Does landscape heterogeneity modulate the trade-off between production and biodiversity?
Sabatier, Rodolphe | Tichit, Muriel
There is empirical evidence that the proportion of land uses and their spatial arrangement can affect the long-term dynamics of bird species in agro-landscapes (Benton et al. 2003). Modifying the proportion of land uses, through the conversion of some intensive land uses into extensive ones often involves a trade-off for production (Sabatier et al. 2010). Acting on the spatial arrangement of land uses to increase the heterogeneity of landscapes without altering the proportion of land uses, could help to reconcile production and biodiversity in agro-landscapes. Theoretical and empirical studies propose various hypotheses linking landscape characteristics to biodiversity (Brotons et al. 2005). They distinguish between compensatory and complementary land uses, depending on the nature of the various habitats generated by each land use. The mechanism of compensation occurs when one land use only provides a part of the resources to the species considered, e.g.. The mechanism of complementation occurs when each of the two land uses is partially favourable to a species, i.e. each of them favours a single stage in the life cycle. Several land uses are then necessary in the landscape to provide all the resources to a species. In such a context, it is likely that along with the proportion of land uses, their spatial arrangement, and thus the landscape structure, strongly affects the mechanisms of complementation. The objective of this study was to assess to what extent biodiversity can be enhanced by altering landscape structure, without reducing agricultural production.
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