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Biodiversity in an agricultural landscape – first day of national Dutch Biodiversity symposium

March 14, 2002

Agriculture and nature are not happily married (yet). Biodiversity is the victim. In preparation to the large COP6 biodiversity conference of the United Nations – planned for April in the Netherlands – a selection of international scientists will present their results and views. Tomorrow, on Friday March 15 in Wageningen (NL).

Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes has strongly declined during the last decades. Which factors have caused the decline and how can we stop this? For this we have to ‘dive’ into interactions and processes like pollination, herbivory and habitat fragmentation. The speakers will also discuss the perspectives for the combination of nature conservation and farming on the basis of present ecological knowledge.
The organisers of the biodiversity symposium are Wageningen University, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Nijmegen University, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

A foretaste:
Teja Tscharntke (University of Göttingen): “In fragmented cropland-grassland landscapes, the disruption of habitat continuity may be accompanied by a disruption of interactions between species, showing the functional significance of biodiversity.’

Felix W'¤ckers (NIOO-KNAW and Wageningen University): “Despite the growing popularity of the use of parasitiods and predators in biological control, we know little about questions of how the composition of non-crop elements impacts the effectiveness of predators and parasitoids. But we are working on it.”

Dan Chamberlain (British Trust for Ornithology): “We suggest that a general extensification of agriculture, rather than implementation of management prescriptions for individual species, will be most likely to benefit the farmland bird community.”

William Sutherland (University of East Anglia): “Combine targeted agri-environment schemes with large scale habitat restoration. Such restoration provides the opportunity to deal with several problems simultaneaously, such as sea-level rise, flood defense and water catchment protection.”

David Kleijn (Wageningen University): “An extensive study in the Netherlands showed that species richness of the target groups (waders, plants) was not raised after introduction of agri-environment schemes. […] The interactions between conservation management and environmental conditions are highlighted as a key to effective agri-environment schemes.”

Jan Bakker (Groningen University): “The type of plant communities with nature conservation interest to be maintained or restored in agricultural landscapes should be considered both on the national and the European level.”

Geert de Snoo (Leiden University): “Pesticides used on the fields can be expected to affect the biodiversity in linear elements like hedgerows and ditch banks on a large scale. Surprisingly there are little field data available (yet) to validate the predictions.”

Jeff Harvey (NIOO-KNAW): “Improving agriculture’s poor record with respect to biodiversity remains a major challenge for scientists and policymakers.”

Thursday 28 March 2002 will be the second, general day of the symposium: Biodiversity – a driving force of life. Please find more information at www.currentthemesinecology.nl



Programme Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
15 March 2002, Wageningen


09.30-10.0 Registration and coffee

10.00-10.40Prof.Dr. Teja Tscharntke (University of Göttingen):
Biodiversity and plant-insect interactions in the agricultural landscape

10.40-11.20Dr. Felix W'¤ckers (NIOO-KNAW Heteren, Wageningen University):
Can we tailor diversity in agro-ecosystems to optimize biological control?

11.20-12.00Dr. Dan Chamberlain (British Trust for Ornithology):
Agricultural intensification and declining farmland birds: Evidence from monitoring studies

12.00-13.0 Lunch

13.00-13.40Prof.Dr. William J. Sutherland (University of East Anglia):
Roles of genetically modified organisms, intensive agriculture, agri-environment schemes and wilderness in the agricultural landscape?

13.40-14.20Dr.Ir. David Kleijn (Wageningen University):
Agri-environment schemes: from intentions to achievements

14.20-15.00Prof.Dr. Jan Bakker (Groningen University):
Restoration of plant species diversity in agricultural landscapes

15.00-15.30 Tea

15.30-16.10Dr. Geert de Snoo (Leiden University):
Impacts of pesticide drift on biodiversity

16.10-16.50Dr. Jeff Harvey (NIOO-KNAW Heteren):
Sustainable development, maintaining agricultural output, and conserving biodiversity: challenges for ecologists

Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)