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

加拿大的农业是一个极具活力的全球参与者。为了在国际上保持竞争力，农业生产者采取了提高产量和降低成本的耕作方式。因此，在过去的几十年里，加拿大出现了更集约化农业的强烈趋势。在魁北克，从传统(更广泛的)农业向现在普遍的集约化农业的转变也是壮观的。该省的这些生产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留物为代价。这极大地改变了地貌，并可能影响几个生态系统的完整性和功能，特别是在圣劳伦斯河谷。然而，关于集约耕作做法对邻近生物群落的影响以及它可能对生态系统一级的生态相互作用产生的影响，人们知之甚少。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，量化不同耕作方式对野生动物种群的影响。更具体地说，我们将建立在魁北克南部农业集约化梯度内已经建立的树燕(Tachycineta Biolor)生物学研究系统。该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，由于使用杀虫剂，昆虫很可能受到农业集约化的强烈影响。此外，这一战略项目将在帮助政策制定者了解和预测当前通过农业利用资源的长期生态后果方面发挥关键作用。鉴于野生动物提供的生态服务通过授粉和控制害虫影响几种文化的生产产量，这一点非常重要。

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.