scholarly journals Of food and fauna: investigating the relationship between global agricultural land use and biodiversity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Kehoe

Agricultural land use dominates one third of the Earth’s land surface and is the single biggest driver of biodiversity loss. Moreover, with a growing human population and a rising demand for resources, the impact of agricultural land use on biodiversity is projected to escalate. The main goal of this thesis was to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between agricultural land use and biodiversity on a global scale. In approaching this goal, this thesis aims to bridge three main research gaps. First, while much research has addressed the effect of agricultural expansion on biodiversity, relatively little work has investigated the relationship between the many facets of agricultural intensification and biodiversity. Second, most studies on land use and biodiversity have assessed local to regional scale impacts, whereas few have assessed this relationship on a global scale. This gap is particularly critical in terms of predicting species richness – where environmental factors rather than human driven factors have traditionally been thought to be important in driving and predicting broad-scale patterns of biodiversity. Third, in light of growing future demand for resources, a better understanding is needed regarding the impact of future agricultural land use on biodiversity. This thesis made progress in bridging these research gaps by (i) mapping patterns of multiple metrics of land-use intensity and biodiversity, (ii) improving species- area relationships with the inclusion of land cover and land-use intensity metrics, and (iii) identifying highly biodiverse areas at risk under trajectories of potential future agricultural expansion and intensification. Patterns of land-use intensity metrics were heterogeneously distributed in areas of high biodiversity, suggesting that conservation research should include multiple intensity metrics in order to avoid underestimating biodiversity threat. Furthermore, results show land-use intensity was found to rival biomes in predicting global species richness, thus upgrading one of the most fundamental laws in ecology, and providing an improved understanding of broad-scale species richness patterns. Finally, areas most at-risk under potential future agricultural change were found to be widespread across Latin America and Sub-Saharan America. These results deliver crucial insights in proactively mitigating future potential conflicts in the nexus of biodiversity and land use. Overall, considering the great threat agriculture poses to biodiversity, this thesis highlighted the complexity and importance of land-use intensity in its relationship with biodiversity and uncovered highly biodiverse areas threatened by agricultural land use, both currently and in the future.

Author(s):  
S. Khan ◽  

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> India's urbanization has resulted in a significant change in many regions for both agricultural land and agricultural land use. However, there is limited understanding about the relationship between the two primary changes occurring to India's agricultural land – the urban expansion on agricultural land and agricultural land use intensity. Our primary goal here is to examine agricultural land change patterns and processes, and their main driving forces in Aligarh region (Uttar Pradesh) during the time periods from 2011 to 2018. We have conducted a remote sensing and GIS based analysis of change pattern using multi-temporal Landsat imageries for the years 2011 and 2018 by investigating the magnitude of changes in agricultural land use intensity across the district in a geographical perspective. Our study captured gradual decrease in the agricultural land in Aligarh district. The results also show that urban expansion is associated with a decline in agricultural land use intensity. The region experienced agriculture transition, and the urban expansion trend persisted till 2018. In terms of the drivers, we believe that the population and economic factors are most influential in shaping urban centers, while lower incentive and climatic shifts are the key drivers of decrease in agricultural land. Our study highlights the drastic effects of socio-economic and climatic changes on links between urbanization, and agricultural land which implies that urban land expansion is highly likely in future and consequently, will create pressure on the country's food security.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Małgorzata E. Szymańska

<p>The article analyzes the impact of plant production on the protection of biosphere resources. Agriculture significantly affects the quality of resources and natural environment assets and shapes their character. The quality of environmental resources determines the size and directions of agricultural production, and agriculture changes ecosystems, shapes the landscape, affects the quality and quantity of natural resources. European integration has influenced the relationship between agriculture and the environment in many directions. EU legislation and the formulation of development strategies and economic programs contribute to the greening of agricultural land use and the protection of biosphere resources. The assessment of these activities is definitely positive due to the creation of conditions for conflict-free coexistence of the protective function and the agricultural function.</p>


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 364
Author(s):  
Sahar Shahpari ◽  
Janelle Allison ◽  
Matthew Tom Harrison ◽  
Roger Stanley

Agricultural land-use change is a dynamic process that varies as a function of social, economic and environmental factors spanning from the local to the global scale. The cumulative regional impacts of these factors on land use adoption decisions by farmers are neither well accounted for nor reflected in agricultural land use planning. We present an innovative spatially explicit agent-based modelling approach (Crop GIS-ABM) that accounts for factors involved in farmer decision making on new irrigation adoption to enable land-use predictions and exploration. The model was designed using a participatory approach, capturing stakeholder insights in a conceptual model of farmer decisions. We demonstrate a case study of the factors influencing the uptake of new irrigation infrastructure and land use in Tasmania, Australia. The model demonstrates how irrigated land-use expansion promotes the diffusion of alternative crops in the region, as well as how coupled social, biophysical and environmental conditions play an important role in crop selection. Our study shows that agricultural land use reflected the evolution of multiple simultaneous interacting biophysical and socio-economic drivers, including soil and climate type, crop and commodity prices, and the accumulated effects of interactive decisions of farmers.


2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
R SMITH ◽  
C MCSWINEY ◽  
A GRANDY ◽  
P SUWANWAREE ◽  
R SNIDER ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Aziz Bahtiar Rifa’i ◽  
Fadjar Hari Mardiansjah

This study examines the impact of agricultural land use change into a petroleum mining area to farmers’ socioeconomic conditions around petroleum mining project area in Gayam District of Kabupaten Bojonegoro. The analyses used a mix method, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative approach is used to determine the impact of agricultural land use change on the social and economic aspects with the respondent farmers were supported with a scoring method to determine the condition of socioeconomic vulnerability of farmers, while the qualitative approach carried out through in-depth interviews to some informants who have been affected by the project. The results shows that the presence of the petroleum mining industry has not had a positive impact yet on the farmers’ socioeconomic conditions. By the 700 hectares of agricultural land conversion, the agricultural production capacity of the area tends to decrease, including by the decreasing of the productivity of some agricultural land in a radius of 500 m from the fenceof the mining area as they are affected by the fence’s spotlight. The farmers' income also tends to decrease because of the decreasing of their working hours as the big loss of agricultural land in the area. As a result, many farmers should work outside of the area to search replacement of the arable land. These situations lead to a moderate condition of social and economic vulnerability for the farmers, especially for those who still have sufficient assets to meet the needs of their economic. 


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