Landscape ecosystem services: European perspectives
Functional biodiversity can be studied at hierarchical levels of the field, on the farm scale and at the landscape scale. At the field scale, annual or perennial field margins can provide important food plants and habitats for insect natural enemies and pollinators. At the farm scale, both linear elements such as hedgerows, flowering strips, ditches and stone walls and non-linear elements such as groups of and ponds can contribute to functional biodiversity. While the field scale has traditionally received much attention in strategic and applied research, the higher hierarchical scales of farm and landscape or region have only recently gained attention.
According to IOBC (International Organisation of Biological Control) standards, at least 5% of the entire farm surface (excluding forests have to be identified and managed as ecological infrastructure (= ecological compensation area) with no input of pesticides or fertilisers in order to enhance botanical and faunistic biodiversity. The surface of ecological infrastructures should eventually increase to 10% (IOBC 2004). This is part of the IOBC definition of IP, Integrated Production. The concepts, principles and general technical guidelines for Integrated Production were first published in 1993 in the major languages of the WPRS region and were updated in 1999 and 2004. They serve as a basic document as to concepts and standards and are maintained by the IOBC-WPRS commission on IP (http://www.iobc-wprs.org/expert_groups/c_ip_guidelines.html).
The Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides was adopted by the EU in 2009 and “establishes a framework to achieve a sustainable use of pesticides by reducing the risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and the environment and promoting the use of integrated pest management and of alternative approaches or techniques such as non-chemical alternatives to pesticides” (EU 2009). The directive states that all EU countries will convert to the use of integrated pest management (IPM) in agricultural production by 2014. By 1 January 2014 each member country must have an action plan. Agri-environment-climate payments that support sustainable production including organic production and conversion to organic, support for advisory services and a better regulation of pesticides are parts of the directive.
The EU policy has increased interest in alternative pest management, and landscape management for functional biodiversity is one element of this.
The IOBC-WPRS Work Group on Landscape management for functional biodiversity was established in 2003. Its focus is to contribute knowledge on functional biodiversity at the landscape scale. This requires interdisciplinary collaboration on functional biodiversity, landscape connectivity and fragmentation. The aim of the Working Group is to promote and stimulate basic and applied research activities related to improving cropping and farming system performance, in particular pest, disease and weed management, that adopt a landscape ecological approach. For this purpose, the Working Group acts as a platform for exchange of concepts and research results. The group meets biannually, and an IOBC/wprs Bulletin is produced on the proceedings of the meeting.
When systems management is approached from farm and landscape scales new options for pest control arise. In addition to providing exciting new tools for research and understanding ecological mechanisms at larger scales, this change to farm and landscape perspective is highly relevant in relation to the public debate on the sustainability of farming and food security, agri-environment schemes and the role of agriculture in landscape and nature management.
Research at the farm and landscape scale requires inputs from a range of disciplines, such as meteorology, molecular biology, populations genetics, agronomy and landscape ecology (http://www.iobc-wprs.org/expert_groups/19_wg_landscape_management.html).
References
Integrated Production: Principles and Technical Guidelines, 3rd edition 2004. 50 pp. Edited by E.F. Boller, J. Avilla, E. Jörg, C. Malavolta, F. Wijnands & P. Esbjerg, IOBC WPRS Bull. Vol. 27 (2), 2004. ISBN 92-9067-163-5.
EU 2009. DIRECTIVE 2009/128/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
IOBC-WPRS website: http://www.iobc-wprs.org/
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