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  5. Different bioindicators measured at different spatial scales vary in their response to agricultural intensity
 
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Different bioindicators measured at different spatial scales vary in their response to agricultural intensity

Author(s)
McMahon, Barry J.  
Anderson, Annette  
Carnus, Tim  
Helden, Alvin  
Kelly-Quinn, Mary  
Maki, Amel  
Sheridan, Helen  
Purvis, Gordon  
Uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/4027
Date Issued
2012-07
Date Available
2013-01-14T16:12:30Z
Abstract
Ecologically, potential bioindicator taxa operate at different scales within agricultural ecosystems, and thereby provide a means to investigate the influence of changing management practice on biological diversity at different scales within the agro-ecosystem. Surveys of grassland plant species at field level, parasitoid Hymenoptera at the field and farm scale, and bird populations and habitats at farm scale were carried out on 119 grass-based farms across three regions in the Republic of Ireland. In addition, habitat richness and aquatic macroinvertebrates were quantified at landscape scale. Agricultural intensity on the surveyed farms was quantified by mean farm stocking rate, calculated as livestock units per ha (LU/ha), and generalised linear mixed models used to evaluate relationships between stocking rate and the incidence of chosen bioindicator groups. Field scale bioindicators (plant species richness and parasitoid taxon richness and abundance) were negatively associated with mean farm stocking rate. Over much of its observed range, mean farm stocking rate was positively associated with total bird species richness and abundance, and the species richness and abundance of farmland bird indicator species recorded in the winter season. However, these relationships were quadratic, and above a relatively high upper limit of 2.5–3.5 LU/ha, further increase in farm stocking rate had a negative influence. Results demonstrate that different bioindicators measured at different spatial scales vary in their response to agricultural intensity. The lack of a consistent bioindicator response to farm stocking rate suggests that within predominantly farmed regions, maximising biodiversity requires a careful targeting and monitoring with bioindicator taxa that are informative of influences at relevant operational scales. The insights provided may then be much more informative for the design and implementation of agri-environment measures that maximise biodiversity within farmed landscapes.
Type of Material
Journal Article
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal
Ecological Indicators
Volume
18
Issue
July 2012
Start Page
676
End Page
683
Copyright (Published Version)
2012 Elsevier Ltd
Subjects

Agro-ecology

Indicator

Biodiversity

Livestock farming

Habitat heterogeneity...

Agri-environment poli...

DOI
10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.01.013
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/
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McMahon_et_al.pdf

Size

256.08 KB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

c9aab631d42ebd3c90e3c10b8fd3ce12

Owning collection
Agriculture and Food Science Research Collection
Mapped collections
Institute of Food and Health Research Collection

Item descriptive metadata is released under a CC-0 (public domain) license: https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/cc0/.
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