Combining habitat requirements of endemic bird species and other ecosystem services may synergistically enhance conservation efforts.
Biodiversity conservation and the optimisation of other ecosystem service delivery as a contribution to human well-being are often tackled as mutually alternative targets. Modern agriculture is a great challenge for the fulfilment of both. Here, we explore the potential benefits of integrating biodiversity conservation and the preservation of wider ecosystem services, considering the conservation of an endemic species (Moltoni's warbler Sylvia subalpina; Aves: Sylvidae) and soil erosion control (a final ecosystem service) in intensive vineyards in Italy. We modelled factors affecting warbler occurrence and abundance at 71 study plots by means of N-mixture models, and estimated soil erosion at the same plots by means of the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Shrub cover had positive effects on both warbler abundance and soil retention, whereas higher slopes promote warbler abundance as well as soil erosion. Creating shrub patches over sloping sites would be at the same time particularly suited for warblers and for soil retention. We simulated three alternative conservation strategies: exclusive focus on warbler conservation (1), exclusive focus on soil preservation (2), integration of the two targets (3). Strategies assumed the creation of 1.5-ha shrub patches over 5% of the total area covered by plots and targeted either at wildlife or soil conservation. The exclusive strategies would allow an increase of 105 individuals and the preservation of 783 tons ha-1year-1, respectively. Each individual strategy would ensure benefits for the other target corresponding to 61-64% of the above totals. The integrated strategy would allow for the achievement of 91-93% of the benefits (96 warblers and 729 tons ha-1year-1) of the individual strategies. The integration of the two approaches could provide important synergies, allowing to broaden the effects of conservation strategies, such as agri-environmental schemes that could be drawn from our results (and which are particularly urgent for intensive permanent crops).
Fondazione Lombardia per l'Ambiente, Settore biodiversità e aree protette, Largo 10 Luglio 1976 1, I-20822 Seveso (MB), Italy; Museo delle Scienze, Sezione Zoologia dei Vertebrati, Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza 3, I-38123 Trento, Italy. Electronic address: brambilla.mattia@gmail.com.
Mattia
M
Brambilla
Fondazione Lombardia per l'Ambiente, Settore biodiversità e aree protette, Largo 10 Luglio 1976 1, I-20822 Seveso (MB), Italy; University of Pavia, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Via Adolfo Ferrata 9, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.
Luca
L
Ilahiane
Museo delle Scienze, Sezione Zoologia dei Vertebrati, Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza 3, I-38123 Trento, Italy; University of Pavia, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Via Adolfo Ferrata 9, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.
Giacomo
G
Assandri
Fondazione Lombardia per l'Ambiente, Settore biodiversità e aree protette, Largo 10 Luglio 1976 1, I-20822 Seveso (MB), Italy; Politecnico di Milano, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, via Bonardi 3, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
Silvia
S
Ronchi
University of Pavia, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Via Adolfo Ferrata 9, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.
Giuseppe
G
Bogliani
D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D012987:Soil
D012987:Soil
Agri-environmental schemes; Erosion; Mediterranean; Permanent crops; Soil loss; Sylvia moltonii