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Energy maize cultivation for high yield and biodiversity - Assessment of Habitat effect of altered farming practices on indicator species of agricultural areas on the example of Skylark (Alauda arvensis)
Project
Project code: JKI-SF-08-1222
Contract period: 01.11.2016
- 31.01.2017
Purpose of research: Applied research
We investigate the effects of both typical and innovative maize production systems on the habitat quality of indicator species, at the example of Skylark (Alauda arvensis). Novel production systems integrate strips of wildflowers with the aim to enhance the ecological performance of fields with maize crops. Based on field measurements of the vegetation structures of maize cultivation verities on different study areas the assessment of the habitat effects is performed by the use of different models like ‘Moving Window Abundance’ and ‘Moving Window Growth’.
We investigated the effects of both typical and innovative maize production systems on the habitat quality of indicator species, at the example of Skylark (Alauda arvensis). Novel production systems integrate strips of wildflowers to enhance the ecological performance of maize and differ also in management activities. The assessment of the effects was conducted by measurements and models (‘Moving Window Abundance’ and ‘Moving Window Growth’). The results show that conventional production systems lead to low habitat values, whereas some of the novel systems may significantly boost the ecological effects of maize cultivation through good habitat qualities.
Section overview
Subjects
- Crop Production
- Wildlife Biology
- Agroecology
