FARMLAND ECOLOGY - QUESSA | 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Farm
165 t C per ha and woody linear habitats 136 t C per ha. Multiplying the soil carbon levels by the area occupied by each habitat in each landscape sector revealed that, on average, most carbon (82%) was stored in the soil within fields rather than in the SNH. However, there was considerable variation between the landscape sectors (see Figure 3). Furthermore, increasing soil organic matter in fields from 1-2% to 6% would double the amount of carbon stored on a landscape sector.
Conclusions Our research showed that SNH can benefit some ecosystem services, but disentan- gling their contribution from the multitude of other factors influencing the levels of these services is difficult. Often the contribution of SNHs is context-dependent, not what farmers and policy makers wish to hear, and consequently we can often only support the existing recommendations for encouraging pollinators and pest natural enemies. We were reassured though from our socio-economic work within the project, that farmers take ecosystem services and biodiversity into consideration in their management decisions and that they valued the beauty of farming landscapes. As we enter a critical period for revisions to farming subsidies it will be imperative that we continue to financially support SNH as they are a key component in the delivery of more sustainable farming systems and are crucial for much of our wildlife and farming heritage. For more information visit
www.quessa.eu or
www.facebook.com/Quessa- 129370957261348/
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to thank every farmer that kindly helped with the project. This project received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological develop- ment and demonstration under grant agreement No 311879. Our thanks to all the QuESSA partners: Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station, CH; Wageningen University, NL; Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, IT; Szent Istvan University, HU; Bordeaux Sciences Agro, FR; Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, IT; University of Exeter, UK; SOLAGRO, FR; Stichting Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek, NL; Estonian University of Life Sciences, EE; University of Pisa, IT; University of Koblenz-Landau, D; Environmental Social Science Research Group, HU.
Herbaceous Fields
Woodland Woody linear
Figure 3
Mean carbon (t) stored in the soil weighted according to the area of fields and semi-natural habitats within a landscape sector (LS) of 1-km radius
Promoting the value of field margins was an important part of the project. © John Holland/GWCT
www.gwct.org.uk GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2016 | 61
Weighted t C per LS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
