Monitoring vegetation of agricultural landscape to estimate biodiversity value of Farmer Cluster
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Plant diversity at the base of the food chain is the baseline for the presence of biodiversity. Rapid changes in vegetation often translate habitat management and land use change, which inevitably shape species diversity in the landscape. In the Framework project we developed a common vegetation survey protocol of agricultural landscapes in Europe to estimate biodiversity value of the farmer clusters across the years. Vegetation transects were co-located with the pollinators and birds monitoring transects to sample all the habitats present within the FC. Several straightforward vegetation parameters were measures in the field while walking along the transects to estimate the nature value of the habitat (presence of woody elements, flower density, diversity of colours, number of flowering species, list of indicators species, cover of legumes, level of fertilisation, ...) along with more usual parameters (Land cover classes, vegetation covers, vegetation height...). The vegetation parameters recorded are simple and easy to learn making the protocol accessible to facilitators and practitioners. The results of the vegetation monitoring will be used to assess the benefit of implementing biodiversity sensitive farming practices. Along with the pollinators and the birds monitoring data collected in the same locations, the vegetation monitoring will complement a comprehensive set of biodiversity indicators to be used at the farmer cluster level.
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Farmer Clusters for Realising Agrobiodiversity Management across Ecosystems (FRAMEwork)
Ongoing | 2020-2025
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- United Kingdom