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Special wildlife scheme beats organic at boosting birds

Date:
December 6, 2013
Source:
University of Southampton
Summary:
Threatened farmland birds are likely to survive the winter better on conventional farms with specially designed wildlife habitats than on organic farms without. The 'Conservation Grade' approach, which aims to grow crops efficiently while requiring farmers to establish and manage specific habitats for wildlife, produced higher survival rates than the organic sites.
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Threatened farmland birds are likely to survive the winter better on conventional farms with specially designed wildlife habitats than on organic farms without -- according to a new study from the University of Southampton.

Winter farmland bird populations compared across three different wildlife schemes showed the 'Conservation Grade' approach, that aims to grow crops efficiently while requiring farmers to establish and manage specific habitats for wildlife, produced higher survival rates than the organic sites.

The researcher, Dominic Harrison from Engineering and the Environment, said the greatest numbers of chaffinches, skylarks, yellowhammers and lapwings were recorded on Conservation Grade farms. "A strong link was found between the number of specially-designed habitats created and the richness of bird species found," he explains.

"This indicates that the deciding factor is not the method of farming, as organic farms don't provide significant benefits to overwintering birds. Instead, farm-scale management specifically designed to be beneficial to wildlife can have positive farm-scale effects."

Darren Moorcroft, Head of Conservation Delivery at the RSPB agrees that the best results in sustaining farmland bird populations are to be gained from a targeted approach. "There's no doubt the more specific the approach, the better the results," he said.

Brin Hughes of Conservation Grade says it's important for farmers have clear biodiversity aims before they start. "Organic production doesn't specifically focus on achieving results in terms of biodiversity improvement," he explains. "We've designed Conservation Grade to deliver biodiversity 'yields' in the same way that farmers aim to optimise the yields of any crop.

The paper can be accessed at: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/research/projects/conservation_farming.page?#publications


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Materials provided by University of Southampton. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

University of Southampton. "Special wildlife scheme beats organic at boosting birds." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 December 2013. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131206101533.htm>.
University of Southampton. (2013, December 6). Special wildlife scheme beats organic at boosting birds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 19, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131206101533.htm
University of Southampton. "Special wildlife scheme beats organic at boosting birds." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131206101533.htm (accessed March 19, 2024).

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