Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland
Abstract Modern agriculture faces conflicting objectives—increasing agricultural production while preserving and fostering biodiversity. As intensive agricultural management threatens biodiversity, legal obligations aim to halt biodiversity loss and safeguard threatened species. In Switzerland, agri...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Conservation Science and Practice |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13286 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841545593073172480 |
|---|---|
| author | Noëlle Klein Antoine Adde Adrienne Grêt‐Regamey Antoine Guisan Felix Herzog Philippe Jeanneret Sonja Kay |
| author_facet | Noëlle Klein Antoine Adde Adrienne Grêt‐Regamey Antoine Guisan Felix Herzog Philippe Jeanneret Sonja Kay |
| author_sort | Noëlle Klein |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Modern agriculture faces conflicting objectives—increasing agricultural production while preserving and fostering biodiversity. As intensive agricultural management threatens biodiversity, legal obligations aim to halt biodiversity loss and safeguard threatened species. In Switzerland, agricultural priority species have been defined to set environmental goals for biodiversity, with limited success so far. This study spatially defines farmland focus zones with potential for the promotion of priority species for conservation in agricultural landscapes. We overlaid information about field‐level impact of agricultural activities using the Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (SALCA‐BD) as “impact of agricultural activities” with the potential distribution of Swiss priority birds. The potential distribution was assessed by aggregating predictions from species distribution models of 27 bird priority species. We identified significantly high/low values for management impact and potential distribution using hotspot analyses. Multivariate clustering was used to identify zones that should be preserved (low management impact, high bird potential) and zones where conservation measures could be promoted (high management impact, high bird potential). Zones which were minimally impacted by management and had a high potential for birds included grassland with structures, covering ca. 18% of the studied farmland. Zones with high management impacts consisted mainly of arable land with little structures, covering ca. 31% of the studied farmland, occurring mainly in the Swiss lowlands. Our results help to assess and visualize the intertwined links between agricultural management and the species inhabiting these agricultural landscapes in a spatially explicit manner. This can help to identify zones and regions for ecological promotion and set priorities for action within future agricultural policies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8a9ff0b31c9f48b7bececcde14439cf3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2578-4854 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Conservation Science and Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-8a9ff0b31c9f48b7bececcde14439cf32025-01-12T03:57:29ZengWileyConservation Science and Practice2578-48542025-01-0171n/an/a10.1111/csp2.13286Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmlandNoëlle Klein0Antoine Adde1Adrienne Grêt‐Regamey2Antoine Guisan3Felix Herzog4Philippe Jeanneret5Sonja Kay6Agricultural Landscapes and Biodiversity Department of Agroecology and Environment Zurich SwitzerlandInstitute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment University of Lausanne Lausanne SwitzerlandPlanning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS), Institute for Spatial and Landscape Planning, Department of Civil Environmental and Geomatic Engineering ETH Zürich Zürich SwitzerlandInstitute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment University of Lausanne Lausanne SwitzerlandAgricultural Landscapes and Biodiversity Department of Agroecology and Environment Zurich SwitzerlandAgricultural Landscapes and Biodiversity Department of Agroecology and Environment Zurich SwitzerlandAgricultural Landscapes and Biodiversity Department of Agroecology and Environment Zurich SwitzerlandAbstract Modern agriculture faces conflicting objectives—increasing agricultural production while preserving and fostering biodiversity. As intensive agricultural management threatens biodiversity, legal obligations aim to halt biodiversity loss and safeguard threatened species. In Switzerland, agricultural priority species have been defined to set environmental goals for biodiversity, with limited success so far. This study spatially defines farmland focus zones with potential for the promotion of priority species for conservation in agricultural landscapes. We overlaid information about field‐level impact of agricultural activities using the Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (SALCA‐BD) as “impact of agricultural activities” with the potential distribution of Swiss priority birds. The potential distribution was assessed by aggregating predictions from species distribution models of 27 bird priority species. We identified significantly high/low values for management impact and potential distribution using hotspot analyses. Multivariate clustering was used to identify zones that should be preserved (low management impact, high bird potential) and zones where conservation measures could be promoted (high management impact, high bird potential). Zones which were minimally impacted by management and had a high potential for birds included grassland with structures, covering ca. 18% of the studied farmland. Zones with high management impacts consisted mainly of arable land with little structures, covering ca. 31% of the studied farmland, occurring mainly in the Swiss lowlands. Our results help to assess and visualize the intertwined links between agricultural management and the species inhabiting these agricultural landscapes in a spatially explicit manner. This can help to identify zones and regions for ecological promotion and set priorities for action within future agricultural policies.https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13286agricultural priority speciesbirdshot/cold spotsmultivariate clusteringspecies distribution models |
| spellingShingle | Noëlle Klein Antoine Adde Adrienne Grêt‐Regamey Antoine Guisan Felix Herzog Philippe Jeanneret Sonja Kay Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland Conservation Science and Practice agricultural priority species birds hot/cold spots multivariate clustering species distribution models |
| title | Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland |
| title_full | Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland |
| title_fullStr | Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland |
| title_short | Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland |
| title_sort | identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in swiss farmland |
| topic | agricultural priority species birds hot/cold spots multivariate clustering species distribution models |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13286 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT noelleklein identifyingfocuszonesfortheconservationandpromotionofprioritybirdsinswissfarmland AT antoineadde identifyingfocuszonesfortheconservationandpromotionofprioritybirdsinswissfarmland AT adriennegretregamey identifyingfocuszonesfortheconservationandpromotionofprioritybirdsinswissfarmland AT antoineguisan identifyingfocuszonesfortheconservationandpromotionofprioritybirdsinswissfarmland AT felixherzog identifyingfocuszonesfortheconservationandpromotionofprioritybirdsinswissfarmland AT philippejeanneret identifyingfocuszonesfortheconservationandpromotionofprioritybirdsinswissfarmland AT sonjakay identifyingfocuszonesfortheconservationandpromotionofprioritybirdsinswissfarmland |