Biodiversity in agriculture

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Agricultural lands with large areas of monoculture lacking heterogeneity.

Biodiversity in agriculture is the measure of biodiversity found on agricultural land.

levels of biological organization.[1] It is characterized by heterogeneous habitats that support the diverse ecological structure.[1] In agricultural areas, biodiversity decreases as varying landscapes are lost and native plants are replaced with cultivated crops.[1] Increasing biodiversity in agriculture can increase the sustainability of farms through the restoration of ecosystem services that aid in regulating agricultural lands.[2] Biodiversity in agriculture can be increased through the process of agroecological restoration, as farm biodiversity is an aspect of agroecology
.

Biodiversity is the measure of biotic and abiotic diversity in an ecosystem, described by heterogeneity.[1] The loss of biodiversity in agriculture has been an increasing issue since the global increase of food demands and success of popular crops.[3][4] This loss of heterogeneity declines species biodiversity on agricultural lands.[5] Biodiversity in agriculture is essential in providing ecosystem services, which conserves biodiversity while providing agricultural services.[6]

Biodiversity loss

Agriculture creates a conflict over the

habitat loss is recognized as the driving force in biodiversity loss.[9] A decline in farmland biodiversity can be traced to changes in farming practices and increased agricultural intensity.[3]: 182  Nonetheless, according to the FAO, "biodiversity is just as important on farms and in fields as it is in deep river valleys or mountain cloud forests".[10] In recent years, the world has acknowledged the value of biodiversity through treaties formed, such as in the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity.[10]

Monoculture results in the loss of biodiversity, as it prioritizes cultivated crops over native plants.

The loss of habitat connectivity caused by

Heterogeneity, the diversity of the landscape, has been shown to be associated with species diversity. For example, butterfly abundance has been found to increase with heterogeneity. Land that is not cropped, such as fallow land, grass margins in the spaces between different fields, and strips of scrub along field boundaries increase heterogeneity and thus the biodiversity of a farm. Plants attract insects, which will attract certain species of birds, and those birds will attract their natural predators. The cover provided by non-cropped land allows species to move across the landscape.[3]: 183–184  In Asian rice, one study showed crop diversification by growing flowering crops in strips beside rice fields could reduce pests so that insecticide spraying was reduced by 70%, yields increase by 5%, together resulting in an economic advantage of 7.5%.[13]

The Green Revolution

One of the issues facing biodiversity in areas of industrial agriculture is the loss of

genetically modified crops, which allows for increased yield, pest resistance, and improved crop varieties.[14] These advancements also led to increased global geographical spread of 52 agricultural crops with cereals such as wheat, rice, and maize showing the greatest increase in the past 50 years.[4] The loss of agricultural heterogeneity decreases local food security due to a loss in crop diversity, despite its accommodation of global food demands.[4]

Heterogeneity

Heterogeneity is essential in increasing species heterogeneity, which maintain stable ecological structures essential to providing ecosystem services.[5] Of the features associated with species diversity is land size, where a study proved a relationship between smaller agricultural fields and increased species richness.[15] The area of an agricultural field is associated with organisms accessibility to the edges of the field, which usually allow access for fields with different biophysical and geophysical features.[15] Increased accessibility to a diverse ecological features increases heterogeneity and reduces edge effects on populations inhabiting agricultural fields.[3][15]

Ecosystem services

Pollinators provide essential ecosystem services.

Agriculture is a transformative process to any habitat, with a main focus on cultivating crops for human consumption.[16] Views on ecosystem services can be presented through viewpoints that benefit humans environmentally, economically, and culturally to motivate the practices that support ecosystem services in the agricultural industry.[16] For example, low crop diversity can increase pests and their resistance to pesticides, resulting in large ecological disturbances and economical losses.[6] This can be mitigated with increased crop rotation, which contributes to more diverse soil microbiota and insects that provide ecosystem services.[6] Another example is the conservation of pollinators such as honeybees that can contribute to the agricultural industry, where contributing to the increase of pollinators is reciprocated with increased crop production.[16]

See also

References

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  8. ISBN 978-1-59726-269-9
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  9. ^
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  10. ^ a b "The future of agriculture depends on biodiversity". FAO Newsroom. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). 15 October 2004. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
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  12. ^
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  13. S2CID 205458366
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  14. ^
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  15. ^
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  16. ^
    ISSN 0921-8009
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Further reading

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