Bracken, FintanFintanBrackenBolger, ThomasThomasBolger2012-05-222012-05-222006 Elsev2006-11Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environmenthttp://hdl.handle.net/10197/3619Farmland birds have suffered a severe decline in recent years throughout Europe including Ireland. Agricultural intensification is believed to be the main cause and this has led to the introduction of agri-environmental schemes, of which set-aside is a part. Bird abundance and diversity were compared between set-aside and adjacent tillage or grassland at 18 locations. The set-aside sites were also assigned to one of four management types: rotational set-aside, non-rotational set-aside, first year set-aside that was productive grassland in the previous year, and long-term set-aside that was grazed by animals in winter. Species diversity and the abundances of skylark, meadow pipit and woodpigeon were significantly greater in set-aside sites. Species diversity was not significantly different between set-aside management types and meadow pipit, skylark, pheasant, house sparrow, magpie, snipe and starling were closely associated with non-rotational set-aside, which also contained significantly larger numbers of these species compared to the other set-aside types. This study shows that set-aside does enhance bird diversity and abundance and that, in Ireland, the most effective form of set-aside is non-rotational. It also shows that the most appropriate form of set-aside will vary from situation to situation and that a one size fits all view should not be taken in the development of agri-environmental schemes.113094 bytesapplication/pdfenThis is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment Volume 117, Issues 2–3 (November 2006) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2006.03.032BirdsSet-asideFarm managementAgri-environmental schemeRedundancy AnalysisBirds--ConservationFarm managementAgriculture--Environmental aspectsFallow lands--Environmental aspectsJournal Article1172-317818410.1016/j.agee.2006.03.032https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/