title: Mixed biodiversity benefits of agri-environment schemes in five European countries.
abstract: Agri-environment schemes are an increasingly important tool for the maintenance and restoration of farmland biodiversity in Europe but their ecological effects are poorly known. Scheme design is partly based on non-ecological considerations and poses important restrictions on evaluation studies. We describe a robust approach to evaluate agri-environment schemes and use it to evaluate the biodiversity effects of agri-environment schemes in five European countries. We compared species density of vascular plants, birds, bees, grasshoppers and crickets, and spiders on 202 paired fields, one with an agri-environment scheme, the other conventionally managed. In all countries, agri-environment schemes had marginal to moderately positive effects on biodiversity. However, uncommon species benefited in only two of five countries and species listed in Red Data Books rarely benefited from agri-environment schemes. Scheme objectives may need to differentiate between biodiversity of common species that can be enhanced with relatively simple modifications in farming practices and diversity or abundance of endangered species which require more elaborate conservation measures.
authors.affiliation: Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Bornsesteeg 69, 6708 PD Wageningen, The Netherlands. david.kleijn@wur.nl
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kleijn
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Baquero
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Clough
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Esteban
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holzschuh
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jöhl
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Knop
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kruess
authors.forename: E J P
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Steffan-Dewenter
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tscharntke
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verhulst
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Yela
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001717:Birds; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D005060:Europe; D007313:Insecta; D010944:Plants; D013112:Spiders