Projects per year
Abstract
The decline of biodiversity is a major concern to scientists, society, and policy makers in the European union (EU). The EU Biodiversity Strategy (2010) aims to halt the loss of biodiversity in the EU by 2020. One target to reach this aim is to increase the contribution of agriculture to maintain and enhance biodiversity. According to reports, however, no significant overall progress has been made to meet this target. Moreover, agriculture is both reported to reduce and to enhance biodiversity. To enhance biodiversity in agriculture, we need to understand how biodiversity is measured in the existing studies, and to map relations between agricultural land use and biodiversity. We aimed to
(1) review indicators used in science to measure biodiversity in EU livestock systems, and (2) to review described effects of livestock on biodiversity. We conducted a systematic review in Scopus and Web of Science. The search for research articles that assessed impacts of livestock on biodiversity yielded 857 articles after deduplication, which was narrowed down to 163 relevant articles. Species abundance and species diversity were commonly used state indicators of biodiversity across scales. Modelling studies also used aggregated indicators with biodiversity values that were directly linked to land use. Most studies focussed on the impact of grazing ruminants on biodiversity, either for food production or nature conservation purposes. Pigs and poultry were mainly studied in relation to local ammonia emissions. Only few studies considered impacts of land use for feed production on biodiversity. We argue that the traditional pressure-state-response framework to categorize indicators of biodiversity does not provide clear actions to enhance biodiversity in agriculture. Instead, we propose the use of comparators (e.g. grazing intensity levels) in relation with state measures of biodiversity. This review can help to identify commonly used indicators of biodiversity, and provide insight in quantitative relations between agricultural land use and biodiversity.
(1) review indicators used in science to measure biodiversity in EU livestock systems, and (2) to review described effects of livestock on biodiversity. We conducted a systematic review in Scopus and Web of Science. The search for research articles that assessed impacts of livestock on biodiversity yielded 857 articles after deduplication, which was narrowed down to 163 relevant articles. Species abundance and species diversity were commonly used state indicators of biodiversity across scales. Modelling studies also used aggregated indicators with biodiversity values that were directly linked to land use. Most studies focussed on the impact of grazing ruminants on biodiversity, either for food production or nature conservation purposes. Pigs and poultry were mainly studied in relation to local ammonia emissions. Only few studies considered impacts of land use for feed production on biodiversity. We argue that the traditional pressure-state-response framework to categorize indicators of biodiversity does not provide clear actions to enhance biodiversity in agriculture. Instead, we propose the use of comparators (e.g. grazing intensity levels) in relation with state measures of biodiversity. This review can help to identify commonly used indicators of biodiversity, and provide insight in quantitative relations between agricultural land use and biodiversity.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Book of Abstracts of the 69th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science |
Subtitle of host publication | Dubrovnik, Croatia, 27-31 August 2018 |
Publisher | Wageningen Academic Publishers |
Pages | 342-342 |
Number of pages | 1 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9789086868711 |
ISBN (Print) | 9789086863235 |
Publication status | Published - 28 Aug 2018 |
Event | EAAP 2018 : 69th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science: EAAP 2018 - Dubrovnik, Croatia Duration: 27 Aug 2018 → 31 Aug 2018 |
Publication series
Name | EAAP Book of Abstracts |
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Publisher | Wageningen Academic Publishers |
Volume | 24 |
Conference/symposium
Conference/symposium | EAAP 2018 : 69th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science |
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Country/Territory | Croatia |
City | Dubrovnik |
Period | 27/08/18 → 31/08/18 |
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'A systematic review of research on biodiversity in European livestock systems'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Sustainability impact of shorthening the dry period in dairy cows
Kok, A. (PhD candidate), Kemp, B. (Promotor), de Boer, I. (Promotor), van Knegsel, A. (Co-promotor) & van Middelaar, C. (Co-promotor)
14/02/14 → 21/06/18
Project: PhD