Nature conservation can improve the productivity and appeal of your farm. This book shows how to use a conservation policy with your farming practices to increase the diversity of beneficial plants and animals. Use simple techniques of observation and measurement to achieve a productive resource for future generations. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments Learning outcomes Introduction Chapter 1 The benefits of nature conservation on your property Chapter 2 What is an ecosystem? Chapter 3 Describing the flora and fauna in your area Chapter 4 Agriculture—the quiet invasion of changing succession Chapter 5 Where have all the flowers (and other species) gone? Chapter 6 Measuring the health of habitat Chapter 7 Managing flora and fauna on your farm Glossary
An increasing number of Australians want to be assured that the food and fibre being produced on this continent have been grown and harvested in an ecologically sustainable way. Ecologically sustainable farming conserves the array of species that are integral to key ecological processes such as pollination, seed dispersal, natural pest control and the decomposition of waste. Wildlife Conservation in Farm Landscapes communicates new scientific information about best practice ways to integrate conservation and agriculture in the temperate eucalypt woodland belt of eastern Australia. It is based on the large body of scientific literature in this field, as well as long-term studies at 790 permanent sites on over 290 farms extending throughout Victoria, New South Wales and south-east Queensland. Richly illustrated, with chapters on birds, mammals, reptiles, invertebrates and plants, this book illustrates how management interventions can promote nature conservation and what practices have the greatest benefit for biodiversity. Together the new insights in this book inform whole-of-farm planning.
Explains why it is important to sustain native plants & animals in agricultural landscapes, outlines issues in developing & implementing practical approaches to safeguard native biodiversity in rural areas. Considers ecological & agricultural issues that determine what native biodiversity occurs in farmland.--
As the world population grows, so does the demand for food, putting unprecedented pressure on agricultural lands. In many desert dryland regions, however, intensive cultivation is causing their productivity to decline precipitously. "Rewilding" the least productive of these landscapes offers a sensible way to reverse the damage, recover natural diversity, and ensure long-term sustainability of remaining farms and the communities they support. This accessibly written, groundbreaking contributed volume is the first to examine in detail what it would take to retire eligible farmland and restore functioning natural ecosystems. The lessons in Rewilding Agricultural Landscapes will be useful to conservation leaders, policymakers, groundwater agencies, and water managers looking for inspiration and practical advice for solving the complicated issues of agricultural sustainability and water management.
Nature conservation is about keeping or bringing back, a wide range of plants, animals and other organisms on your farm that will contribute to its health, productivity and appeal. The aims of this publication are to raise your awareness of nature conservation on farms, consider how nature conservation can affect farm production, show how nature conservation can fit into your whole farm management operation, help you develop skills to tell if your farm is improving in its biodiversity and to give you some tools that allow you to develop nature conservation measures for your property.
Feeding the world's growing human population is increasingly challenging, especially as more people adopt a western diet and lifestyle. Doing so without causing damage to nature poses an even greater challenge. This book argues that in order to create a sustainable food supply whilst conserving nature, agriculture and nature must be reconnected and approached together. The authors demonstrate that while the links between nature and food production have, to some extent, already been recognized, until now the focus has been to protect one from the impacts of the other. Instead, it is argued that nature and agriculture can, and should, work together and ultimately benefit from one another. Chapters describe efforts to protect nature through globally connected protected area systems and illustrate how farming methods are being shaped to protect nature within agricultural systems. The authors also point to many ways in which nature benefits agriculture through the ecosystem services it provides. Overall, the book shows that nature conservation and food production must be considered as equally important components of future solutions to meet the global demand for food in a manner that is sustainable for both the human population and the planet as a whole.
Landscapes are frequently seen as fragments of natural habitat surrounded by a 'sea' of agriculture. But recent ecological theory shows that the nature of these fragments is not nearly as important for conservation as is the nature of the matrix of agriculture that surrounds them. Local extinctions from conservation fragments are inevitable and must be balanced by migrations if massive extinction is to be avoided. High migration rates only occur in what the authors refer to as 'high quality' matrices, which are created by alternative agroecological techniques, as opposed to the industrial monocultural model of agriculture. The authors argue that the only way to promote such high quality matrices is to work with rural social movements. Their ideas are at odds with the major trends of some of the large conservation organizations that emphasize targeted land purchases of protected areas. They argue that recent advances in ecological research make such a general approach anachronistic and call, rather, for solidarity with the small farmers around the world who are currently struggling to attain food sovereignty.Nature's Matrix proposes a radically new approach to the conservation of biodiversity based on recent advances in the science of ecology plus political realities, particularly in the world's tropical regions.
This volume reveals how agricultural systems and wildlife interact, presenting examples from scales varying from landscape to microcosm, from populations to individuals, covering plants, invertebrates, birds, and mammals.
This book provides an invaluable, comprehensive and practical introduction to conservation issues associated with current farming practice. Representing both industry and conservation as an integrated and holistic system, it explores conservation issues within every farming discipline; from arable and horticulture to grasslands, woodlands, aquatic and coastal farming and will include an assessment of the impact of global warming. The book includes relevant case studies and international, real-world examples, focusing on applied management and not just ecological facts, theories and principles. The carefully structured book begins by introducing the overall subject including some statistics on current farming activities, giving a brief outlook for the future of farming systems in relation to conservation. Each subsequent chapter will have its own introduction setting the commercial context and conservation value of an example farm, and will progress with a series of case studies that will include the following elements: site assessment; species list; soils management options; and a habitat management plan. A summary section will draw together the common themes of the chapter and develop a lead-in to subsequent chapters. It will provide students with an informed appreciation of current practice whilst raising questions about the development of conservation in farming in the future.
The Farm as Natural Habitat is a vital new contribution to the debate about agriculture and its impacts on the land. Arising from the conviction that the agricultural landscape as a whole could be restored to a healthy diversity, the book challenges the notion that the dominant agricultural landscape -- bereft of its original vegetation and wildlife and despoiled by chemical runoff -- is inevitable if we are to feed ourselves. Contributors bring together insights and practices from the fields of conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, and environmental restoration to link agriculture and biodiversity, farming and nature, in celebrating a unique alternative to conventional agriculture.Rejecting the idea that "ecological sacrifice zones" are a necessary part of feeding a hungry world, the book offers compelling examples of an alternative agriculture that can produce not only healthful food, but fully functioning ecosystems and abundant populations of native species. Contributors include Collin Bode, George Boody, Brian DeVore, Arthur (Tex) Hawkins, Buddy Huffaker, Rhonda Janke, Richard Jefferson, Nick Jordan, Cheryl Miller, Heather Robertson, Carol Shennan, Judith Soule, Beth Waterhouse, and others.The Farm as Natural Habitat is both hopeful and visionary, grounded in real examples, and guided by a commitment to healthy land and thriving communities. It is the first book to offer a viable approach to addressing the challenges of protecting and restoring biodiversity on private agricultural land and is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of land or biodiversity conservation, farming and agriculture, ecological restoration, or the health of rural communities and landscapes.
