title: Relating costs to the user value of farmland biodiversity measurements.
abstract: The impact of agricultural management on global biodiversity highlights the need for farm-scale monitoring programmes capable of determining the performance of agriculture practices. Yet the identification of appropriate indicators is a challenging process and one that involves considering a number of different aspects and requirements. Besides the attention given to scientific effectiveness, relevant but less studied issues related to biodiversity measurements include the economic feasibility of monitoring programmes and the relevance of indicators for different end-users. In this paper, we combine an analytic assessment of costs and a stakeholder-based evaluation of the usefulness of a set of biodiversity-related parameters (habitat mapping, vegetation, bees, earthworms, spiders, and a farmer questionnaire) tested for scientific consistency in 12 European case studies and on more than 14,000 ha of farmland. The results point to the possibility of meeting the expectations of different end-users (administrators, farmers and consumers) with a common indicator set. Combining costs and usefulness also suggests the possibility of designing more efficient monitoring approaches involving private agencies and networks of volunteers and farmers for the field data collection at different stages of a monitoring programme. Although complex, such an approach would make it possible to enhance the effectiveness of available funds for farmland biodiversity monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Advanced Studies, Aix-Marseille University, 13004 Marseille, France; Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: targettis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Targetti
authors.affiliation: Agroscope, Institute for Sustainability Sciences, CH-8046 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.affiliation: Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Avignon Université, Technopôle Arbois-Méditerranée, Bât. Villemin - BP 80, F-13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 04, France.
authors.forename: I R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Geijzendorffer
authors.affiliation: SOLAGRO, Initiatives and Innovation for Energy, Agriculture, and Environment, 31076 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pointereau
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Viaggi
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics*; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans
keywords: Agriculture; Biodiversity indicators; Citizen science; Farmer; Multi-criteria evaluation; Stakeholders; Volunteer