Values and perceptions of landowners within remaining breeding territories of Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata in Ireland

Habitat loss and degradation have been identified as some of the main threats to breeding Curlew (Numenius arquata) across much of Europe. In Ireland, marginal habitats such as rough or wet grasslands and peatlands have been fragmented or degraded by activities including afforestation, drainage and intensification. The management implemented by landowners directly affects Curlew breeding territories. However, the values and perceptions held by landowners whose lands contain Curlew breeding territories, or the factors driving the decisions behind farming practices in these areas are rarely considered when looking at the causes of changes in these bird populations. This study, as part of the Curlew Conservation Programme established in 2017, gathered data through the distribution of questionnaires to landowners found within three kilometres of Curlew breeding territories in Ireland. In this study, we identify the current land uses being employed in Curlew breeding territories, and query future projections of land use in these areas. We investigate landowners’ perceptions of the requirements to sustain favourable environments for breeding Curlew. We also explore landowner values with respect to farming. The landowners in this study identified habitat loss and predation as the main drivers for Curlew declines. The majority of farming systems in this study were cattle rearing, the sustainability of which is under threat across Ireland. The results indicate that these landowners are not financially motivated, however, the availability of financial aid and expert advice are listed by landowners as requirements for traditional farming practices to continue. These results give an insight to the lifestyle, values and perceptions owners of land adjacent or within Curlew breeding territories. This information can be used to design Curlew conservation programmes that align with these values.     

Predicting Pasture and Forest Landowner Intention to Create Early Successional Habitat

As human land uses expand across the landscape, the management practices of private landowners are an essential part of effective conservation. Early successional habitats (ESH) and the species that depend on them are a priority in the eastern United States, and efforts to create ESH on private lands has primarily focused on forest landowners and timber harvests. Private pasture lands in a forested landscape present an additional opportunity to create and maintain ESH, yet our understanding of landowner values and attitudes about management strategies in pastures is lacking. To address this, we surveyed private landowners in 5 Virginia counties who own ≥10.1 ha at >610 m elevation (n = 503). Our primary objective was to understand how a variety of factors such as landowner values, past experience with habitat management, and perceived barriers to carrying out habitat management are associated with private landowner intention to carry out 7 ESH management strategies (i.e., reduced mowing, reduced grazing, timber harvests within forest, timber harvests at a field-forest border, prescribed fire, use of machinery, and use of herbicides to control invasive species) for the benefit of wildlife in the next 5 years. We used boosted regression trees to determine which factors best predicted the intention to carry out each management strategy. We were able to predict accuracy >75% of the time for landowner intention to engage in open pasture and timber management strategies. Landowner values were not consistent across the different management strategies; landowners likely to reduce mowing or grazing valued ecological aspects of their land (e.g., pollinator habitat, water quality), whereas landowners likely to harvest timber valued hunting and revenue. Past experience with wildlife management was the strongest predictor of likelihood to reduce mowing and grazing. Our results suggest that expanding outreach efforts to include pasture management options would engage a broader set of landowners in creating ESH, especially if such efforts highlighted the benefits to pollinator species, water quality, and enhanced opportunities for hunting and other types of recreation. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.     

Extending the Namibian protected area network to safeguard hotspots of endemism and diversity

Namibia's state protected area network (PAN) covers 13.8% of the country's land area, but is seriously inadequate as a basis for effective biodiversity conservation. The early parks system was not designed with biological diversity in mind, and reflects instead a history of ideological, economic and veterinary considerations. Currently, parks in the Namib Desert biome make up 69% of the PAN, while savanna and woodland biomes are somewhat underrepresented (7.5 and 8.4% of their respective land areas), and the Karoo biome is badly underrepresented (1.6%). Four of 14 desert vegetation types are comprehensively protected, with 67 to 94% representation in the PAN, yet six savanna types have 0 to 2% representation by area. Mountain Savanna, a vegetation type unique to Namibia, is wholly unprotected. The status of two marine reserves, which in theory protect only 0.01% of Namibia's marine environment, needs clarification and augmentation with new reserves. Nearly 85% of Namibia's land is zoned for agriculture, so effective biodiversity protection means working outside the PAN to improve the sustainability and diversity of farming practices. Wildlife conservancies on commercial and communal farmlands show excellent potential to mitigate the ecological skew in the state PAN, with the ecological management of large areas being decentralized to rural communities in habitats otherwise neglected for conservation. Two important endemism zones, the Kaoko escarpment and coastal plain and the Sperrgebiet succulent steppe, plus the species-rich Caprivi area, offer three valuable opportunities for regional consolidation of protected areas into transboundary 'peace parks' or biosphere reserves.     

Torfmooskulturen als Ersatzlebensraum

Sphagnum farming In Germany, 99% of the 1.4 Mha of peatlands have been drained for land use. These degraded areas release enormous amounts of greenhouse gases. In contrast, land use on rewetted peatlands (= paludiculture) not only avoids greenhouse gas emissions, but offers numerous additional environmental benefits, while maintaining biomass production. Field studies have demonstrated the additional benefits of peatmoss (Sphagnum) cultivation for plant and animal diversity. After harvesting of the upper moss layer, the biomass is prepared to be used as a substitute for peat in horticultural substrates. Sphagnum farming is a promising and sustainable land use alternative for degraded bog areas.     

Strategies for genetic conservation of trees in the Peruvian Amazon

Forestry practices and high rates of land clearance for agriculture are causing genetic erosion of valuable tree species in the Peruvian Amazon, thereby endangering the economic sustainability of rural communities and limiting Peru's opportunities for the development of new timber and non-timber forest products. The potential utility and limitations of six low-input interventions to help forestall further genetic erosion in the region are discussed, with a focus on local community involvement. Improved agroforestry systems may help reduce deforestation by increasing farm productivity, although methods to increase the currently low adoption rate of these technologies need to be developed. Use of strategic tree domestication techniques can also improve farm productivity and prevent inadvertent genetic drift and inbreeding associated with traditional domestication practices, although to have a major impact, current programs need to be extended across the region. Woodlot forestry could supplant selective extraction of timber and offers an attractive opportunity for poverty alleviation if appropriate credit and land tenure policies can be developed. However, it may also result in increased deforestation if activities on public land cannot be controlled. The implementation of improved seed collection systems and simple seed transfer guidelines would help to reduce the collection of seed of poor quality and low genetic diversity, and avoid maladapted plantings, although such programs are difficult to monitor and seed costs may increase. Strategic identification and design of in situ conservation areas would help to ensure the viability of conserved populations, but requires the forfeiture of significant revenue from timber concessions.     

Restoration of degraded lands through bioenergy plantations

Land degradation has become a worldwide problem. Increasing population, the conversion of forest land into cropland, and its gradual degradation due to unsustainable agricultural practices have led to this prevailing scenario. Unsustainable agriculture practices like use of chemical fertilizers for increasing crop productivity (recorded 281.75 lakh tonnes in the year 2010–2011) also leads to degradation of land. A total of 4.1 million hectares of culturable wasteland was recorded in the same year. Also, crude oil consumption is increasing at a rate of 1.7% which prompts for massive input of crude oil. Thus, biofuel plantations have recently attracted a lot of attention because of several advantages that they present. The genetically engineered bioenergy crops can help in land restoration by increasing the soil fertility, growing in stress conditions, and they also lead to the production of fuels through their various parts. The use of genetically engineered bioenergy crops will not only help in the prevention of degraded land but also yield biofuel as a product and enhance soil fertility and health for further sustainable agricultural practices.     

Agricultural land-use and the spatial distribution of granivorous lowland farmland birds

Current agricultural practices are believed to have contributed to the declines of many farmland bird species, especially seed‐eaters, throughout Europe. We investigated associations between the spatial distribution of fourteen granivorous farmland bird species and agricultural land‐use in Britain, using breeding bird atlas data and national agricultural statistics. Analyses were spatially referenced by 10x10 km square and variation due to broad‐scale geography and spatial auto‐correlation was controlled for. Generalized linear modelling analyses were used to select models describing variation in distribution explained by the available land‐use variables. The results show that relationships between distribution and agriculture tend to be species‐specific, but that some general effects can be identified. Features of intensive arable farming including large areas of sugar beet, wheat and oilseed rape tended to be associated with low frequencies of occurrence for 9–11 species, while large areas of younger (re‐seeded) grassland and high sheep stocking densities were associated with low frequencies in pastoral farmland for up to 12 species. One key feature of lower intensity farming, the presence of larger areas of fallow land, was positively related to frequency index for up to 11 species. The proportion of barley sown in spring and agricultural diversity were each associated with a range of complex relationships with frequency index across species, probably reflecting combinations of positive influences and artefacts of scale and geography. A variable describing the heterogeneity of farmland (the extent to which it is a mix of arable and pastoral land‐use) was negatively related to frequency index for eight species, but other results suggested that farming which is mixed at a smaller spatial scale is widely beneficial. The results reveal relationships between agriculture and the occurrence of granivorous farmland bird species which suggest both hypotheses for the causes of population change and directions for management action. However, data on several key features of agricultural practice (such as pesticide use) were unavailable, so their effects could not be tested, and the effects of the variables included could not be separated from those of other factors which are subject to complex geographical variation. Experimental comparisons of the effects of land‐use at the farm scale are needed to investigate such confounded influences on farmland bird occurrence.     

Seed traits in arable weed seed banks and their relationship to land-use changes

Recent studies have shown that relatively undisturbed plant communities, such as woodland and pasture, have generally low seed persistence, while seed longevity in frequently disturbed habitats, such as arable fields, is high. In addition, seed mass and shape were found to be closely linked to the living conditions of plants. The objective of the present study was to show how farming practice modifies these seed traits in the arable weed seed bank.On 67.4 ha of arable land at the Scheyern Research Station in Germany, conventional arable use was converted to organic farming, to a reduced-tillage system and to set-aside. During the six subsequent years, seed bank data were collected at 283 sampling points to analyse the effects of (1) the farming systems (long-term effects), (2) individual crops (short-term effects) and (3) vegetation cover.Set-aside arable land favoured a disk- or needle-like seed shape, greater mass and reduced seed longevity. Similarly, organic farming significantly increased seed mass and decreased longevity. Therefore, both types of land use reduced the selection for small and persistent seeds with a spherical shape. By contrast, an increasing persistence under reduced tillage suggested a higher selection pressure. The most consistent effect was that seed longevity increased with tillage frequency, independent from the farming system. Both high seed masses and a compact seed shape were frequently associated with a high crop cover.The results prove that beyond the properties of living plants the arable farming practice also significantly impacts the seed traits in the soil seed bank.     

How Much Does it Cost to Expand a Protected Area System? Some Critical Determining Factors and Ranges of Costs for Queensland

Many governments have recently gone on record promising large-scale expansions of protected areas to meet global commitments such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. As systems of protected areas are expanded to be more comprehensive, they are more likely to be implemented if planners have realistic budget estimates so that appropriate funding can be requested. Estimating financial budgets a priori must acknowledge the inherent uncertainties and assumptions associated with key parameters, so planners should recognize these uncertainties by estimating ranges of potential costs. We explore the challenge of budgeting a priori for protected area expansion in the face of uncertainty, specifically considering the future expansion of protected areas in Queensland, Australia. The government has committed to adding ～12 million ha to the reserve system, bringing the total area protected to 20 million ha by 2020. We used Marxan to estimate the costs of potential reserve designs with data on actual land value, market value, transaction costs, and land tenure. With scenarios, we explored three sources of budget variability: size of biodiversity objectives; subdivision of properties; and legal acquisition routes varying with tenure. Depending on the assumptions made, our budget estimates ranged from $214 million to $2.9 billion. Estimates were most sensitive to assumptions made about legal acquisition routes for leasehold land. Unexpected costs (costs encountered by planners when real-world costs deviate from assumed costs) responded non-linearly to inability to subdivide and percentage purchase of private land. A financially conservative approach--one that safeguards against large cost increases while allowing for potential financial windfalls--would involve less optimistic assumptions about acquisition and subdivision to allow Marxan to avoid expensive properties where possible while meeting conservation objectives. We demonstrate how a rigorous analysis can inform discussions about the expansion of systems of protected areas, including the identification of factors that influence budget variability.     

Evaluation of Restoration Techniques for the Succulent Karoo, South Africa

Abstract Possible constraints on the passive recovery of bare areas in the Karoo, a semiarid region in South Africa, include inadequate supply of seed, availability of suitable microsites for plant establishment, altered soil properties, and the truncation of key soil biotic processes. Here we investigate the possibility of initiating the restoration of bare areas by soil surface treatments with gypsum (CaSO₄) and/or organic mulch. We also apply an exogenous seed source to test the hypothesis that seed availability limits autogenic recovery. Both gypsum and mulch improved rain water infiltration, gypsum more so than mulch, and both treatments resulted in significantly higher numbers of reseeded seedlings compared with controls. Gypsum also improved the survival of the cohorts of seedlings of the larger seeded Tripteris sinuata. Tripteris showed the highest number of seedlings (maximum count of 150 seedlings/1,000 viable seeds sown) and surviving plants of the three reseeded species, which included two small‐seeded species, Ruschia spinosa and Chaetobromus dregeanus. Throughout the study period significantly higher plant volumes of naturally seeded annuals and perennials were recorded in the gypsum and/or mulch treatments compared with the controls. Germination and emergence of reseeded and naturally seeded plants appears to be determined by the availability of cool season (autumn to spring ) soil moisture, whereas follow‐up rainfall during this time is important for plant survival. Mulching of bare areas in the Succulent Karoo has the potential to re‐create vegetated areas that will further capture and conserve water, soil, and nutrients. Gypsum also showed positive results but might not be a cost‐effective option because of transport costs to these remote arid areas.     

Home Gardens Sustain Crop Diversity and Improve Farm Resilience in Candelaria Loxicha,Oaxaca, Mexico

Home gardens are land use units embedded in a larger land use system, in this case in Candelaria Loxicha, Oaxaca, Mexico. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, we investigated how home gardens are integrated into local farming practices and how these influence biodiversity. Our findings suggest that home gardens harbour high levels of biodiversity, which are maintained and enriched by farmers’ practices, particularly plant and seed exchange. Plant diversity is higher in younger home gardens and in home gardens where owners actively exchange plant material with other people. Through plant exchange, seed storage, and the dispersion of seeds and plants in different land uses, farmers encourage plant diversity and consequently increase the resilience of their farming system in changing climatic, demographic and economic conditions. Both men and women participate in the establishment, care and management of home gardens, but they are responsible for different plants and home garden functions. For economic reasons, the inhabitants of Candelaria Loxicha are increasingly engaging in international migration. Migrants, upon their return bring new ideas and plants that might transform the rural landscape.     

Assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of rangeland restoration in Namaqualand,South Africa

South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is home to unmatched numbers of dryland plant species. Unfortunately, decades of overstocking these rangelands with small livestock and historical ploughing for fodder have led to extensive degradation. Some areas are severely degraded, negatively affecting both agricultural livestock productivity and ecosystem health. Land degradation reduces land use options and leaves land users, and the ecosystems on which they depend, more vulnerable to environmental and economic stressors. Ecological restoration is promoted as an effective and cost-efficient option for building the resilience of local and regional ecosystems. However, dryland restoration confronts many environmental challenges that have limited its success to date. Here, we present the results of a local-scale participatory restoration trial and an assessment of the costs of regional-scale ecological restoration in the Nama Khoi area in Namaqualand, South Africa. In combination, these analyses are useful for identifying opportunities and barriers for the improved efficiency and effectiveness of dryland restoration. In Namaqualand, we find that ecological restoration is difficult and expensive. The expected impacts of climate change will only exacerbate these challenges. However, we argue that a holistic suite of land management actions that include sound management, the prevention of further degradation, and prudent investments in restoration even where costs are high is likely to be the only real option for sustaining land-based livelihoods in this region over the longer term.     

Limited effectiveness of artificial bird perches for the establishment of seedlings and the restoration of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest

Brazil’s Atlantic Forest biome is severely degraded and fragmented throughout its range. Developing effective techniques to restore pasture and agriculture back to native vegetation is therefore a priority for legal and conservation purposes. In this study, we evaluate the ability of artificial bird perches to enhance the arrival of new seeds and seedling establishment in a degraded, semi-deciduous seasonal portion of the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. Specifically, we assess the influence of previous land use and habitat types on the abundance, species richness and ecological traits of bird-dispersed seeds, as well as on seedling establishment. Eight sampling sites were established, each containing one unit with seed traps and restoration plots under artificial perches and one similar unit without the perches. These sites were located in pasture and agriculture, distributed between riparian and sub-montane areas. Monthly sampling was conducted over two years between December 2005 and November 2007, resulting in the evaluation of 25,755 seeds and 56 endozoochoric seed species. The most abundant species were the pioneers Cecropia pachystachya Trécul and Solanum americanum Mill. Experimental units with perches received significantly more seeds than control units. Moreover, seed arrival was higher in sub-montane areas and on former pasture sites. Species richness followed a similar pattern of higher seed arrival, but there was no effect of vegetation type. Ecological characteristics of seeds were associated with land use type: former pastures received more tree seeds and pioneer species than expected by chance. Seedling establishment was very low in all treatments, with only eight seedlings established in perch plots by the end of the experiment. We conclude that despite artificial perches significantly increasing the arrival of endozoochoric seeds onto degraded lands, seedling establishment is drastically limited in these areas, compromising the efficacy of this technique for restoration purposes.     

Prioritization of Target Areas for Rehabilitation: A Case Study from West Kalimantan, Indonesia

To rehabilitate degraded forestlands and conserve the remaining forests in Kalimantan, effective measures are needed that accommodate various land uses in the landscape. We present a pragmatic model for prioritizing target areas for rehabilitation and discuss a potential approach, combining traditional reforestation and the forest management methods of local Dayak tribes with the operations of a commercial tree plantation venture, to promote the rehabilitation of elements of the tropical lowland rainforest. We characterized the vegetation and land use in the study area and assume that rehabilitation and conservation value will be maximized by concentrating rehabilitation efforts around forest patches with high cultural and economic value to the local Dayaks. We simulated potential enlargement of these culturally important forests and built a model to calculate a rehabilitation value for each forest fragment and fragment group with easily measurable criteria of vegetation and area. The model gives priority to areas where large continuous areas of culturally important forests already exist and/or will be created. The individual culturally important forest patches and their total area in the landscape are small, but even a small potential enlargement may be enough to establish relatively large concentrations. The potential matrix area for rehabilitation is dominated by young successional woody vegetation. Forested areas, although heavily degraded, connect several culturally important forest concentrations and are the most desirable target for rehabilitation. A well‐managed commercial tree plantation can enhance conditions for the protection and rehabilitation of degraded forestlands through traditional reforestation and forest management methods.     

Rehabilitation of Tropical Lands: A Key to Sustaining Development

Land rehabilitation is proposed as a management strategy to reverse the negative consequences of tropical deforestation and land degradation. We first define the concepts associated with ecosystem modification—conversion, damage, and degradation—and those associated with ecosystem repair—restoration, rehabilitation, and reclamation. We then present a scheme of sustainable land use in the tropics, with illustrations of how rehabilitation and restoration activities fit into the overall scheme of the use of land. Because damaged lands cannot contribute effectively to sustained economic development, land rehabilitation is a necessary step for increasing the chances of attaining sustainability. Approaches for rehabilitating ecosystems are discussed, including the management of stressors and subsidies in relation to their point of interaction in the ecosystem. Finally, we illustrate the concepts of ecosystem rehabilitation of damaged, degraded, and derelict lands with examples of case studies from dry to humid life zones in island and continental situations throughout the tropics. The case studies demonstrate that opportunities for success exist, even with severely degraded lands, but a considerable amount of research remains to be done before we have a full understanding of the complexity of the task facing us.     

Farmers’ Perspectives on Vital Soil-related Ecosystem Services in Intensive Swidden Farming Systems in the Peruvian Amazon

A growing dilemma is how to conserve Amazonian forest while allowing local people to secure their livelihoods. Small-scale swidden farming in Amazonia is entirely dependent on the continued provision of ecosystem services (ES) that generate the conditions for agriculture. This study identified soil-related ES needed for, and enhanced by, productive swidden systems from the farmer’s perspective. Workshops in six farming communities in northeastern Peru discussed various land uses, swidden systems that continue to be productive, and swidden systems on degraded land. The participating farmers noted changes in their production systems and described the ES (or lack thereof) in terms of soil quality, crop production quantity and quality, burning practices, forest regeneration, and farming skill. The central elements described in farmers’ own strategies for managing soil-related ES were fallow management for biomass production and crop diversity, factors identified as central to future ES management work in established agricultural areas in Amazonia.     

Conservation in tropical landscape mosaics: the case of the cacao landscape of southern Bahia, Brazil

A recent debate has contrasted two conservation strategies in agricultural landscapes; either “land sparing” farm development combining intensive production practices with forest set-asides, or “wildlife-friendly” farming with greater on-farm habitat value but lower yields. We argue that in established mosaic landscapes including old cacao production regions where natural forest has already been reduced to relatively small fragments, a combination of both strategies is needed to conserve biodiversity. After reviewing the evidence for the insufficiency of either strategy alone if applied to such landscapes, the paper focuses on the cacao production landscape of southern Bahia, Brazil, once the world’s second largest cacao producer. Here, small remaining areas of Atlantic Forest are embedded in a matrix dominated by traditional cacao agroforests, resulting in a landscape mosaic that has proven favorable to the conservation of the region’s high biodiversity. We show that current land use dynamics and public policies pose threats but also offer opportunities to conservation and describe a three-pronged landscape conservation strategy, consisting of (i) expansion of the protected areas system, (ii) promotion of productive yet biodiversity-friendly cacao farming practices, and (iii) assistance to land users to implement legally mandated on-farm reserves and voluntary private reserves. We discuss recent experiences concerning the implementation of this strategy, discuss likely future scenarios, and reflect on the applicability of the Bahian experience to biodiversity rich cacao production regions elsewhere in the tropics.     

How willing are landowners to supply land for bioenergy crops in the Northern Great Lakes Region?

Land to produce biomass is essential if the United States is to expand bioenergy supply. Use of agriculturally marginal land avoids the food vs. fuel problems of food price rises and carbon debt that are associated with crop and forestland. Recent remote sensing studies have identified large areas of US marginal land deemed suitable for bioenergy crops. Yet the sustainability benefits of growing bioenergy crops on marginal land only pertain if land is economically available. Scant attention has been paid to the willingness of landowners to supply land for bioenergy crops. Focusing on the northern tier of the Great Lakes, where grassland transitions to forest and land prices are low, this contingent valuation study reports on the willingness of a representative sample of 1124 private, noncorporate landowners to rent land for three bioenergy crops: corn, switchgrass, and poplar. Of the 11% of land that was agriculturally marginal, they were willing to make available no more than 21% for any bioenergy crop (switchgrass preferred on marginal land) at double the prevailing land rental rate in the region. At the same generous rental rate, of the 28% that is cropland, they would rent up to 23% for bioenergy crops (corn preferred), while of the 55% that is forestland, they would rent up to 15% for bioenergy crops (poplar preferred). Regression results identified deterrents to land rental for bioenergy purposes included appreciation of environmental amenities and concern about rental disamenities. In sum, like landowners in the southern Great Lakes region, landowners in the Northern Tier are reluctant to supply marginal land for bioenergy crops. If rental markets existed, they would rent more crop and forestland for bioenergy crops than they would marginal land, which would generate carbon debt and opportunity costs in wood product and food markets.