TY - JOUR

T1 - Abolition of set-aside schemes, associated impacts on habitat structure and modelling of potential effects of cross-farm regulation

AU - Levin, G.

AU - Jepsen, Martin Rudbeck

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - In intensively farmed regions, habitat fragmentation represents a major pressure on biodiversity. Depending on its spatial setting, set-aside land can increase size and connectivity of habitats and thus counteract fragmentation. In 2008, the EU-wide set-aside obligation was suspended and a large proportion of set-aside land was re-cultivated. With Denmark as case we apply an indicator to measure the effect of set-aside land on spatial structure of semi-natural habitats in term of habitat size and connectivity. Furthermore, we model effects of a hypothetical spatial regulation, where set-aside land with the greatest benefit for habitat structure is retained as uncultivated, while set-aside land with the least effect is re-cultivated. The model is applied to individual farms and to farm agglomerations of increasing sizes, enabling us to explore potential effects of cross-farm regulation. The novelty of our approach is the application of observed land-uses changes for modelling a hypothetical regulation working on a range of spatial scales. Results show that after abolition of set-aside schemes the effect of set-aside land on habitat structure was more than halved. Modelled spatial regulation considerably reduces impacts. Effects increase with increasing size of farm agglomerations. However, marginal benefits become negligible at agglomeration sizes over 36 km(2). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

AB - In intensively farmed regions, habitat fragmentation represents a major pressure on biodiversity. Depending on its spatial setting, set-aside land can increase size and connectivity of habitats and thus counteract fragmentation. In 2008, the EU-wide set-aside obligation was suspended and a large proportion of set-aside land was re-cultivated. With Denmark as case we apply an indicator to measure the effect of set-aside land on spatial structure of semi-natural habitats in term of habitat size and connectivity. Furthermore, we model effects of a hypothetical spatial regulation, where set-aside land with the greatest benefit for habitat structure is retained as uncultivated, while set-aside land with the least effect is re-cultivated. The model is applied to individual farms and to farm agglomerations of increasing sizes, enabling us to explore potential effects of cross-farm regulation. The novelty of our approach is the application of observed land-uses changes for modelling a hypothetical regulation working on a range of spatial scales. Results show that after abolition of set-aside schemes the effect of set-aside land on habitat structure was more than halved. Modelled spatial regulation considerably reduces impacts. Effects increase with increasing size of farm agglomerations. However, marginal benefits become negligible at agglomeration sizes over 36 km(2). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

KW - Set-aside land

KW - Habitat structure

KW - Spatial structure indicator

KW - Land-use change

KW - Land-use modelling

KW - Cross-farm regulation

KW - AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES

KW - BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

KW - SPECIES RICHNESS

KW - DIVERSITY

KW - LAND

KW - HETEROGENEITY

KW - POPULATIONS

KW - COOPERATION

KW - INCENTIVES

KW - INTENSITY

M3 - Journal article

VL - 221

SP - 2728

EP - 2737

JO - Ecological Modelling

JF - Ecological Modelling

SN - 0304-3800

IS - 22

ER -