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Biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in small vs. large scale agriculture
Project
Project code: DFG BA 4438/1-1
Contract period: 09.03.2012
- 02.01.2016
Budget: 257,987 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research
Biodiversity conservation cannot rely on protected areas alone, as sustainable conservation requires strategies for managing whole landscapes including agricultural areas. Organic farming in Germany may contribute strongly to the protection of biodiversity and to sustainability of agriculture through enhancing ecosystem services. However, the effectiveness of this agri-environmental management is highly dependent on landscape structure. The main objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of organic cereal management in small vs. large scale agriculture through measure of the diversity of plants and arthropods and associated ecosystem services, such as seed predation, insect predation, aphid parasitism and pollination. Pairs of organic and conventional winter wheat fields will be selected in small vs. large scale agricultural landscapes along the former inner German border, i.e. in West vs. East Germany. This study design enables a unique experiment, where it would be possible to disentangle the effects of landscape composition and configuration heterogeneities in the same study region and to study how these affect the effectiveness of organic management. The detailed analyses of the expected valuable data could provide significant results (published in high-ranked, international scientific journals), and contribute to the development of the existing agri-environment schemes.
Section overview
Subjects
- Agroecology
- Resource management
- Genetic Resources
- Organic Farming
