The Swiss agri-environment scheme promotes farmland birds: but only moderately

Birrer, Simon; Spiess, M.; Herzog, Félix; Jenny, Markus; Kohli, Lukas; Lugrin, Bernard

doi:10.1007/s10336-007-0237-y

Cited by 65 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Burton 2009;Copland et al 2012), the few that were conducted in grazed and/or mown grasslands reported results similar to ours (e.g. Kumstátová et al 2004;Birrer et al 2007;Erdős et al 2011;Schaub et al 2011;Fonderflick et al 2013). For example, Schaub et al (2011) showed that, in open habitats of Swiss Alps, hedge and woodland edge extent negatively affected skylark breeding density, while woodland edge positively affected tree pipit density.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…For example, best-practice suggestions to improve the ecological value of haymaking might be introduced. A case in point is the Swiss AgriEnvironment Scheme program, which subsidizes the maintenance of unmown Ecological Compensation Areas within hay meadows, and requires at least one vegetation cut a year (after 15 June) as well as the prohibition of fertilizer use (Müller et al 2005;Birrer et al 2007;Aviron et al 2009). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat management effects on Prealpine grassland bird communities

Bazzi

Foglini

Brambilla

et al. 2014

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Currently, land abandonment constitutes a serious threat for many species tied to semi-natural grasslands. In southern Europe, the conservation of many grassland bird communities largely depends on low-intensity mountain farming. In this study, we analysed the effects of the main farming practices promoting grassland maintenance, i.e. grazing and mowing, on species richness of a Prealpine grassland bird community and on the breeding densities of the two commonest grassland species, the skylark (Alauda arvensis Linnaeus, 1758) and the tree pipit (Anthus trivialis Linnaeus, 1758). The two study sites were located between 1100 and 2000 m above sea level in the Italian central Prealps. Grassland species richness was positively affected by grazing, and increased with increasing distance from the nearest woodland. Skylark density was positively influenced by mowing, grassland cover extent and distance from woodland, with the latter effect occurring only at a single study site. Finally, tree pipit density was positively affected by grazing. Our findings suggest that, in order to maintain open grasslands below the natural treeline and enhance the biodiversity of grassland bird communities, grazing should be preferred over mowing. Moreover, woodland edge effects may have a negative impact on mountain grassland bird communities. Advancing woodlands and abandonment of low-intensity farming and grazing practices may therefore constitute a serious threat for open-habitat specialist bird species of the Alpine region.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat management effects on Prealpine grassland bird communities

Bazzi

Foglini

Brambilla

et al. 2014

Italian Journal of Zoology

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“…in Switzerland (Birrer et al 2007), and organic farming or set-aside land might also have a positive effect on birds and other biodiversity, although often they were not designed with that intention. Many studies have shown that agri-environmental schemes and other measures, including set-aside, can indeed have a positive effect on birds (Berg & Kvarnback 2005, Bracken & Bolger 2006, Birrer et al 2007. However, such evidence usually exists at field or farm scale only.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat Preferences for Territory Selection by the Endangered Eastern Iberian Reed BuntingEmberiza Schoeniclus witherbyi

Vera

Belda

Kvist

et al. 2014

Ardeola

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Analysis of an extensive European dataset confirms the large decline of widespread farmland birds across Europe. Common farmland birds have on average fallen in number by nearly half -the most severe decline of the bird groups considered. Among the 36 species that were classified as characteristic of farmland, 20 have declined, seven have increased, four have remained stable and trends of five were classified as uncertain. In parallel with the index of abundance, we show for the first time that an overall index of biomass of farmland birds in Europe has more than halved during the last 27 years. Differences between trends of farmland birds in four European regions are not significant, but trends in New EU Member States have been less negative than those in Old EU Member States. Long-distance migrants among the farmland birds have less negative trends than those that are short-distance migrants or residents in Europe. A wide range of studies suggest that changes in land and crop management have been the main cause of farmland bird declines, although population declines in arable landscapes of south and central-eastern Europe may be linked to land abandonment and afforestation. In contrast, populations of all common species taken together, or common forest species from within that group, have declined modestly over the last 27 years. Similarly, overall biomass of these two groups has declined slightly, although biomass of both has inceased over the last 5 years. The pattern of changes in bird abundance and biomass detected in European farmland birds suggests a considerable loss of European biodiversity and a likely loss of ecosystem function and services.

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“…Frequently they provide benefits to wild species (Davey et al 2010b), but often the design of such schemes has not been based on their potential effects on biodiversity, which may result in only partial benefits, or even negative effects on many species (Kleijn & Sutherland 2003, Birrer et al 2007, Davey et al 2010a, including some of conservation concern (Kleijn et al 2006). Agri-environmental schemes may not be sufficiently tuned to the ecological requirements of species (Kleijn et al 2004), and often fail to enhance population trends (O'Brien & Wilson 2011, Princé et al 2012.…”

Section: Short Reportmentioning

confidence: 99%