Assessing the impact of Entry Level Stewardship on lowland farmland birds in England
Assessing the impact of Entry Level Stewardship on lowland farmland birds in England
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1474-919x.2009.01001.x
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发表时间：
2010-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Siriwardena, Gavin M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Davey, Catherine M.;Vickery, Juliet A.;Siriwardena, Gavin M.
农业环境计划（AES）是保护欧洲农田生物多样性的核心。英国政府的公共服务协议目标旨在通过使用AES，到2020年扭转英格兰农田鸟类数量下降的趋势。2005年引入的入门级管理（ELS）计划是第一个非竞争性，广泛采用的管理计划，旨在为整个英格兰的农场提供简单而有效的环境管理。目前约有500万公顷的农田签订了环境管理（ES）协议，鉴于这种投资的规模，验证环境管理作为一种提供生物多样性效益的机制的有效性非常重要。本研究利用空间参考ES协议数据，评估了2005 - 2008年英国2000多个1公里平方的低地农田的标准化调查结果中特定管理方案和方案组合对农田鸟类种群变化的影响。结果显示只有有限的证据表明ES的短期效果。在ELS管理下，只有玉米螟、黄花蒿和普通椋鸟与面积有一定的景观特异性正相关。也有有限的证据表明，具体的管理办法与它们所针对的物种的种群变化之间存在积极的联系。目前的期权吸收模式可能会限制ELS的收益，边界管理占方案补偿价值的50%以上。然而，期权成熟所需的时间和鸟类种群对环境变化的反应的时间滞后意味着对该计划的成功或失败得出明确的结论还为时过早。这项研究的结果将通过纳入计划于2010年进行的5年审查来协助ELS的发展，并对欧洲其他地方类似计划的发展产生影响。
Agri-environment schemes (AES) are central to the conservation of Europe's farmland biodiversity. The UK Government's Public Service Agreement target seeks to reverse the decline of farmland birds in England by 2020 through the use of AES. The Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme, introduced in 2005, is the first non-competitive, broad-uptake stewardship scheme designed to deliver simple but effective environmental management on farms throughout England. Approximately 5 million hectares of farmland are currently entered into Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreements, and given the scale of this investment it is important to verify the efficacy of ELS as a mechanism for delivering biodiversity benefits. We used spatially referenced ES agreement data to assess the influence of specific management options and combinations of options on farmland bird population changes between 2005 and 2008 derived from standardized surveys carried out on over 2000 lowland farmland 1-km squares in England. The results showed only limited evidence for short-term effects of ES. Only Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra and Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris showed some landscape-specific positive associations with area under ELS management. There was also limited evidence for positive associations between specific management options and the population changes of the species at which they were aimed. The current pattern of option uptake may be limiting benefits of ELS, with boundary management accounting for over 50% of scheme compensation value. However, the time required for option maturation and the time lags in bird population responses to environmental change mean that it is too early to reach definitive conclusions about the success or failure of the scheme. The findings of this study will assist in the development of ELS by feeding into the 5-year review scheduled for 2010 and have implications for the development of similar schemes elsewhere in Europe.