Impacts of agricultural intensification on wild animal population interactions: from individuals to communities - Impacts de l'intensification agricole sur les populations animales

农业集约化对野生动物种群相互作用的影响：从个体到群落 - Impacts de lintensification agricole sur les Pops Animales

• 批准号: 356723-2007
• 负责人: Garant, Dany
• 金额: $ 6.85万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2007-01-01 至 2008-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=364494
• 关键词: Impacts; agricultural; intensification; wild; animal

The agriculture industry of Canada is a highly dynamic global player. To stay competitive at the international level, agricultural producers have adopted farming practices that improve yields and reduce costs. As a result, there has been a strong trend towards more intensive farming in Canada over the last decades. In Quebec, the transition from traditional (more extensive) agriculture to the now common intensive farming has also been spectacular. These changes in production in the province occurred mostly on lands dedicated to dairy farming and at the expense of natural forest remnants. This has drastically changed the landscape and potentially impacted the integrity and functioning of several ecosystems, especially in the Saint-Lawrence River valley.  Yet, little is known about the impacts of intensive farming practices on the neighbouring biological communities and on the effects it may have on their ecological interactions at the ecosystem level. The generalresearch objective of this strategic project is to quantify the effects of contrasted farming practices on wild animal populations through the study of several trophic levels involving predator-prey and host-parasite interactions. More specifically, we will build on an already well-established study system on the biology of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) within a gradient of agricultural intensification in Southern Quebec.  The interest of this system lies in the fact that the biology of swallows is intricately related to that of insects, which are likely to be strongly affected by agricultural intensification because of pesticide use, among other things.  This strategic project will play a key role in helping policy makers understand and predict the long-term ecological consequences of the current resource utilization through agriculture.  This is of great importance given that wild animals provide ecological services that affect the production yields of several cultures through pollination and the control of pest insects.

加拿大的农业是一个高度活跃的全球参与者。为了在国际上保持竞争力，农业生产者采用了提高产量和降低成本的耕作方法。因此，在过去的几十年里，加拿大出现了一种更加集约化的农业发展趋势。在魁北克，从传统的（更广泛的）农业向现在普遍的集约农业的转变也是引人注目的。该省生产的这些变化主要发生在专门用于奶牛养殖的土地上，并以牺牲天然森林残余为代价。这极大地改变了地貌，并可能影响到几个生态系统的完整性和功能，特别是在圣劳伦斯河流域，然而，人们对集约化耕作做法对邻近生物群落的影响以及对它们在生态系统一级的生态相互作用可能产生的影响知之甚少。这一战略项目的总体研究目标是通过研究涉及捕食者-猎物和宿主-寄生虫相互作用的几个营养水平，量化对比耕作方法对野生动物种群的影响。更具体地说，我们将建立一个已经建立的关于树燕生物学的研究系统（Tachycineta bicolor）在魁北克南部的农业集约化梯度内。这个系统的兴趣在于燕子的生物学与昆虫的生物学错综复杂地相关，昆虫很可能受到农业集约化的强烈影响，因为农药的使用，除其他外，这一战略项目将在帮助决策者了解和预测目前通过农业利用资源的长期生态后果方面发挥关键作用，这一点非常重要，因为野生动物提供生态服务，通过授粉和控制害虫影响几种文化的产量。