recent growth in bioenergy crop cultivation, stimulated by the need to implement measures to reduce net CO2 emissions, is driving major land-use changes with consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Although the type of bioenergy crop and its associated management is likely to affect biodiversity at the local (field) scale, landscape context and its interaction with crop type may also influence biodiversity on farms. In this study, we assessed the impact of replacing conventional agricultural crops with two model bioenergy crops (either oilseed rape Brassica napus or Miscanthus à  giganteus) on vascular plant, bumblebee, solitary bee, hoverfly and carabid beetle richness, diversity and abundance in 50 sites in Ireland. We assessed whether within-field biodiversity was also related to surrounding landscape structure. We found that local- and landscape-scale variables correlated with biodiversity in these agricultural landscapes. Overall, the differences between the bioenergy crops and the conventional crops on farmland biodiversity were mostly positive (e.g. higher vascular plant richness in Miscanthus planted on former conventional tillage, higher solitary bee abundance and richness in Miscanthus and oilseed rape compared with conventional crops) or neutral (e.g. no differences between crop types for hoverflies and bumblebees). We showed that these crop type effects were independent of (i.e. no interactions with) the surrounding landscape composition and configuration. However, surrounding landscape context did relate to biodiversity in these farms, negatively for carabid beetles and positively for hoverflies. Although we conclude that the bioenergy crops compared favourably with conventional crops in terms of biodiversity of the taxa studied at the field scale, the effects of large-scale planting in these landscapes could result in very different impacts. Maintaining ecosystem functioning and the delivery of ecosystem services will require a greater understanding of impacts at the landscape scale to ensure the sustainable development of climate change mitigation measures. This research was funded by the SIMBIOSYS Project (http://www.tcd.ie/research/simbiosys/, 2007-B-CD-1-S1) as part of the Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for the Environment (STRIVE) Programme, financed by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan 2007–2013, administered on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency. peer-reviewed

In Ireland, Miscanthus A� giganteus has the potential to become a major feedstock for bioenergy production. However, under current climatic conditions, Ireland is situated on the margin of the geographical range where Miscanthus production is economically feasible. It is therefore important to optimize the yield and other ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration delivered by the crop. A survey of commercial Miscanthus fields showed a large number of areas with no Miscanthus crop cover. These patches can potentially lead to reduced crop yields and soil carbon sequestration and have a significant negative impact on the economic viability of the crop. The aim of this research is to assess patchiness on a field scale and to analyse the impacts on crop yield and soil carbon sequestration. Analysis of aerial photography images was carried out on six commercial Miscanthus plantations in south east Ireland. The analysis showed an average of 372.5 patches per hectare, covering an average of 13.7% of the field area. Using net present value models and a financial balance approach it was shown that patchiness has a significant impact on payback time for initial investments and might reduce gross margins by more than 50%. Total and Miscanthus-derived soil organic carbon was measured in open patches and adjacent plots of high crop density showing significantly lower Miscanthus-derived carbon stocks in open patches compared to high crop-density patches (0.47Mg C ha�1 ± 0.42 SD and 0.91Mg C ha�1 ± 0.55 SD). Using geographic information system (GIS) it was shown that on a field scale Miscanthus-derived carbon stocks were reduced by 7.38% ± 7.25 SD. However, total soil organic carbon stocks were not significantly different between open patches and high crop density plots indicating no impact on the overall carbon sequestration on a field scale over 3�4 years since establishment for these Miscanthus sites.

Die Durchwachsene Silphie (Silphium perfoliatum L.) ist eine alternative Bioenergiepflanze, die in wesentlichen Punkten zu einer umweltschonenden Nutzung von Erneuerbaren Energien beitragen konnte. Die Vorzuge der Durchwachsenen Silphie liegen insbesondere in ihren Bluheigenschaften und dem mehrjahrigen Anbau ohne Bodenbearbeitung, wovon Organismengruppen profitieren konnen, die besondere Funktionen im Agrarokosystem wie z.B. Bestaubung oder Bodenfruchtbarkeit steuern. Aktuell stutzt sich die Erzeugung von Biomasse in Deutschland auf Anbausysteme, die aus agrarokologischer Sicht eine Bedrohung fur die Biodiversitat und fur Okosystemfunktionen darstellen. Die Dringlichkeit, dieser Entwicklung entgegenzusteuern, wird insbesondere bei Betrachtung des Flachenbedarfs fur eine substanzielle Energieerzeugung deutlich. Inwiefern der Anbau der Durchwachsenen Silphie die Erwartungen an eine nachhaltige Biomassenutzung erfullt, wurde im Rahmen einer umfangreichen Erhebung von blutenbesuchenden Insekten (Bienen und Schwebfliegen) einschlieslich einer Pollen- und Nektarquantifizierung sowie Bodentier-Gemeinschaften (Regenwurmer, Collembolen und Nematoden) einschlieslich ihrer funktionellen Gruppen in Bestanden praxisnaher Bewirtschaftung untersucht. Es zeigte sich, dass die Durchwachsene Silphie als Biomassepflanze uber das notige agrarokologische Potential verfugt, um die aktuelle negative Entwicklung der Biodiversitat insbesondere in Regionen mit hohem Maisanteil in Monokultur abzufedern. Dieses agrarokologische Potential lasst sich jedoch nur ausschopfen, wenn agronomische Voraussetzungen wie z.B. ein spater Erntetermin und Standzeiten von mindestens funf Jahren erfullt sind. Unter diesen Voraussetzungen ist der Landschaftskontext zu berucksichtigen. So sind semi-naturliche Habitate als Nist- und Larvalhabitate in der Umgebung notig, um den Lebenszyklen wildlebender Bestaubergruppen gerecht zu werden, wahrend eine positive Entwicklung der biologischen Funktionalitat des Bodens an eine ackerbauliche Vornutzung der Flachen gekoppelt ist.

Bioenergy implications for Biodiversity and Ecosystems, GMO impact monitoring and a tool for the assessment of urban and industrial expansion impacts on riparian habitats are the topics of the present issue of BioRisk three topics from within the field of modern or contemporary land-use developments, representing typical drivers which put biodiversity and ecosystems at risk. When it comes to the question whether we can fuel the world with feedstock from bioenergy crops without losing the ability to feed a still growing world population of humans, an answer often ready at hand is to turn abandoned and marginal land to agricultural use. This either to increase crop yields in general or to cultivate dedicated energy crops on those lands in order to avoid land-use competition. Those concepts of cultivating or re-cultivating of seemingly surplus land are often based on optimistic assessments in the order of millions of hectares being available globally (German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina 2012; Offermann et al. 2011). The question whether those estimates of land potentials would bear up against calculations taking environmental and socio-economic constraints into account systematically was adopted in the opinion paper by Dauber et al. (2012; this issue). It is stated in this paper that confusion in the applicability of concepts suggesting the utilization of surplus land for bioenergy crop cultivation is caused by ambiguity in the definition and characterization of surplus land as well by uncertainties in assessments of land availability and of potential yields of bioenergy crops when grown on surplus land. The authors suggest BioRisk 7: 1–4 (2012)

Land-use changes can alter the spatial population structure of plant species, which may in turn affect the attractiveness of flower aggregations to different groups of pollinators at different spatial scales. To assess how pollinators respond to spatial heterogeneity of plant distributions and whether honeybees affect visitation by other pollinators we used an extensive data set comprising ten plant species and their flower visitors from five European countries. In particular we tested the hypothesis that the composition of the flower visitor community in terms of visitation frequencies by different pollinator groups were affected by the spatial plant population structure, viz. area and density measures, at a within-population (‘patch’) and among-population (‘population’) scale. We found that patch area and population density were the spatial variables that best explained the variation in visitation frequencies within the pollinator community. Honeybees had higher visitation frequencies in larger patches, while bumblebees and hoverflies had higher visitation frequencies in sparser populations. Solitary bees had higher visitation frequencies in sparser populations and smaller patches. We also tested the hypothesis that honeybees affect the composition of the pollinator community by altering the visitation frequencies of other groups of pollinators. There was a positive relationship between visitation frequencies of honeybees and bumblebees, while the relationship with hoverflies and solitary bees varied (positive, negative and no relationship) depending on the plant species under study. The overall conclusion is that the spatial structure of plant populations affects different groups of pollinators in contrasting ways at both the local (‘patch’) and the larger (‘population’) scales and, that honeybees affect the flower visitation by other pollinator groups in various ways, depending on the plant species under study. These contrasting responses emphasize the need to investigate the entire pollinator community when the effects of landscape change on plant–pollinator interactions are studied.

The colonisation of winter barley fields by spring breeding carabids and its temporal modulation by the amount of potential hibernation sites was studied. Species richness of carabids was lower in landscapes with high length of boundaries and a high amount of non-cropped open habitats during early stages of the beetles’ colonisation of arable fields. Species number of beetles with high dispersal potential responded to this landscape features at coarse spatial scales whereas beetles with low dispersal potential responded to intermediate scales. However, the negative impact of potential hibernation sites on colonisation diminished in later sampling phases. The patterns observed may be explained by both overwintering in arable soils in less complex landscapes and delayed colonisation in more complex landscapes. The seasonal patterns of landscape control suggest a need to account for temporal dynamics in interactions between species or functional groups and landscape properties. A high temporal resolution is needed in studies that focus on ecosystem function and services in agricultural landscapes, as direction of effect (positive/negative) of management on animal communities may change across spatial scales and within short time periods.

The use of biomass for energy production is considered a promising way to reduce net carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. However, land-use change to bioenergy crops can result in carbon emissions from soil and vegetation in amounts that could take decades to compensate. Perennial grasses such as Miscanthus offer a possible solution to this problem as measurements on experimental plots planted with Miscanthus have shown significant carbon sequestration in the soil. It can, however, be expected that sequestration potentials in commercial use might differ from those measured in experimental plots due to different farming practices and soil characteristics. For this study, Miscanthus plantations on 16 farms in SE Ireland as well as on-farm controls representing the former land-use (grassland and tillage) have been examined. The Miscanthus plantations were 2–3 years old. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content and a number of soil properties were measured and the amount of Miscanthus-derived carbon was determined using the 13C natural abundance method. On both former tillage fields and grasslands, although there were no significant differences in SOC contents between Miscanthus and control sites, it was shown that 2–3 years after Miscanthus establishment, 1.82 ± 1.69 and 2.17 ± 1.73 Mg ha−1 of the SOC under former-tilled and former grassland respectively were Miscanthus-derived. Mixed-effects models were used to link the total SOC concentrations and Miscanthus-derived carbon to the land-use parameters as well as to soil properties. It was shown that on control sites, pH had an effect on total SOC. In the case of Miscanthus-derived carbon, the initial SOC content, pH, former land-use and crop age had significant effects.