Supporting local diversity of habitats and species on farmland: a comparison of three wildlife-friendly schemes.

ABSTRACT: Restoration and maintenance of habitat diversity have been suggested as conservation priorities in farmed landscapes, but how this should be achieved and at what scale are unclear. This study makes a novel comparison of the effectiveness of three wildlife-friendly farming schemes for supporting local habitat diversity and species richness on 12 farms in England.The schemes were: (i) Conservation Grade (Conservation Grade: a prescriptive, non-organic, biodiversity-focused scheme), (ii) organic agriculture and (iii) a baseline of Entry Level Stewardship (Entry Level Stewardship: a flexible widespread government scheme). Conservation Grade farms supported a quarter higher habitat diversity at the 100-m radius scale compared to Entry Level Stewardship farms. Conservation Grade and organic farm

SUBMITTER: Hardman CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4982055 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature