Organic Farming: Biodiversity Impacts Can Depend on Dispersal Characteristics and Landscape Context.

ABSTRACT: Organic farming, a low intensity system, may offer benefits for a range of taxa, but what affects the extent of those benefits is imperfectly understood. We explored the effects of organic farming and landscape on the activity density and species density of spiders and carabid beetles, using a large sample of paired organic and conventional farms in the UK. Spider activity density and species density were influenced by both farming system and surrounding landscape. Hunting spiders, which tend to have lower dispersal capabilities, had higher activity density, and more species were captured, on organic compared to conventional farms. There was also evidence for an interaction, as the farming system effect was particularly marked in the cropped area before harvest and was more pronounced in c

SUBMITTER: Feber RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4550245 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature