Selecting appropriate plant indicator species for Result-Based Agri-Environment Payments schemes

Ruas, Sara; Rotchés‐Ribalta, Roser; hUallacháin, Daire Ó; Ahmed, Karzan D.; Gormally, Michael J.; White, Blánaid; Moran, James

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107679

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Scorecards rarely account for area or landscape-scale features despite their importance to the distribution of species such as birds, carabidae and lepidoptera (Jeanneret et al, 2003;Merckx et al, 2009;Peach et al, 2001). This is in part due to the requirement for the indicators used in results-based AES to be within the control or in uence of landowners (Ruas et al, 2021). However, assigning a single condition score over large, heterogenous landscapes such as an upland heath becomes a di cult task.…”

Section: Recommendations For Developing Scorecards Outside Of Results...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Gorman,

Kindermann,

Healy

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Ecological monitoring is a vital tool to help us assess habitat condition and understand the mechanism(s) for habitat change. Yet many countries struggle to meet their monitoring requirements in part due to the high assessment workload. Rapid ecological assessment methods may have an important role to play in this regard. Following their success within several European habitats (e.g., semi-natural grasslands), they are now being developed for additional habitats such as heathlands, peatlands, and other agri-associated areas. Whilst some rapid assessments using ecological scorecards have been shown to be accurate compared to traditional ecological monitoring, less is known about the functionality of these scorecards in heterogenous landscapes. In this study, we selected four existing scorecards to test alongside a prototype. We assessed how these different scorecards measured habitat condition on the same heathland sites. We found that the choice of metrics, their score weighting, and the thresholds used for categorical scores cause scorecards to assess the same site with substantial variation (37%). Vegetation metrics were the primary cause of score variation, with vegetation structure and positive indicator species being the leading causes. Our study indicates that while current scorecards may be representative of project-specific goals, they may not be suitable for wider monitoring uses in their current form. Ecological scorecards have great potential to drastically increase the extent of monitoring, but caution is needed before adapting existing scorecards beyond the purposes from which they were designed.

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Section: Recommendations For Developing Scorecards Outside Of Results...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Gorman,

Kindermann,

Healy

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Scorecards rarely account for area or landscape-scale features despite their importance to the distribution of species such as birds, carabidae and lepidoptera (Jeanneret et al, 2003;Merckx et al, 2009;Peach et al, 2001). This is because it is a requirement for the indicators used in results-based AES to be within the control or in uence of landowners (Ruas et al, 2021). However, assigning a single condition score over large, heterogenous landscapes such as an upland heath becomes a di cult task.…”

Section: For Developing Scorecards Outside Of Results-based Aesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use: An Irish Case Study

Gorman

Morley

Kindermann

2022

Preprint

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Ecological monitoring is a vital tool to help us assess habitat condition and understand the mechanism(s) for habitat change. Yet many countries struggle to meet their monitoring requirements in part due to the high assessment workload. Rapid ecological assessment methods may have an important role to play in this regard. Following their success on semi-natural grasslands, they are now being developed for multiple agri-associated habitats such as heathlands and peatlands. Whilst grassland scorecards have shown to be accurate compared to traditional ecological monitoring, less is known about the functionality of these scorecards in heterogenous landscapes. In this study, we selected four existing scorecards to test alongside a prototype. We assessed how these different scorecards measured habitat condition on the same heathland sites. We found that the choice of metrics, their score weighting, and the thresholds used for categorical scores cause scorecards to assess the same site with substantial variation (37%). Vegetation metrics were the primary cause of score variation, with vegetation structure and positive indicator species being the leading causes. Our study indicates that while current scorecards may be representative of project specific goals, they may not be suitable for wider monitoring uses in their current form. Ecological scorecards have great potential to drastically increase the extent of monitoring, but caution is needed before adapting existing scorecards beyond the purposes from which they were designed.

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“…The higher flexibility and the link to actual effects on biodiversity can lead to a higher level of engagement and better cost efficiency [87,88]. However, this puts high demands on good and practically feasible indicators that can be linked to environmental effects [89,90]. Studies of farmers' attitudes toward such reforms have been performed, for example, in Finland, Ireland, and Germany, where the expectations seem to be mixed but often cautiously optimistic [91][92][93][94].…”

Section: Cost-effectiveness Of Policy Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Grazing by Cattle and Sheep for Semi-Natural Grasslands in Sweden

Glimskär,

Hultgren,

Hiron

et al. 2023

Agronomy

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Despite their importance for biodiversity and other ecosystem services, many semi-natural grasslands deteriorate or have even disappeared due to insufficient grazing and neglect. Preservation of grassland habitats depends on a good understanding of sustainable grazing management as well as effective agricultural policy measures that ensure long-term economic sustainability for the farmer. Through meta-evaluation and synthesis of previous investigations and discussion of scientific literature, we aimed to evaluate factors that determine the extent to which cattle and sheep in Sweden graze semi-natural grasslands instead of more productive land and what this means for biodiversity and sustainability. We also aimed to propose which practises and policy measures may be the most cost-effective to promote habitat quality and the sustainable use of grasslands. Results from a nationwide survey of Swedish farmers’ attitudes towards agri-environmental payment schemes are discussed in relation to farm characteristics and other factors influencing the use of cattle and sheep for sustainable grazing. This study supports recommendations by environmental economists that payments should be targeted more strongly at the most valuable grasslands, emphasising the need for a more detailed and nuanced framework for classifying grasslands in Europe. A comparison with independent estimates of the area of agricultural land from nation-wide, sample-based monitoring shows that the data from official statistics normally used for nationwide evaluations are partly biased and of insufficient quality, underscoring the need for more sophisticated and precise methods for monitoring both overall trends and detailed environmental effects related to the preservation of semi-natural grasslands.

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Selecting appropriate plant indicator species for Result-Based Agri-Environment Payments schemes

Cited by 15 publications

References 73 publications

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use: An Irish Case Study

Sustainable Grazing by Cattle and Sheep for Semi-Natural Grasslands in Sweden

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