TY - JOUR
T1 - Gains to species diversity in organically farmed fields are not propagated at the farm level
AU - Schneider, Manuel
AU - Luscher, Gisela
AU - Jeanneret, Philippe
AU - Arndorfer, Michaela
AU - Ammari, Youssef
AU - Bailey, Debra
AU - Balázs, Katalin
AU - Báldi, András
AU - Choisis, Jean-Philippe
AU - Dennis, Peter
AU - Eiter, Sebastian
AU - Fjellstad, Wendy
AU - Fraser, Mariecia Dawn
AU - Frank, Thomas
AU - Friedel, Jürgen K.
AU - Garchi, Salah
AU - Jerkovich, Gergely
AU - Gomiero, Tiziano
AU - Hector, A.
AU - Jongman, R. G. H.
AU - Kakudidi, Esezah
AU - Kainz, Max
AU - Kovács-Hostyánszki, A.
AU - Moreno, Gerardo
AU - Nkwiine, Charles
AU - Opio, Julius
AU - Oschatz, M.-L.
AU - Paoletti, Maurizio
AU - Pointereau, Philippe
AU - Sarthou, Jean-Pierre
AU - Siebrecht, Norman
AU - Sommaggio, D.
AU - Turnbull, L.A.
AU - Wolfrum, Sebastian
AU - Herzog, Felix
AU - Geijzendorffer, Ilse R.
AU - González-Bornay, Guillermo
AU - Pulido, Fernando
N1 - Submitted 11 December 2013. NCOMMS-13-13396. Manuscript accepted for publication: 19 May 2014. Published early online: 24 June 2014.
PY - 2014/6/24
Y1 - 2014/6/24
N2 - Organic farming is promoted to reduce environmental impacts of agriculture, but surprisingly little is known about its effects at the farm level, the primary unit of decision making. Here we report the effects of organic farming on species diversity at the field, farm and regional levels by sampling plants, earthworms, spiders and bees in 1470 fields of 205 randomly selected organic and nonorganic farms in twelve European and African regions. Species richness is, on average, 10.5% higher in organic than nonorganic production fields, with highest gains in intensive arable fields (around +45%). Gains to species richness are partly caused by higher organism abundance and are common in plants and bees but intermittent in earthworms and spiders. Average gains are marginal +4.6% at the farm and +3.1% at the regional level, even in intensive arable regions. Additional, targeted measures are therefore needed to fulfil the commitment of organic farming to benefit farmland biodiversity.
AB - Organic farming is promoted to reduce environmental impacts of agriculture, but surprisingly little is known about its effects at the farm level, the primary unit of decision making. Here we report the effects of organic farming on species diversity at the field, farm and regional levels by sampling plants, earthworms, spiders and bees in 1470 fields of 205 randomly selected organic and nonorganic farms in twelve European and African regions. Species richness is, on average, 10.5% higher in organic than nonorganic production fields, with highest gains in intensive arable fields (around +45%). Gains to species richness are partly caused by higher organism abundance and are common in plants and bees but intermittent in earthworms and spiders. Average gains are marginal +4.6% at the farm and +3.1% at the regional level, even in intensive arable regions. Additional, targeted measures are therefore needed to fulfil the commitment of organic farming to benefit farmland biodiversity.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/2160/29633
UR - https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fncomms5151/MediaObjects/41467_2014_BFncomms5151_MOESM947_ESM.pdf
U2 - 10.1038/ncomms5151
DO - 10.1038/ncomms5151
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 5
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - N/A
M1 - 4151
ER -