Publication Details |
Category | Text Publication |
Reference Category | Journals |
DOI | 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2012.01170.x |
Title (Primary) | Bioenergy production and Skylark (Alauda arvensis) population abundance - a modelling approach for the analysis of land-use change impacts and conservation options |
Author | Engel, J.; Huth, A.; Frank, K. |
Source Titel | Global Change Biology Bioenergy |
Year | 2012 |
Department | OESA |
Volume | 4 |
Page From | 713 |
Page To | 727 |
Language | englisch |
Keywords | bioenergy; biomass production; ecological sustainability; landscape structure; land-use change; regional scale; simulation model; Skylark; bioenergy; biomass production; ecological sustainability; landscape structure; land-use change; regional scale; simulation model; Skylark; bioenergy; biomass production; ecological sustainability; landscape structure; land-use change; regional scale; simulation model; Skylark |
Abstract | Bioenergy production is seen as one way of meeting future energy needs. The growing demand for biomass for energy production induces the cultivation of a few fast growing and high-yielding energy crops on vast areas of arable land. This land-use change has been found associated with the reduction of habitat suitability for farmland birds and a decline in farmland biodiversity in general. A large number of studies have assessed the ecological effects of energy crop cultivation at the local scale of a single field. This study focuses on regional landscape changes caused by increased energy crop cultivation, which includes reduction of crop-type richness and spatial concentration of single crop-types. We present a spatially explicit ecological model to assess the population-level consequences of these effects on the abundance of the farmland bird species Skylark (Alauda arvensis). We also investigate the impacts of different land-use scenarios and aim to identify adaptive conservation options. We show that (1) the impacts of increased energy crop cultivation on Skylark population abundance depend strongly on the landscape structure; (2) impacts could be tolerated as long as a certain minimum level of crop-type heterogeneity is retained at the landscape level and (3) conservation actions are required and effective especially on landscapes where crop-field size is large. |
Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=11892 |
Engel, J., Huth, A., Frank, K. (2012): Bioenergy production and Skylark (Alauda arvensis) population abundance - a modelling approach for the analysis of land-use change impacts and conservation options GCB Bioenergy 4 , 713 - 727 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2012.01170.x |