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Trade-offs between pasture production and farmland bird conservation: exploration of options using a dynamic farm model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2014

R. Sabatier ,
F. Teillard ,
W. A. H. Rossing ,
L. Doyen  and
M. Tichit
R. Sabatier*
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR 1048 SAD APT, F-75005 Paris, France AgroParisTech, UMR 1048 SAD APT, F-75005 Paris, France
F. Teillard
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR 1048 SAD APT, F-75005 Paris, France AgroParisTech, UMR 1048 SAD APT, F-75005 Paris, France
W. A. H. Rossing
Affiliation:
Farming Systems Ecology group, Wageningen Centre for Agro-ecology and Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
L. Doyen
Affiliation:
CNRS, Gretha, University of Bordeaux, Avenue Léon Duguit, 33608 Pessac Cedex, France
M. Tichit
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR 1048 SAD APT, F-75005 Paris, France AgroParisTech, UMR 1048 SAD APT, F-75005 Paris, France
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In European grassland landscapes, grazing and mowing play a key role for the maintenance of high-quality habitats that host important bird populations. As grasslands are also key resources for cattle feeding, there is a need to develop management strategies that achieve the double objective of production and biodiversity conservation. The objective of this study was to use a modelling approach to generate recognisable patterns of bird dynamics in farms composed of different land use proportions, and to compare their production and ecological dimensions. We developed a dynamic model, which linked grassland management to bird population dynamics at the field and farm levels. The model was parameterised for two types of suckling farms corresponding to contrasting levels of grassland intensification and for two bird species of high conservation value. A viability algorithm was used to define and assess viable management strategies for production and ecological performance so as to draw the shape of the relationship between both types of performances for the two types of farms. Our results indicated that, at the farm level, there was a farming system effect with a negative and non-linear relationship linking performance. Improving bird population maintenance was less costly in extensive farms compared with intensive farms. At the field level, the model predicted the timing and intensity of land use, maximising either production or ecological performance. The results suggested that multi-objective grassland management would benefit from public policies that consider levels of organisation higher than the field level, such as the farm or the landscape.

Keywords

dynamic modellingviability theorygrazingmowingfarmland birdagroecology
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 9 , Supplement 5 , May 2015 , pp. 899 - 907
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2014 

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