The ecological status of grasslands on lowland farmlands in western Ireland and implications for grassland classification and nature value assessment

Sullivan, Caroline; Skeffington, Micheline Sheehy; Gormally, Michael J.; Finn, John A.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.03.035

Cited by 64 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Fourteen percent (14%) of EU-27 territory is covered by permanent grassland (European Union 2010) and particularly semi-natural and extensively used grasslands play an important role as habitats with a high conservation value (Critchley et al 2003;Öster et al 2008;Sullivan et al 2010). In areas where an intensification of agricultural land use is implemented, there is an increasing pressure on grassland ecosystems through conversion of grassland into arable land.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of grassland use intensity by remote sensing to support conservation schemes

Franke

Keuck

Siegert

2012

Journal for Nature Conservation

112

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of grassland use intensity by remote sensing to support conservation schemes

Franke

Keuck

Siegert

2012

Journal for Nature Conservation

112

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“…Traditional and other extensive types of agricultural land use can maintain the biodiversity of grassland landscapes. Especially semi-natural, extensively used grasslands play an important role as habitats with a high conservation value (Öster et al 2008;Sullivan et al 2010). Intensification or abandonment of these grassland managements on the other hand can cause biodiversity loss (Henle et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of grassland use intensities based on high spatial resolution LAI time series

Asam

Klein

Dech

2015

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:The identification and surveillance of agricultural management and the measurement of biophysical canopy parameters in grasslands is relevant for environmental protection as well as for political and economic reasons, as proper grassland management is partly subsidized. An ideal monitoring tool is remote sensing due to its area wide continuous observations. However, due to small-scaled land use patterns in many parts of central Europe, a high spatial resolution is needed. In this study, the feasibility of RapidEye data to derive leaf area index (LAI) time series and to relate them to grassland management practices is assessed. The study area is the catchment of river Ammer in southern Bavaria, where agricultural areas are mainly grasslands. While extensively managed grasslands are maintained with one to two harvests per year and no or little fertilization, intensive cultivation practices compass three to five harvests per year and turnover pasturing. Based on a RapidEye time series from 2011 with spatial resolution of 6.5 meters, LAI is derived using the inverted radiation transfer model PROSAIL. The LAI in this area ranges from 1.5 to 7.5 over the vegetation period and is estimated with an RMSE between 0.7 and 1.1. The derived LAI maps cover 85 % of the study area's grasslands at least seven times. Using statistical metrics of the LAI time series, different grassland management types can be identified: very intensively managed meadows, intensively managed meadows, intensively managed pastures, and extensively managed meadows and moor. However, a precise identification of the mowing dates highly depends on the coincidence with satellite data acquisitions. Further analysis should focus therefor on the selection of the temporal resolution of the time series as well as on the performance of further vegetation parameters and indices compared to LAI.

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“…According to Struik and Kuyper (2017), the words 'sustainable' and 'intensification' are often not assigned equal weight. For instance, the Irish grassland-based dairy system developed according to the principles of SI causes biodiversity losses (Sullivan et al, 2010). The Food and Agriculture Organisation has advocated using an ecosystem services approach for SI (FAO, 2010).…”

Section: Historical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Make ruminants green again – how can sustainable intensification and agroecology converge for a better future?

Dumont

Groot

Tichit

2018

Animal

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Livestock farming systems provide multiple benefits to humans: protein-rich diets that contribute to food security, employment and rural economies, capital stock and draught power in many developing countries and cultural landscape all around the world. Despite these positive contributions to society, livestock is also the centre of many controversies as regards to its environmental impacts, animal welfare and health outcomes related to excessive meat consumption. Here, we review the potentials of sustainable intensification (SI) and agroecology (AE) in the design of sustainable ruminant farming systems. We analyse the two frameworks in a historical perspective and show that they are underpinned by different values and worldviews about food consumption patterns, the role of technology and our relationship with nature. Proponents of SI see the increase in animal protein demand as inevitable and therefore aim at increasing production from existing farmland to limit further encroachment into remaining natural ecosystems. Sustainable intensification can thus be seen as an efficiency-oriented framework that benefits from all forms of technological development. Proponents of AE appear more open to dietary shifts towards less animal protein consumption to rebalance the whole food system. Agroecology promotes system redesign, benefits from functional diversity and aims at providing regulating and cultural services. We analyse the main criticisms of the two frameworks: Is SI sustainable? How much can AE contribute to feeding the world? Indeed, in SI, social justice has long lacked attention notably with respect to resource allocation within and between generations. It is only recently that some of its proponents have indicated that there is room to include more diversified systems and food-system transformation perspectives and to build socially fair governance systems. As no space is available for agricultural land expansion in many areas, agroecological approaches that emphasise the importance of local production should also focus more on yield increases from agricultural land. Our view is that new technologies and strict certifications offer opportunities for scaling-up agroecological systems. We stress that the key issue for making digital science part of the agroecological transition is that it remains at a low cost and is thus accessible to smallholder farmers. We conclude that SI and AE could converge for a better future by adopting transformative approaches in the search for ecologically benign, socially fair and economically viable ruminant farming systems.Keywords: ecosystem services, efficiency, food systems, redesign, sustainability ImplicationsThere are different futures for ruminant farming systems as regards to production scenarios, climate mitigation measures and food consumption trends. Sustainable intensification (SI) and agroecology (AE) are two frameworks that aim to design more sustainable systems. Here, we analyse them in a historical perspective and discuss how they have been applied to temperate a...

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The ecological status of grasslands on lowland farmlands in western Ireland and implications for grassland classification and nature value assessment

Cited by 64 publications

References 25 publications

Assessment of grassland use intensity by remote sensing to support conservation schemes

Assessment of grassland use intensity by remote sensing to support conservation schemes

Estimation of grassland use intensities based on high spatial resolution LAI time series

Review: Make ruminants green again – how can sustainable intensification and agroecology converge for a better future?

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