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The main object of the article is to show indicator functions of small water bodies (streams, ponds) for 4 rural areas in agricultural landscapes (Belgorod region). In the course of the study the groups of anthropogenic objects with their special impacts are identified and ranked. The correlation between concentrations of chemical forms of biogenic elements (N, P) demonstrates the contribution of typical problems of agricultural landscapes in ecological situation (rural areas) as well as contribution of adjacent urban areas. The results have revealed that some rural areas are particularly susceptible to nitrate or phosphate pollution, possible reasons have been indicated. The approved research methods will be helpful for further improvement of the indicator approach.

The decline of segetal flora species across Europe, driven by intensified agricultural practices, is impacting other taxa and ecosystem functions. Result-based payments to farmers offer an effective solution to conserve these species, but the high cost of biodiversity monitoring remains a challenge. In this study, we conducted UAV flights with an RGB camera and used the deep learning model YOLO to detect these species in four winter barley fields under different management intensities in Germany. Field measurements of plant traits were used to evaluate their impact on species detectability. Additionally, we investigated the potential of spatial co-occurrence and canopy height heterogeneity to predict the presence of species difficult to detect by UAVs. We found that half of the species observed could be remotely detected, with a minimum ground sampling distance (GSD) of 1.22 mm required for accurate annotation. The same detection ratio was estimated for key indicator species not present in our study area based on trait information. Plant height was crucial for species detection, with accuracy ranging between 49–100 %. YOLO models effectively predicted species from images taken at 40 m, reducing the monitoring time to eight minutes per hectare. Co-occurrence with UAV-detectable species and canopy height heterogeneity proved promising for identifying areas where undetectable species are likely to occur, although further research is needed for landscape-level applications. Our study highlights the potential for large-scale, cost-effective monitoring of segetal flora species in agricultural landscapes, and provides valuable insights for developing robust ‘smart indicators’ for future biodiversity monitoring.

ABSTRACTIn agriculture, the geography of specific crops can successfully support productivity monitoring and farming practices management. Vineyards particularly have a key role in modeling and protecting Mediterranean landscapes, representing a fundamental asset in the economies of inner areas. In this paper, we mapped the 2017 coverage of vineyards of the Vulture-Melfese, a specialized agricultural district of Basilicata (Southern Italy) renowned for hosting the Aglianico grapevine variety. To achieve this objective, we combined information extracted from free-accessible multisource data by leveraging the traditional photo-interpretation technique. Then, we characterized the mapped vineyards based on simple geo-environmental variables (size, elevation, climate). This detailed inventory can help public bodies and land managers to shape more specific local agricultural policies to strengthen the profitability of the agricultural sector, preserve agrobiodiversity and face climate change effects.

This paper presents a collaborative work on the impact of the European conquest and colonization on the conception, construction, and management of agropastoral landscapes in Eastern Catamarca (Northwestern Argentina). This research forms part of a broader project that includes case studies from Iberian and Canarian conquest and colonization contexts from the late medieval period onward. Every colonial experiences studied so far were founded on the destruction or severe transformation of the existing society, beginning with the population itself, and the productive areas and practices. The understanding of the new colonial order requires knowledge of the previous conditions upon which further destruction and construction coexisted, as well as the adaptative tools managed both of the indigenous population and of the colonizers in the specific resulting societies. In spite of the local diversity of the new societies, some common trends can be identified in the previous peasant organizations elsewhere and in the aims and methods of the colonization. In this work, we present the main characteristics of the población process of eastern Catamarca, both in the central valley and in the mountain range then known as Sierra de Santiago or, more lately, de Guayamba (present day Ancasti), between the late 16th and 18th centuries. Using both textual and archaeological evidence in an articulated manner, we analyze how the new colonial landscapes and practices were constructed in these two areas, focusing mainly on the procedures of dispossession and the forms of capturing and consuming labor force. One of the main conclusions of the work is that, despite the initial and decisive importance of European-origin livestock in indigenous dispossession, especially in the Sierra de Santiago, the consolidation of the conquest demanded the establishment of settlers who were also farmers. We will present three cases of settlement related to agricultural development involving people initially arriving from afar: on one hand, displaced people resettled in an estancia, family groups formed from ingas who arrived with the Spaniards during the second half of the 16th century from Peru and settled in the Sierra de Santiago, and a community of African-origin slaves associated with the irrigation system of Santa Cruz, in the Catamarca Valley. Then people of regional, Andean and African origins participated in the consolidation of the new order in eastern Catamarca after being dispossessed and displaced from their places of origin. Finally, we propose some lines of future work, taking into account mainly the perspectives of generating knowledge about the colonization process from an archaeological perspective.

The expansion of agricultural landscapes is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss around the world; the environmental gradients resulting from these landscape changes, however, allow an assessment of how biodiversity responds to environmental change. Functional diversity and mutualistic interactions between plants and animals represent an important aspect of biodiversity. In particular, the interactions between hummingbirds and plants stand out for their morphological specialization. Here, we evaluated how changes in landscape attributes affect the functional diversity and hummingbird-plant interaction networks in the coffee-growing region of the Colombian Andes. We described the functional diversity of hummingbirds and their interaction networks with plants in circular plots with a diameter of 50 m located in forests and coffee agroecosystems distributed along a landscape transformation gradient. We found that network specialization in forests is positively related to forest coverage of the landscape, while the relationship with landscape diversity and heterogeneity was weak. In contrast, we found no relationship between landscape variables and network specialization in coffee agroecosystems where the networks are less specialized and less modular compared to forests. A structural equation model (SEM) showed that hummingbird functional diversity had a significant relationship to landscape structure, while the specialization of hummingbird-plant networks was mainly affected by the amount of forest in the landscape. Although no significant direct relationship was found between hummingbird functional diversity and network specialization, SEMs show that, when considering a mediating role of functional diversity, the specialization R2 coefficient increased. Based on our results, we suggest that changes in the diversity and structure of ecological networks were a consequence of the impacts of human intervention on landscapes and natural habitats.

Abstract Smallholder farms support the livelihoods of 2.5 billion people and their decisions on how to manage their land has profound consequences for the environment and the food security of billions of people. However, farmers' values, norms and resulting management practices are usually not formed in isolation. Triangulating multiple analytical, modelling and simulation methods, we investigated if and how social influence exerted through peer‐to‐peer information exchange affect soil nutrition management among 2734 Indonesian smallholder cocoa farmers across 30 different villages. The results show that the relational structures of these village‐based social networks strongly relate to farmers' use of fertiliser. In villages with highly centralised networks (i.e. hub‐and‐spoke networks where one or very few farmers holds disproportionately central position in the village network), a large majority of farmers report the same fertiliser use, and that practice is typically to avoid using fertilisers. By contrast, in less centralised networks, fertiliser use varies widely. The observed community‐level distributions of fertiliser use can be most closely reproduced through simulations by complex contagion mechanisms in which social influence is only exerted by opinion leaders that are much more socially connected than others. However, even such leaders' abilities to influence others to change fertiliser use may be limited in practice. The combination of our quantitative and qualitative findings provides significant policy implications for development programs targeting smallholder farming communities. An important practical lesson is that common interventions which primarily engage socially central farmers may not be effective in stimulating desired transitions in social‐ecological systems. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Between 2014 and 2022, a comprehensive analysis was conducted to compare the spring diversity of avifauna, including bird occurrence, density, similarity, and differences between natural biotopes and agrarian landscapes in the Tashkent region. This study assessed changes in avifauna composition resulting from the conversion of natural biotopes into cultivated areas and evaluated the influence of anthropogenic factors on bird behavior. During the spring months of March, April, and May, approximately 205 bird species were recorded. Of these, 186 species were observed in natural biotopes, while 162 species were identified in agrarian landscapes. Notably, 143 species were common to both biotopes, whereas 43 species were exclusive to natural biotopes, and 19 species were found only in agrarian landscapes. The spring avifauna was classified into six categories based on their occurrence: Resident (51 species), Breeding-Migratory (75 species), Migratory-Wintering (34 species), Migratory (25 species), Breeding-Migratory-Wintering (11 species), and Wintering (9 species). The study included a comparative evaluation of bird diversity in natural biotopes and agrocenoses.

The benchmarking of farm environmental sustainability and the monitoring of progress towards more sustainable farming systems is made difficult by the need to aggregate multiple indicators at the relevant spatial scales. We present a novel framework for identifying alternative pathways to improve environmental sustainability in farming systems that addresses this challenge by analysing the co-variance of indicators within a landscape context. A set of sustainability indicators was analysed within the framework of a published set of Farm Management Archetypes (FMAs) that maps the distribution of farming systems in England based on combinations of environmental and management variables. The archetype approach acknowledges that sustainability indicators do not vary independently and that there are regional constraints to potential trajectories of change. Using Pareto Optimisation, we identified optimal combinations of sustainability indicators (“Pareto nodes”) for each FMA independently, and across all FMAs. The relative sustainability of the archetypes with respect to one another was compared based on the proportion of Pareto nodes in each FMA. Potential for improvement in sustainability was derived from distances to the nearest Pareto node (either within or across FMAs), incorporating the cost of transitioning to another archetype based on the similarity of its environmental variables. The indicators with the greatest potential to improve sustainability within archetypes (and, therefore, should have a greater emphasis in guiding management decisions) varied between FMAs. Relatively unsustainable FMAs were identified that also had limited potential to increase within archetype sustainability, indicating regions where more fundamental system changes may be required. The FMA representing the most intensive system of arable production, although relatively unsustainable when compared to all other archetypes, had the greatest internal potential for improvement without transitioning to a different farming system. In contrast, the intensive horticulture FMA had limited internal potential to improve sustainability. The FMAs with the greatest potential for system change as a viable pathway to improved sustainability were dairy, beef and sheep, and rough grazing, moving towards more mixed systems incorporating arable. Geographically, these transitions were concentrated in the west of England, introducing diversity into otherwise homogenous landscapes. Our method allows for an assessment of the potential to improve sustainability across spatial scales, is flexible relative to the choice of sustainability indicators, and—being data-driven—avoids the subjectivity of indicator weightings. The results allow decision makers to explore the opportunity space for beneficial change in a target landscape based on the indicators with most potential to improve sustainability.

A theoretical framework for agricultural landscape pattern transitions in rural areas is proposed to fill the gap of current research with an empirical study in the Alabata farm settlement in Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria. Adopting the use of ArcGIS 10.8 and Surfer 27.3 the surface area and volume of the ground surface degraded and exposed to harsh weather conditions due to both natural and man-made anthropogenic activities causing runoffs and continuous soil erosion were calculated, which have affected agricultural production and sent some of the farmers packing, abandoning their farmlands. The farm settlement within the total sampled frame area of 1.50 km2 covers a total distance of 5.11 km. The sample frame was divided into 36 frames with similar ecological microclimates, topographical features, terrain, and soil types that fell into either of the two identified soil types: 1 and 2. The study involved the completion of a questionnaire onsite using three major criteria and only 23 farmers responded positively to the few questions as farmers who were either living on the farm or working as hired laborers on-site at the time of the visit. The transition characteristics of agricultural landscape patterns as represented in abandoned, degraded farmlands and orchards are analyzed from a local perspective.

Abstract Effective conservation schemes are needed to advance the dual objectives of biodiversity conservation and agronomic production in agricultural landscapes. Understanding how plant and arthropod taxa respond to both local habitat patch characteristics and landscape complexity is crucial for planning effective agri‐environment schemes. This study investigated the relative effects of local variables (plant and insect diversity ≤100 m from patch habitat center) and landscape variables (landscape composition and configuration metrics ≤5 km from patch habitat center) on the diversity of plants and arthropods within noncrop habitat patches (1) at different spatial extents ranging from 0.1 to 5 km, while (2) quantifying differential effects of local and landscape variables on particular components of diversity (i.e., species richness and abundance), and accounting for (3) particular components of landscape extent (0.1‐, 0.5‐, 1‐, 2‐, and 5‐km radii) and complexity (i.e., landscape composition and configuration). Landscape variables were significantly correlated with local plant and arthropod species richness and abundance at all spatial extents. Biodiversity responses to landscape variables were largely scale‐dependent, as pairwise comparisons were significantly different between all spatial extents except between 1‐ and 2‐km extents, and correlations were lowest at the 5‐km extent. Partial R2 values for predicting local biodiversity were highest when both local and landscape variables were included as predictors of species richness and abundance, increasing from 0.163 to 0.469 when landscape variables were included, underscoring the importance of considering both local and landscape effects on local diversity. Landscape configuration variables accounted for more variation in plant and arthropod species richness than composition variables. However, models performed best when composition and configuration were considered together rather than alone, suggesting that both components of landscape complexity should be considered for identifying and managing conservation areas in crop fields. Existing conservation schemes that incentivize farmers to create or conserve seminatural patch habitat within crop fields may be more effective when combined with landscape‐scale designs that enhance landscape complexity across the Northern Great Plains. Local conservation efforts should be coordinated with landscape‐level efforts to ultimately enhance biodiversity and desired ecosystem service outcomes across agricultural landscapes.

Abstract Despite increasing recognition of the importance of the multiple dimensions of biodiversity, including functional or genetic diversity as well as species diversity, most conservation studies on ecosystem service‐providing insects focus on simple diversity measures such as species richness and abundance. In contrast, relatively little is known about the genetic diversity and resilience of pollinators or natural enemies of crop pests to population fragmentation and local extinction. The genetic diversity and demographic dynamics of remnant populations of beneficial insects in agricultural areas can be a useful indicator proving additional insights into their conservation status, but this is rarely evaluated. Although gene flow between agricultural and seminatural areas is key to maintaining genetic diversity, its extent and directionality remain largely unexplored. Here, we apply a pan‐European sampling protocol to quantify genetic diversity and structure and assess gene flow between agricultural and nearby seminatural landscapes in populations of two key ecosystem service‐providing insect species, the lady beetle Coccinella septempunctata, an important predator of aphids and other crop pests, and the bee pollinator Andrena flavipes. We show that A. flavipes populations are genetically structured at the European level, whereas populations of C. septempunctata experience widespread gene flow across the continent and lack any defined genetic structure. In both species, we found that there is high genetic connectivity between populations established in croplands and nearby seminatural areas and, as a consequence, they harbor similar levels of genetic diversity. Interestingly, demographic models for some regions support asymmetric gene flow from seminatural areas to nearby agricultural landscapes. Collectively, our study demonstrates how seminatural areas can serve as genetic reservoirs of both pollinators and natural enemies for nearby agricultural landscapes, acting as sources for recurrent recolonization and, potentially, contributing to enhancing ecosystem service and crop production resilience in the longer term.

Intensive dairy farming, particularly enteric fermentation and manure management, is a major contributor to negative impacts on the local and global environment. A wide range of abatement measures has been proposed to reduce livestock-related emissions, yet the individual and combined effects of these innovations are often unknown. In this study, we performed an attributional life cycle assessment of three innovative measures modeled in two synthetic German dairy farm systems: Feeding of the seaweed Asparagopsis, installing an in-house cow toilet system, and performing on-field slurry acidification. These measures were modeled both individually and in combination to account for single and cumulative effects and compared to a reference scenario under current practices. Our results showed that feeding high levels of Asparagopsis and the combination of all three measures were most effective at reducing global warming potential (20–30 %), while only the latter mitigated eutrophication (6–9%) and acidification potential (14–17 %). The cow toilet required additional adapted manure management (separated storage and injection of urine) to effectively reduce eutrophication (8–10 %) and acidification potential (19–23 %) and to decrease global warming potential (3–4%) and abiotic depletion (4–5%). Slurry acidification slightly affected all considered environmental impact categories. All three measures involved trade-offs, either between LCA impact categories (global warming potential vs. abiotic depletion), the location of impacts (off- vs. on-farm), or the emission reduction in individual gases (ammonia vs. nitrous oxide). Measure combinations could compensate for the observed trade-offs. Our study highlights the potential of novel abatement measures but also shows the interdependencies of measures in different stages. This calls for a revisiting of current priorities in funding and legislation, which often focus on single objectives and measures (e.g. ammonia reduction) toward the preferential use of measures that are effective without driving trade-offs or improving resource efficiency.

Many field studies have reported that natural habitats in the agricultural landscape are associated with increased predator abundance and/or decreased crop pest load. However, recently published meta-analyses have found mixed results, with natural habitats being associated with increased pest loads as often as decreased loads. We investigate possible reasons for these conflicting results using a mechanistic model that simulates the dynamics of a generalist, omnivorous predatory bug and a plant bug pest in a landscape consisting of a 1 km2 annual field crop monoculture bisected by a 60 m wide natural habitat strip. The model simulates the movement of adult predators in the landscape via both trivial movement and long-distance dispersal, along with the movement of energy and egg reserves carried by those predators. We simulate multiple scenarios varying the presence or absence of floral resources and alternate prey in the natural habitat and crop, and the presence or absence of overwintering refuges for the predator and pest insect in the natural habitat. Food resources provided to the predator by the natural habitat did not enhance natural control in adjacent crops. When the natural habitat served as an overwintering refuge for predators, natural control of pests was enhanced if food resources were available in the crop for those predators. Availability of alternate prey was more important to the predator than floral resources. Early-season crop pest loads were always increased when pest insects overwintered in the natural habitat, however early-season availability of pest insects enhanced natural control across the whole-season. Overall, crop pest loads were highly variable across simulation scenarios, reproducing the conflicting results from field research.

Citizen science approaches are promising for raising awareness about the sensitivity of pollinators to environmental changes and simultaneously gathering data about their biology. Questions remain, however, about citizens’ ability to gather accurate data. Here, we present a citizen science monitoring approach of cavity-nesting wild bees and wasps in agricultural landscapes across Germany. By using nesting observation blocks (NOBs), which consist of individual wooden boards screwed together, volunteers record the colonisation and development of cavity-nesting Hymenoptera. To do this, they open the NOBs monthly and photograph each board individually. We tested if volunteers can be trained to accurately identify taxa from photographs by offering identification courses and an online quiz. For that purpose, twelve volunteers without taxonomic knowledge identified and counted larvae and cocoons of wild bees and wasps in 4,203 occupied cavities: 92.4% were correctly identified, 4.8% were incorrectly identified, and 2.8% were unidentifiable by experts. These results indicated that volunteers unfamiliar with these taxonomic groups successfully gained a high level of knowledge within one season supported by identification trainings. Using Wald chi-square tests, successful identification was mainly affected by the variability of the taxon. In view of increasing public demand for habitat restoration to halt and counteract declining pollinator populations, the proposed citizen science monitoring approach offers an opportunity for every interested citizen, regardless of their background knowledge, to engage with wild bees and wasps, and gain knowledge about their ecology.

This study examines soil properties in 30- and 60-year-old agricultural biocorridors and provides a comparative overview with neighbouring farmland. Both mixed and undisturbed soil samples were collected from six farmland/biocorridor study areas to assess a wide spectrum of physical, hydrophysical, chemical and biological soil properties. Biocorridor soils were characterised by higher water retention capacities, porosity, aeration and soil carbon stock, the latter increasing with depth. On the other hand, biocorridor bulk density under forest vegetation cover was lower, indicating progressive soil restoration. Slightly lower soil reactions in biocorridor soils disproved the hypothesis that nutrient-rich soils under biocorridors would form substrates with a high base cation content, leading to soil acidification. Biological activity, expressed through respiration coefficients, was generally low due to unfavourable physical conditions (clayey or silty-clay substrates), with the lowest levels in biocorridors. Nevertheless, biocorridor soil microbiota displayed more effective utilisation of organic matter as a carbon and nitrogen source, with lighter-textured soils tending to show more effective organic matter utilisation after excluding the influence of land use. Our results confirm biocorridors as an important landscape component, contributing to both soil stability and local revitalisation of soil environments and further emphasising their potential as climate-change mitigation tools in their role as carbon sinks.

The development of renewable energy in agricultural landscapes has led to new debates about siting solar, wind, and other energy projects. Concerns for protecting food production and prime agricultural soils are often leading points of resistance to renewable energy projects. This resistance has grown, even as the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels has increased. The economic stakes are high, particularly for farmers seeking to diversify and stabilize farm income with renewables, but few studies have examined the likely magnitude of effects, either on food production or on farm incomes, implied by expanding renewables. How extensively are hosting communities likely to be impacted, and what do farmers stand to gain, or lose, in these debates? Focusing on a portion of New York State (NYS), with its aggressive solar development goals, we evaluated the effects of state solar targets on farmland and the economic potential for farmers leasing land. In comparison to current income from leading crops, land leasing alone would imply an increase of $42 million per year in local revenue, while affecting less than 12 percent of non-food producing, non-prime soils within the study area. The areal impacts are larger in our imaginations than in the real landscapes, and the debate has far-reaching implications for policy beyond farming areas.

Agroforestry has been recognized as an effective circa citum conservation strategy in Ethiopia. Despite progress in the recent past, there has been very little research characterizing the management strategies of farmers for agroforestry practices (AFP) and quantifying their contribution to biodiversity conservation. We (i) characterized the management strategies of farmers for agroforestry practices and (ii) assessed the floristic composition, diversity, and structure of woody species in agroforestry practices in Northwestern Ethiopia. We interviewed farm owners to gather information on the management strategies of agroforestry practices. We also collected biophysical data using quadrats established in 126 fields selected from homegardens (HG), coffee-based (CS), and Rhamnus prinoides (Locally Gesho)-based practices. A total of 83 trees and shrubs (76 % native and 24 % non-native) from 40 families and 47 genera recorded in the study area. The results indicate that AFPs represent diverse vertical and horizontal management strategies, and plant functions, which vary among AFPs and wealth status. The results suggest the potential of agroforestry practices for supporting livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. Farmers' management practices and strategies affect the species diversity of AFPs. The mean height (m), basal area (m2 ha−1), and diameter at breast height (cm) varied among AFPs. The average stem density ha−1 as well as species richness per farm significantly varied among AFPs and wealth status. Richness, Shannon, and Simpson's diversity varied among HGs in the study sites. In the Lay Armachiho district, species richness, Shannon, and Simpson's diversity significantly varied (P

Floral resources are crucial for wild pollinators. Identifying the spatio-temporal floral resource use of wild pollinators and effects of resource distribution on their development might help to promote them and their pollination services to crops in agricultural landscapes.We established populations of Osmia cornuta and Osmia bicornis, two solitary wild bees, in 24 agricultural landscapes with varying floral resource availability. Based on their pollen use, we mapped the landscape-scale distribution of the visited plants, estimated pooled specific floral resource availabilities and measured its effects on reproductive output.Woody semi-natural habitats such as hedgerows provided the majority of pollen sources for both Osmia species. Pollen use differed strongly between the two species. The offspring of both Osmia increased with availability of pooled specific pollen resources. In accordance with their preferred pollen types, offspring of O. cornuta increased with increasing cover of trees and shrubs of the Rosaceae family, and that of O. bicornis with increasing cover of Papaver rhoeas, Ranunculus acris and Quercus spp. as well as with the proximity to oilseed rape. In spite of their specific responses to pollen resources, the offspring of both species decreased with the distance to forest. The floral resource availability did not significantly affect the proportion of adult females and the weight of the offspring. As forest does not appear to be a main foraging habitat for both species, the benefit of forest proximity indicates an additional role of forest in addition to food availability.Specific flowering plants and forests should thus be conserved and enhanced to maintain and support O. cornuta, O. bicornis and likely other wild bee populations in agricultural landscapes. The combined information of land cover and detailed floral resource availability gives a deeper understanding into population processes in agricultural landscapes.

Climate warming and land-use change are reshuffling the distribution of wild organisms on a global scale. Some species may expand their ranges and colonize new regions, which may greatly affect ecological interactions among pre-existing species and colonizers. In the last decades, such processes have originated a unique condition of sympatry among three Eurasian small Falco species (common kestrel F. tinnunculus, lesser kestrel F. naumanni, red-footed falcon F. vespertinus) in the intensively cultivated farmland habitats of the Po Plain (Northern Italy). This provides an excellent opportunity to investigate patterns of spatial niche overlap during the initial phases of the establishment of sympatry. To investigate spatial niche overlap of the three falcon species, we relied on Environmental Niche Models (ENMs) based on widespread breeding occurrence data obtained through field surveys and citizen science programs (during the 2018–2020 period). ENMs were based on bioclimatic and land-use variables in an ensemble modelling framework. We estimated species-specific relative contributions of each climatic and land-use variable and its response curves effect. Eventually, we generated spatial correlation maps of the potential species’ distributions to derive spatially-explicit predictions of potential co-occurrence areas among the three species. Overall, eco-climatic determinants of the distribution of lesser kestrel and red-footed falcon were similar, resulting in a strong association with intensive arable lands and dry continental climate. Consistently, we found a high spatial correlation between the suitability maps of the two species, with highly suitable areas located in the Central-Eastern area of the Po Plain, corresponding to the core range of both species. Conversely, the common kestrel emerged as a habitat generalist and was widely distributed throughout the Po Plain. Our findings suggest that the recent sympatry between lesser kestrels and red-footed falcons in the Po Plain may promote ecological interactions and intra-guild competition.

The scarcity of agricultural ecosystem services (ESs) caused by land use changes has become increasingly prominent, and the negative effects of agricultural production on ecosystems have been a constant concern. In this work, the geographic information system mapping method, the agricultural product supply (AS) model and InVEST model were applied to assess the economic and ecological services of agricultural landscapes. The interlinkages among them in Xiangxi were explored, a mountainous area in central China. The major conclusions drawn were as follows.1) From 2000 to 2020, the economic services (ESs1) of agricultural landscapes in Xiangxi increased by 96.6667%, and those of grain yield per ha (X1), cash crop output value per ha (X2), forestry output value per ha (X3), meat production per capita in rural areas (X4), and fishery output per ha (X5) were 39.0405%, 510.8462%, 297.6807%, 64.5947%, and 194.0348%, respectively. The spatial distribution of X1, X2, X3, X4, and X5 changed considerably, and the major influencing factors were human elements. 2) Ecological services (ESs2) increased by 5.13%, and those of carbon storage (CS, X6), water conservation (WC, X7), and N content in water (X8) were 1.0897%, 13.5808%, and −0.7406%, respectively. The distribution of X6, X7, and X8 was nearly unchanged and primarily influenced by natural factors 3) The relationship between ESs1 and ESs2 was not ideal. The dominant relationships between AS and CS were trade-offs, those between AS and WC were synergies, and those between AS and water purification were trade-offs. 4) The following suggestions are proposed: promote afforestation and vegetation protection policies, implement the best agricultural policies, increase investment in water conservation projects, adjust agricultural scale, and control the usage of agricultural chemicals. For the surrounding areas of more developed regions, strict environmental measures and agricultural policies are necessary. The methods used in this study are novel and can provide methodological references for similar studies. Moreover, it may offer useful suggestions for agricultural resource management and contribute to ecological civilization construction.

Abstract Recent biodiversity declines require action across sectors such as agriculture. The situation is particularly acute for arthropods, a species‐rich taxon providing important ecosystem services. To counteract the negative consequences of agricultural intensification, creating a less hostile agricultural ‘matrix’ through growing crop mixtures can reduce harm for arthropods without yield losses. While grassland biodiversity experiments showed positive plant biodiversity effects on arthropods, experiments manipulating crop diversity and agrochemical input used to study arthropods are lacking. Here, we experimentally manipulated crop diversity (1–3 species, fallows), crop species (wheat, faba bean, linseed and oilseed rape) and agrochemical input (high vs. low) and studied responses of arthropod biodiversity. We tested whether arthropod responses were affected by crop diversity, mixtures and management. Additionally, we measured crop biomass. Crop biomass increased with crop diversity under high‐input management, while under low management intensity, biomass was highest in two‐species mixtures. Increasing crop diversity positively affected arthropod abundance and diversity, under both low‐ and high‐input management. Crop mixtures containing faba bean, linseed or oilseed rape had particularly high arthropod diversity. Mass‐flowering crops attracted more arthropods than legumes or cereals. Integrating intercropping into agricultural systems could increase flower visits by insects up to 1.5 million per hectare, thus likely also supporting pollination and pest‐control ecosystem services. Flower visitor network complexity increased in mixtures containing linseed and faba bean and under low‐input management. Intercropping can counteract insect declines in farmland by creating beneficial matrix habitat without compromising crop yield.

Many food crops depend on animal pollination to set fruit. In light of pollinator declines there is growing recognition of the need for agro-ecosystems that can sustain wild pollinator populations, ensuring fruit production and pollinator conservation into the future. One method of supporting resident wild pollinator populations within agricultural landscapes is to encourage and maintain floral diversity. However, pollinator visitation to crop plants can be affected either positively (facilitation) or negatively (competition) by the presence of co-flowering plants. The strength and direction of the facilitative/competitive relationship is driven by multiple factors, including floral abundance and the degree of overlap in pollinator visitation networks. We sought to determine how plant-pollinator networks, within and surrounding sweet cherry (Prunus avium) orchards, change across key time points during the cherry flowering season, in three growing regions in Australia. We found significant overlap in the suite of flower visitors, with seven taxa (including native bees, flies, hoverflies and introduced honey bees, Apis mellifera) observed visiting cherry and other co-flowering species within the orchard and/or the wider surrounding matrix. We found evidence of pollinator facilitation with significantly more total cherry flower visits with increasing percent cover of co-flowering plants within the wider landscape matrix and increased visitation to cherry by honey bees with increasing co-flowering plant richness within the orchard. During the cherry flowering period there was a significant positive relationship between pollinator richness on cherry and pollinator richness on co-flowering plants within the orchard and the area of native vegetation surrounding orchards. Outside of the crop flowering season, co-flowering plants within the orchard and wider landscape matrix supported the same pollinator taxa that were recorded visiting cherry when the crop was flowering. This shows wild plants help support the pollinators important to crop pollination, outside of the crop flowering season, highlighting the role of co-flowering plants within pollinator-dependent cropping systems.

At the experimental field of VNIIMZ (Tver region, village Emmauss) laid a series of 8 soil sections. The first three sections of the southern slope are confined to the transit-accumulative, transit and eluvial-transit microlandscape with a complex of gleevate and gleev soils, which changes to an eluvial-accumulative flat-topped section and similar microlandscapes of the northern slope with slightly bent and gleevate sod-podzolic light loamy soils. In samples taken every 10 cm, the particle size distribution of soils was determined by laser diffraction and sieve (>0.25 mm) methods. The differential distribution curves of soil particles are dominated by fractions of fine sand with a maximum content of diameters of 100–150 µm and silt (1–50 µm). Three granulometrically homogeneous layers are distinguished in the soil profile: the upper one with an arable horizon (0–40 cm), medium (up to 70–80 cm) and super-moraine (up to 120 cm). In the middle part of the soil profile of the northern slope, silty fractions prevail; and in the soils of the southern part of the landscape, a relatively high content of the sandy fraction is observed (the fraction of fine sand, 50–250 µm, dominates, and followed by the coarse silt fraction, 10–50 µm), which, apparently associated with the historical processes of profiles development on binary deposits, erosion, and, possibly, with modern agrotechnological processes.

Urbanization is a highly disperse process, resulting in urban sprawl across landscapes. Within such landscapes, structural heterogeneity may be an important factor for maintaining biodiversity. We investigated the importance of habitat heterogeneity on bats in villages across the Schwäbische Alb, Germany, a progressively urbanized region. Bat activity and diversity were assessed using acoustic monitoring. We characterized habitat composition at the local and neighborhood scale and assessed environmental characteristics of urban density, vegetation cover and architectural features, combining satellite and ground-based measures. Our results revealed that the extent of urban areas determines the occurrence of different bat species, while local spatial, structural, and architectonic parameters at recording sites affected bat activity, feeding activity and social encounters. Larger urban areas with increased proportion of impervious surfaces and newly constructed housing areas were associated with fewer bat species and lower bat activity. Bat activity and feeding were highest in housing areas constructed between 1950-2000 and increased with higher proportions of older, rather openly structured vegetation. Our results clearly show a combined importance of environmental parameters across spatial scales, affecting habitat suitability and quality of rural urban areas for bats. This highlights that strategies for biodiversity inclusion in rural urban planning need to consider both local and neighborhood conditions to support bat diversity and vital bat activity. In particular, it exemplifies future challenges to maintain biodiversity within progressively urbanized rural landscapes, as this needs support by municipalities for maintaining space for nature in areas designated for urban development and also the consciousness by local residents for biodiversity-friendly modernizations.

ViSA is a spatial agent-based model that simulates the decision behaviors of different stakeholders showing demands for ecosystem services in agricultural landscape. The lack of sufficient supply of ecosystem services triggers stakeholders to apply different management options to increase their supply. However, while attempting to reduce the supply–demand gap, conflicts arise among stakeholders due to the tradeoff nature of some ecosystem services. ViSA investigates conditions and scenarios that can minimize such supply–demand gap while reducing the risk of conflicts by suggesting different mixes of management options and decision rules.

Sustainable development of the entire biogeocoenosis area is considered a driving factor in ensuring agricultural land protection. The balance between the use of ecosystems, their anthropogenic transformation, and protection should be based on optimizing the use of the natural environment. Anthropogenic activity in agriculture is conducted within the boundaries of the formed landscapes that are subsequently transformed into agricultural landscapes. Agricultural landscapes, in turn, are not resistant to external and internal factors and, thus, need protection. More than 80% of agricultural land in Altai Krai subject to varying degrees of degradation need sustainable development. The nutrient inputs recommended by the regional agrochemical service have not been observed over the past 25 years of farming in rural areas. Moreover, there are no projects for organizing the plots of agricultural enterprises taking into account the landscape specifics. Unfortunately, there are no sufficient conditions for organizing organic land use. Adaptive landscape land management can serve as a basis for the protection of agricultural land and a viable mechanism for the sustainable development of agricultural land use. Based on the example of agricultural landscapes located in the arid steppes of Altai Krai, we revealed the trends of sustainable development of agricultural land use. At the first stage, we evaluated the agro-ecological role of the physical and geographical conditions of the territory and the state of agricultural landscapes. At the second stage, we carried out agro-ecological zoning of the research object. Finally, at the third stage, we proposed ways to optimize and protect agricultural land in the arid steppe.

Cross-habitat movements are crucial for persistence of beneficial insects in agricultural landscapes; however, much remains unknown on how landscape structure affects the spillover of beneficial insects between crop and non-crop habitats. To estimate the effects of landscape structure on the spillover of beneficial insects we sampled predatory wasps in pairs of forest remnants and adjacent coffee plantations along a gradient of landscape composition and configuration. We used dissimilarity indices to estimate wasp spillover and we assumed that high dissimilarity means less flow (and thus less spillover) between forest and coffee habitats. We collected a total of 9847 wasps classified into 75 species and 23 genera. Wasp dissimilarity between habitats decreased with increasing forest cover in the surrounding landscape and did not respond to landscape diversity, edge density or pesticide usage. Our findings suggest that wasps forage in coffee plantations but seem to rely on forest remnants to find unmanaged nesting sites and a constant supply of resources that are not available in the agricultural matrix, and are neither in landscapes with high compositional diversity or edge density. Therefore, forest conservation and restoration should be incorporated in agro-environmental schemes designed to improve the spillover of beneficial insects and provision of ecosystem services within coffee farmlands.

ABSTRACTMost of the peri-urban areas in European cities are characterized by a mix of rural and urban uses. Despite being sprawled areas, they provide opportunities for improving green connectivity at a multiscale level, between urban-green and natural or agricultural peripheral extensions. Several land monitoring services, both at national and European levels, have become key tools to perform the analysis and diagnosis of its transformation patterns and dynamics. However, the accuracy of available datasets is typically not adequate for approaching the spatial complexity of these areas. This research proposes a methodology to improve precision by combining land use datasets and applies it to a specific study case, the peri-urban Spanish Mediterranean Huertas, highly valued agricultural and cultural landscapes under an intense urban pressure. Findings reveal that this method detects and solves inaccuracies, and it is easily replicable in different spatial contexts, becoming an effective tool for decision-making processes.

Abstract Background The growing human population and the need for more food in the world have reduced forests and turned them into agricultural land. Many agricultural products are dependent on pollinating bees, so it is possible to increase crop production by increasing the population of bees in agricultural landscapes and preventing further deforestation. In agricultural landscapes, bees use forest patches as nesting habitats and, therefore, are highly dependent on these patches. Therefore, by creating new forest patches within agricultural fields, we can increase the pollination rate, and thus the crop production. In this regard, understanding the role of forest patches and their effects on bee populations is a key step in successfully implementing the patch creation strategy. To determine the effects of forest patches on bees and pollination services, we reviewed 93 articles examining the effects of forest patches on bees in agricultural landscapes. We divided these effects into three categories based on the sampling method: (1) distance-dependent, (2) amount, and (3) structural effects. Methods We searched for published studies related to the effects of the forest patches on bees in agricultural landscapes using the ISI Web of Science. We conducted our search from May 1991 to May 2021 using the following search string keywords: forest fragment, forest patch, forest fragmentation, pollination, and bee. Results Approximately, 79% of studies showed that by increasing the distance (up to 2 km) from forest patches, regardless of the type of species, the type of agricultural product around the patches, the size and number of patches, the bees’ diversity and abundance decrease. Approximately, 76% of the studies showed that the presence of forest cover within a radius of 2 km from the target sites has a positive effect on bee populations. Our data also show that larger forest patches maintain a larger population of bees than smaller ones. Conclusion It was not clear what percentage of a landscape should be covered by forest or how much habitat was sufficient to maintain a viable population of bees. Therefore, we suggest future studies to find the thresholds of forest amounts below which the bee population is rapidly declining.

Abstract The homogenization of agricultural landscapes has led to a decrease in pollinator diversity and abundance. In response to this decline, farmers have implemented agroecological measures, which, in meadows, aim at providing more floral resources. These measures are the availability of unmown floral strips, delayed mowing, and discouraging the use of the conditioner, a device known to harm insects. The aim of our study was to investigate the cascade of effects of these agroecological measures on honey bee colony development and winter survival. We (1) determined the effect of these measures on colony size during the nectar and pollen collecting season in spring and summer, (2) evaluated the effect of spring and summer colony sizes on autumn size, and (3) described the effect of colony size in autumn on winter mortality. In this study, 300 honey bee colonies were monitored over three years in three cantons of Switzerland. Colony size was defined by the numbers of brood cells and of adult workers. Honey bee colony size in summer and autumn was improved by agroecological measures on meadows and likely contributed to the increased overwintering success. This study is a first step toward the targeted identification of viable agroecological measures on temporary meadows that can be implemented to promote honey bee colonies health in the agricultural landscape.

Climate change and land use change pose a threat to the world's biodiversity and have significant impacts on the geographic distribution and composition of many bird species, but little is known about how they affect threatened large-sized waterbird species that rely on agricultural landscapes. To address this gap, we investigated how climate and land use changes influence the distribution and nesting habitats of the globally vulnerable Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus) in Nepal. Between 2012 and 2023, we collected distribution data from 24 districts and nesting site information from 18 districts. In a nation-wide breeding survey conducted in 2020, we documented a total of 581 fledglings from 346 nests in 109 colonies. The ensemble model predicted a current potential distribution of 15% (21,637 ​km2) and a potential nesting habitat of 13% (19,651 ​km2) for the species in Nepal. The highest predicted current suitable distribution and nesting habitat was in Madhesh Province, while none was predicted in Karnali Province. The majority of this predicted distributional and nesting habitat falls on agricultural landscapes (>70%). Our model showed a likely range expansion of up to 15% (21,573 ​km2) for the distribution and up to 12% (17,482 ​km2) for the nesting habitat under SSP5–8.5 scenarios for the 2070s. The range expansion is expected to occur mainly within the current distribution and breeding range (Tarai and some regions of Siwalk), particularly in Lumbini and Sudurpashchim provinces, and extend to the northern portions (Siwalik and Mid-hill regions) in other provinces. However, the current Protected Areas and Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas are inadequate for providing optimal habitats for the species. Although the model suggests range expansion, the use of such novel habitats is primarily contingent on the availability and protection of large-sized trees (particularly Bombax ceiba, observed in 65% of colonies) in agricultural regions where nesting occurs. Therefore, our research suggests that agricultural landscapes should be prioritized in management plans for the conservation of the Lesser Adjutant in Nepal.

Analysis of long-term data on the state of populations of entomofauna in agricultural landscapes is of practical importance for determining the feasibility of chemical protection of agroecosystems. Through the example of species of a harmful entomological complex of winter wheat in different natural and climatic zones of Ukraine, the dynamics of the population size of insects under global warming and the indicator of the living planet index (LPI) have been studied. Indicators of long-term insect’s population size were used as input data based on the results of state phytosanitary monitoring. According to the analysed data on the state of indicator populations during 2009-2017, the indicators of the population size and weighted LPI were constantly decreasing. The correlation between the size of an insect’s population and the course of natural warming does not make it possible to unambiguously explain the state of populations by the effect of an increased amount of heat.

Abstract Although many plants are dispersed by wind and seeds can travel long distances across unsuitable matrix areas, a large proportion relies on co‐evolved zoochorous seed dispersal to connect populations in isolated habitat islands. Particularly in agricultural landscapes, where remaining habitat patches are often very small and highly isolated, mobile linkers as zoochorous seed dispersers are critical for the population dynamics of numerous plant species. However, knowledge about the quali‐ or quantification of such mobile link processes, especially in agricultural landscapes, is still limited. In a controlled feeding experiment, we recorded the seed intake and germination success after complete digestion by the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and explored its mobile link potential as an endozoochoric seed disperser. Utilizing a suite of common, rare, and potentially invasive plant species, we disentangled the effects of seed morphological traits on germination success while controlling for phylogenetic relatedness. Further, we measured the landscape connectivity via hares in two contrasting agricultural landscapes (simple: few natural and semi‐natural structures, large fields; complex: high amount of natural and semi‐natural structures, small fields) using GPS‐based movement data. With 34,710 seeds of 44 plant species fed, one of 200 seeds (0.51%) with seedlings of 33 species germinated from feces. Germination after complete digestion was positively related to denser seeds with comparatively small surface area and a relatively slender and elongated shape, suggesting that, for hares, the most critical seed characteristics for successful endozoochorous seed dispersal minimize exposure of the seed to the stomach and the associated digestive system. Furthermore, we could show that a hare's retention time is long enough to interconnect different habitats, especially grasslands and fields. Thus, besides other seed dispersal mechanisms, this most likely allows hares to act as effective mobile linkers contributing to ecosystem stability in times of agricultural intensification, not only in complex but also in simple landscapes.

The objective was to monitor the biological indicators to assess the ecological sustainability of gray forest soil, due to the different level of agrotechnical burden on agricultural landscapes. During 10 years of research (2011-2020) the number of bacteria using various forms of nitrogen was continuously decreasing on the background of mineral intensification. The total average pool of active microflora on organomineral and mineral backgrounds in moulboard plowing was 20.1 and 16.1 million CFU g-1 of soil, respectively, during the period of observations. In non-moldboard plowing, the same average pool was 18.8 and 15.9 million CFU g-1. The minimum pool was maintained on a high-intensity mineral background in moldboard plowing, amounting to 14.5 million CFU g-1 of soil. The decrease in the total bacterial number in the soil of mineral backgrounds indicates a deterioration in their ecological stability. The calculated ecological and trophic indices indicate less ecologically stable low-intensity mineral background in moldboard plowing. This variant showed relatively low values of humus accumulation coefficients (Ch = 0.39) and transformation of organic residues into soil organic matter (Ct = 5.4) established at the highest mineralization coefficient (Cm = 1.57). In this soil, mineralization of organic matter prevails, which reduces its fertility and environmental sustainability. On this background, the activity of the studied enzymes was lower than in other variants and in the soil deposits. A set of micromycetes has shown to grow on mineral intensification backgrounds, especially on a high-intensity mineral background, where moldboard plowing was used as the main treatment. The lowest phytotoxicity was noted on a high-intensity organic-mineral intensification background –21.4%. Both microbiological and biochemical parameters represents an informative diagnostic feature of the ecological state of agrolandscapes. They ensure an objective assessment of the efficiency and degree of agrotechnical burden, predicting a decrease in environmental sustainability on mineral intensification backgrounds.

In this study, we assess the supply of five ecosystem services (ES, i.e. biodiversity provision, carbon sequestration, erosion control, water availability and yield) in an agricultural landscape in Northeast Germany as perceived by different stakeholders with a web-based questionnaire. We complement this participatory approach with a biophysical assessment of the same ES in the same study area using spatially explicit, indicator-based methods. A research gap exists in the combination of participatory and biophysical ES assessment methods within one study area. We derive spots of low supply of multiple ES (cold spots of ES supply) from the areas identified by the mapping and the biophysical assessment, and in collaboration with stakeholders of the region during an online workshop. Our interest is to (i) identify the advantages of comparing and combining biophysical with participatory methods to assess ES and to (ii) identify interfaces where combining both approaches can help to integrate ES assessment in landscape planning, management and design. Our goal is to establish an assessment basis that allows for a spatially explicit representation of trade-offs and synergies of ES by displaying multiple ES in one case study area, capable of integrating different resolutions. By comparing participatory and biophysical assessments, we identify ecological and social benefits of the landscape, and emphasize the social-ecological interface by limiting the scope of the biophysical assessment to the area of interest by the stakeholders. Besides, areas in which participants over- or underestimate the current ES supply are spotted by quantifying the gap between actual and perceived supply. The results reveal several similarities in the observations derived from both assessments. However, water availability is widely underestimated, whereas biodiversity and carbon sequestration are slightly overestimated. Based on our results, we conclude that in many cases, stakeholders who are familiar with the landscape because they live there or have a professional relation to it have a profound understanding of the ongoing ecosystem processes. The decision whether to use participatory, biophysical or both assessment techniques should be made according to the use case: from a governance perspective, participatory data can be easier to communicate and more easily accessible. We encourage the perspective that there are cases in which the low-threshold participatory data provide sufficiently reliable information to make informed decisions on ES management, particularly when biophysical assessment studies are too resource- and cost-intensive.

Abstract Nets are used across a wide variety of food production landscapes to control avian pests typically resulting in deaths of entangled birds. However, the impact of nets on bird populations is a human–wildlife conflict that remains mostly unquantified. Here, we examined the scale of netting in the central plains of Thailand, a region dominated by ricefields, among which aquaculture ponds are increasingly interspersed. Nets/exclusion types, number of individual birds and species caught were recorded on 1312 road‐survey transects (2‐km length × 0.4‐km width). We also interviewed 104 local farmers. The transect sampling took place in late‐September 2020, and from December 2020 to April 2021. Each survey transect was visited only once. We found 1881 nets and barriers of parallel cords on 196 (15%) of the transects. Counts of nets and barriers were ~13 times higher than expected in aquaculture ponds based on their areal proportion, and vertical nets were the most commonly observed type (n = 1299). We documented 735 individuals of at least 45 bird species caught in the nets and parallel cords, including many species not regarded as pests. Approximately 20% of individuals caught in ricefields and 95% at aquaculture ponds were non‐target bycatch. Our interviews suggested that 55% of respondents thought nets were ineffective while only 6% thought they were effective. We suggest imposing a ban on netting, considering other mitigation strategies to reduce conflicts such as promoting the use of parallel cords, and prioritizing conservation actions with community participation. Further studies should investigate the efficacy of less deleterious deterrents.

Abstract In many parts of the world, livestock production and biodiversity conservation are important land uses of native grasslands in agricultural landscapes. Approaches to managing grasslands typically differ between production farms and conservation areas as they have different goals. Such differences may have consequent effects on the spatial and temporal habitat suitability for grassland fauna. In semi‐arid grasslands of south‐eastern Australia, the critically endangered Plains‐wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) is a grassland habitat‐specialist bird that can occur on land managed for livestock production and conservation, but it is unclear if, and when, habitat suitability is affected in each land‐use type. Here, we investigate how land‐use type (livestock production, conservation) and rainfall (preceding accumulated rainfall) affect habitat suitability for the Plains‐wanderer using 11 years of bird occurrence and remotely sensed habitat structure data. We found habitat suitability for the Plains‐wanderer was driven by an interaction between land use and rainfall, with conservation areas supporting larger areas of preferred habitat structure during dry periods but less during wet periods. By contrast, Plains‐wanderers were more likely to occur on livestock production farms during wet periods. We speculate this is because higher grazing pressure on livestock production farms was able to limit biomass accumulation and, hence, maintain more areas of preferred habitat structure. Our findings show that land used for livestock production can complement conservation areas by providing preferred habitat for the Plains‐wanderer during climatic periods that promote grass growth. Furthermore, we highlight that land use and climate are important temporal drivers of grassland dynamics, and approaches to biodiversity conservation should consider how patterns of habitat suitability may shift across landscapes over time. Strategic, landscape‐scale planning and effective agri‐environmental initiatives will be critical to the future of grassland birds such as the Plains‐wanderer.

Although the Landsat 30 m Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) products are important input variables in land surface models, recurring Landsat 5/7 EVI time series over cloud-prone, fragmented, and mosaic agricultural landscapes is still a great challenge. In this study, we put forward a simple, but effective “Light and Temperature-Driven Growth model and Double Logistic function fusion algorithm” (LTDG_DL). The empirical basis of the LTDG_DL algorithm was traced from the de Wit crop growth simulation model and the commonly observed nonlinear correlation between the EVI and the Leaf Area Index (LAI). It assimilates the ground daily solar radiation and air temperature to generate seasonal profiles of the empirical LAI and EVI and conducts the within-season calibration of the empirical EVI by adjusting crop growth using cloud-free Landsat EVI observations. The initial date of seedling emergence (DOYini) and the accumulated Growing Degree Days for completion of the vegetative and Flowering stage (FGDDs) were variables to which the algorithm’s accuracy was most sensitive. The variable-constrained optimization of the LTDG_DL algorithm was performed by loading the seedling emergence calendar of local prevailing crops and establishing an FGDD lookup table with an exhaustive sampling without replication method. Compared to temporal interpolation functions and Landsat–MODIS spatiotemporal fusion algorithms, the LTDG_DL algorithm had superior performance in the predictions of the EVI increment slope at the vegetative growth stage, the timing of the peak EVI, and the protection of key Landsat EVI observations over cloud-contaminated and complex landscape agricultural systems. Finally, the advantages and limitations of the LTDG_DL algorithm are discussed.

Amidst urbanization and industrialization in China, abandoned farmland plays a crucial role in safeguarding plant diversity within agricultural landscapes. This study aimed to examine the patterns of seasonal variation in plant diversity within abandoned farmland habitats in the Huang–Huai Plain region. Nonparametric tests were employed to analyze plant species diversity and phylogenetic diversity across seasons. Redundancy analysis and linear regression were conducted to examine the associations between plant species composition, species diversity, phylogenetic diversity, and soil environmental factors. Our results showed that plant species diversity, richness, and phylogenetic diversity were highest in spring, followed by summer, and lowest in autumn. The phylogenetic structure of plant communities demonstrated a tendency to diverge in spring, become random in summer, and cluster in autumn. Soil available potassium and soil organic matter emerged as important factors influencing plant species composition. The content of soil organic matter and ammonium nitrogen level exhibited a significantly positive correlation with the species diversity and phylogenetic diversity of plants. This study underscores the significance of considering seasonal and temporal scales when investigating plant diversity and provides a theoretical basis for biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes.

Abstract Background The biodiversity of farmland habitats is witnessing unprecedented change, mostly in declines and simplification of assemblages that were established during centuries of the use of traditional agricultural techniques. In Central Europe, conspicuous changes are evident in populations of common farmland birds, in strong contrast to forest birds in the same region. However, there is a lack of information on longitudinal changes in trematodes that are associated with common farmland birds, despite the fact that diversity of trematodes is directly linked to the preservation of long-established food webs and habitat use adaptations of their hosts. Methods We analyzed the population trends of trematodes for the period 1963–2020 in six bird species that use Central European farmlands as their predominant feeding habitats. Namely, we examined Falco tinnunculus, Vanellus vanellus, winter populations of Buteo buteo, Ciconia ciconia, extravilan population of Pica pica, and Asio otus, all originating from the Czech Republic. Results We observed dramatic population losses of all trematode species in C. ciconia and V. vanellus; the changes were less prominent in the other examined hosts. Importantly, the declines in prevalence and intensity of infection affected all previously dominant species. These included Tylodelphys excavata and Chaunocephalus ferox in C. ciconia, Lyperosomum petiolatum in P. pica, Strigea strigis in A. otus, Neodiplostomum attenuatum and Strigea falconis in B. buteo (χ 2 test P

Abstract The use of pre‐harvest fire in sugarcane fields surprisingly results in an increase in the abundance of Neotropical Sigmodontinae rodents, which might carry hantavirus. By contrast, fire suspension induces a decline in rodents in the first 5 years. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of sugarcane harvest regimes on hantavirus prevalence in wild rodents. Field collections were carried out on a sugarcane production area in Northeast São Paulo, which is responsible for 30% of the ethanol production in Brazil. A few years after pre‐harvest fire suspension, a high prevalence of hantavirus was found in small rodents at lower population density, but apparently higher population growth rate. Differences in life cycle between the rodents and their predators may explain such density patterns, as small rodents can breed twice or even three times each year, whereas their predators usually breed only once a year. Similarly, the temporal dynamics of the predator–prey relationship suggests that hantavirus prevalence is related to small rodent's population growth and not density. Only Akodon montensis, Calomys tener, and Necromys lasiurus contained immunoglobulin G antibodies against the recombinant nucleoprotein of Araraquara orthohantavirus, a genotype of Andes orthohantavirus, with no interspecific variation in seroprevalence among these species. However, males presented higher prevalence rate than females, possibly due to a male‐biased dispersal pattern and a higher frequency of antagonistic interactions. Governance measures to mitigate the role of small wild rodents on the emergence of hantavirus in agricultural landscapes dominated by sugarcane plantations should include the use of wildlife‐friendly management techniques (e.g., to mitigate the mortality of the predators of small rodents), human capacity building concerning wildlife‐related conflicts, and multifunctionality of agricultural landscapes. Future studies should prioritize the possible relationship between microhabitat structure and hantavirus prevalence in small rodents in agricultural landscapes dominated by sugarcane fields.

Recent studies have characterized the influence of agroecosystems on biodiversity. However, a set of components associated with the management of these areas is still neglected in landscape-level studies, especially in areas of recent agricultural intensification. The resources and conditions provided by agroecosystems to different species are highly variable in space and time, and failing to account for this variation may lead to misleading conclusions about the biodiversity status in these environments. In this perspective, we provide a conceptual overview to highlight why and which landscape components still need to be better explored to provide an adequate assessment of the agroecosystem effects on biodiversity. We used a Brazilian heterogeneous intensive-farming landscape as an example to outline the components that we believe are important for understanding biodiversity patterns in such landscapes. An in-depth description of agroecosystems can help us create better landscape-level management strategies and to design more effective green-way policies.

Stone walls are ubiquitous field boundaries used to restrict livestock movement or to separate property. Bryophytes and lichens are often the dominant vegetation in dry stone walls and are strongly affected by local microhabitat characteristics. Bryophytes and lichens related metrics can be used to define habitat quality of stone walls.The current study assessed how richness and cover of bryophytes and macrolichens in dry stone walls related to each other and how different environmental variables and farm management descriptors determined richness and cover of both groups in dry stone walls. Bryophytes and macrolichens were sampled in stone walls on sixteen farms across a management intensity gradient in Ireland.Bryophyte cover correlated positively and significantly with bryophyte richness and macrolichen cover and richness, and can thus be used to assess stone walls quality. Farm management intensity emerged as the variable most strongly related with species richness of bryophytes and cover of both groups. Altitude also emerged as a strong predictor of both groups’ richness and cover. This study provides a novel perspective on stone wall habitat quality and results indicate that by promoting extensive farming it is possible to increase stone walls quality.

The way of transformation of old-age natural grasslands of the southern Steppe into anthropogenic agricultural landscapes is shown, which led to a significant change in the structure of land use in Ukraine. Due to a significant decrease in the acreage of forage crops in recent years, there has been an increase in the acreage of corn, sunflower, soybean and winter rape, that is, cereals and industrial crops that are in demand on the world market. Prerequisites that did not contribute to the intensive development of agriculture in the southern part of the Steppe zone at the end of the XX and early XXI centuries are associated with extremely high plowing of existing agricultural landscapes and their degradation. The return to no science-based farming systems, while reducing the area of natural steppe landscapes, has led to the creation of an unstable state of agricultural lands. This is also due to the negative impact of regional climate change. The systematic expansion of arable land was the beginning of a significant anthropogenic impact on existing agricultural landscapes. Therefore, the prerequisites created over the past two centuries for the intensive development of crop production, horticulture and viniculture have led to the formation of anthropogenic agricultural landscapes. The main direction of scientific and economic activity of agricultural enterprises in the southern region should be to optimize the structure of sown areas with optimal participation of perennial grasses. This will help to strengthen the feed base for livestock, reduce the mineralization of humus in the soils and improve their physical and physic-chemical properties, first of all, a significant increase in the content of carbon and mineral and easily hydrolyzable nitrogen compounds and increase crop yields. Weather and climatic conditions of the Steppe zone indicate a significant instability of natural humidification and the growth of evaporation and lack of moisture supply, especially in mid-dry and dry on precipitation years. Therefore, the development and implementation of landscape and ecological farming systems in the southern region will contribute to ensuring food security in Ukraine.

Earthworms contribute to the sustainability of food webs in the semi-natural grasslands of levees at paddy margins, which are typical components of satoyama, the traditional agricultural landscapes of Japan. Thus far, few studies have focused on earthworm fauna of paddy levees in satoyama. In this study, we investigated earthworm fauna and regional and monthly changes in earthworm density. We found at least 11 species of earthworms living within levees on Sado Island, central Japan. Two endogeic species, Amynthas corticis (Megascolecidae) and Eisenia japonica (Lumbricidae), were dominant in terms of number of adult individuals; these two species appeared in all study regions. We also estimated an average of ~57.4 individuals/m2 for all stages of earthworms in levees, suggesting that rice paddy levees have relatively-high earthworm density. However, such tendencies differed depending on the region. In addition, monthly changes in density were observed in the topsoil of the levees. Our results imply that differences in earthworm assemblages amongst regions and months may influence the availability of food resources for various animals inhabiting satoyama.

The article provides information on the importance of spiders in agricultural landscape from several points of view. We describe the role of spiders in maintaining the biological stability of ecosystems and their practical significance for humans in terms of the predation of crop pests or their bioindicative significance. We point out the importance of different types of agricultural landscapes and landscape elements contained in it for the preservation of araneofauna biodiversity.

Abstract Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity levels can be used as an indicator for AChE inhibition due to pesticide poisoning in bird species. We assessed the comparative brain cholinesterase (AChE) activity level of five bird species inhabiting pesticide exposed croplands and Protected Area i.e. Deva Vatala National Park (DVNP), Bhimber by using a spectrophotometric method. AChE activity levels ranged from 56.3 to 85.9 µmol/min/g of brain tissue of birds representing DVNP. However, AChE activity levels ranged from 27.6 to 79.9 µmol/min/g of brain tissue of birds representing croplands. AChE activity levels observed in Jungle babbler, Common babbler, and Red-vented bulbul showed significant differences (P < 0.05) at two sites. However, White wagtail and Black drongo demonstrated non-significant differences (P > 0.05). Maximum inhibition was recorded in Jungle babbler (53%) followed by Common babbler (35%), Red-vented bulbul (18%), White wagtail (15%), and Black drongo (7%). The brain cholinesterase inhibition levels under-protected ecosystems (DVNP, Bhimber) and agricultural landscape suggest insecticidal contamination and its impact on avifauna diversity. The study also emphasizes on the importance of pesticide-free zones to protect the biodiversity of birds.

Abstract Organic farming is seen as a prototype of ecological intensification potentially able to conciliate crop productivity and biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. However, how natural enemies, an important functional group supporting pest control services, respond to organic farming at different scales and in different landscape contexts remain unclear. Using a hierarchical design within a vineyard‐dominated region located in southwestern France, we examine the independent effects of organic farming and semi‐natural habitats at the local and landscape scales on natural enemies. We show that the proportion of organic farming is a stronger driver of species abundance than the proportion of semi‐natural habitats and is an important facet of landscape heterogeneity shaping natural enemy assemblages. Although our study highlights a strong taxonomic group‐dependency about the effect of organic farming, organic farming benefits to dominant species while rare species occur at the same frequency in the two farming systems. Independently of farming systems, enhancing field age, reducing crop productivity, soil tillage intensity, and pesticide use are key management options to increase natural enemy biodiversity. Our study indicates that policies promoting the expansion of organic farming will benefit more to ecological intensification strategies seeking to enhance ecosystem services than to biodiversity conservation.

The anthropogenic activity creates a significant negative impact on the steppe biome of the Earth. Eurasian steppe is one of the most altered by human economic activity, particularly in Russia. These changes are especially vividly manifested in the Russian Plain, the old-developed territory of Russia. The most substantial damage on steppe landscapes of the Russian Plain was caused by the extensive agricultural use of natural grasslands, especially in the second half of the 20th century. The overwhelming majority of natural steppe landscapes are replaced here by agricultural landscapes which threaten the preservation of the unique soil, biological and landscape diversity of steppes. The main goal of the article is to analyze the current geoecological situation in the steppe zone of the Russian Plain from the regional aspect: by the example of its south-eastern part attributed to the Volgograd region. The described territory is characterized by the extraordinary landscape diversity and located within forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert natural zones. The article deals with the analysis of the current agricultural structure in the south-east of the Russian Plain within Volgograd Region, of major geoecological consequences of economic activity typical of different types of agricultural lands, and also of pressing problems related to the preservation of the landscape, and of the biodiversity of steppe landscape. The results of this research are necessary to make decisions aimed at optimizing agriculture, at raising the quality of steppe landscape preservation, and at organizing ecologically-conscious recreational activity to preserve the unique variety of steppe landscapes.