Managing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Despite recent efforts, agricultural production continues to threaten biodiversity, disrupt delivery of key ecosystem services and contribute to climate change. A more regenerative approach is required to enable farmers to restore and work with the ecosystem services that underpin sustainable farming and food production. Biodiversity lies at the heart of this process. Managing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: Conservation, restoration and rewilding considers the range of techniques that can be implemented to improve biodiversity in farmland. It synthesises current research on the best ways to plan, implement and monitor ecological restoration projects as well the role of government agri-environment schemes. The book also assesses what we know about the use and impact of individual conservation practices, such as field margins and hedgerows, and ways of successfully rewilding farmland. Through a comprehensive and authoritative exploration of current research and best practice, the book promises to be a ‘go-to’ manual for key actors across the agri-food supply chain involved in protecting and promoting biodiversity and the ecosystem services which biodiversity underpins. Featuring contributions from an international range of subject experts, the book will be a standard reference for researchers in agroecology, conservation and environmental science, farmers, agronomists and consultants, as well as government and other agencies supporting farmland conservation and restoration projects. Dr Nick Reid is Emeritus Professor in Ecosystem Management and former Head of the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England, Australia. He is internationally renowned for his research on landscape revegetation, ecosystem restoration and management of biodiversity in production landscapes. Dr Rhiannon Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management in the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England. Her research focuses particularly on the measurement and management of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Australian agricultural sector. Dr David Paton is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide, and is widely known for his research on avian ecology and conservation biology. He co-founded Bio·R, a not-for-profit restoring broad-acre wildlife habitat to farmland, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2008 for his services to conservation and the environment.