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Mixed biodiversity benefits of agri-environment schemes implemented in contrasting European countries.

Kleijn, David*,1, 1 Nature Conservation & Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT- Agri-environment schemes are an increasingly important tool for the maintenance and restoration of farmland biodiversity. Subsidies for nature conservation and landscape maintenance by farmers play a prominent role in WTO negotiations as they are decoupled from production and do not distort international trade, thus giving European countries the possibility to continue supporting the farming community when direct agricultural subsidies are under pressure. In 2003, the estimated agri-environmental budgets of EU-member states alone amounted to 3.7 billion euro. The effects of European agri-environment schemes on biodiversity are largely unknown as evaluation studies are few, mostly poorly designed and addressing single species groups. Here we present the results of a study evaluating the biodiversity effects of agri-environment schemes in five contrasting European countries: Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. We compared species richness of plants, birds, bees, grasshoppers and crickets, and spiders as well as the abundance of birds on 202 paired fields, one with an agri-environment scheme, the other conventionally managed. In four countries species richness of plants and one invertebrate group was higher on scheme fields compared to control fields, but in the Netherlands no species group responded positively. In all countries except for the United Kingdom some measure of bird abundance was higher on scheme fields. Endangered species were not affected by agri-environment schemes except for a marginal increase in plant species richness in Germany and a considerable increase in bird abundance in Spain. In general, common species may benefit from agri-environment schemes but benefits for endangered farmland wildlife appear to be limited.

Key words: conservation, biodiversity, agri-environment scheme, farmland wildlife

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