Conservation Evidence: Evidence Data

Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Enforce legislation to protect birds against persecution Two before-and-after studies have evaluated effects of legislative protection on bird species in Europe. Both found that legislation protects bird populations. One found increased population levels of raptors in Scotland, following protective legislation. One found increased survival of kestrels in Denmark stricter protection, but not necessarily population-level responses. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F101https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F101Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:55:47 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Control invasive non-native plants on farmland (such as Himalayan Balsam, Japanese knotweed) Two randomized, replicated, controlled trials in the Czech Republic found that removing all flower heads of giant hogweed plants at peak flowering time dramatically reduced seed production in giant hogweed. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F104https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F104Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:59:27 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Control bracken One systematic review found that the herbicide asulam reduced bracken abundance if applied repeatedly, but cutting may be equally effective. A replicated laboratory trial in the UK found that the herbicide asulam inhibited the growth of three common moss species that commonly grow in association with bracken, when exposed over three weeks, but not if only exposed for 24 hours. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F105https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F105Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:00:36 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Control mink A systematic review found seven studies demonstrating that trapping appears to be an effective method of reducing American mink populations, but firm conclusions could not be made due to limitations in experimental design. A large-scale trapping programme in the UK demonstrated that American mink have been successfully eradicated over a large area and this may have been associated with some localized water vole expansions. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F107https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F107Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:02:53 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Protect individual nests of ground-nesting birds Two replicated, randomized, controlled studies from Sweden found providing nest exclosures offered some benefits to ground-nesting birds. One study found that protected nests had higher average daily survival rates than unprotected nests for both common redshank and northern lapwing, however, this study also reported higher predation of adult redshank on protected nests. One study found that the average hatching rate for southern dunlin was higher for protected rather than unprotected nests. This study also found no difference in the number of fledglings, breeding adults or new recruits during two periods with and without nest protection. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F108https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F108Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:04:47 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Remove flood defence banks to allow inundation One controlled before-and-after study from the UK found more bird territories and species on a stretch of river modified to allow inundation of river edges compared to a channelized section of river. One study from Belgium found that a combination of mowing and flooding resulted in increased plant species richness in meadow plots, but infrequently flooded, mown plots had more plant species than frequently flooded, non-mown plots. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F122https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F122Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:17:40 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Plant more than one crop per field (intercropping) Three replicated, controlled and randomized studies from the Netherlands, Poland and the UK found that intercropping cabbage with French beans or clover resulted in increased ground beetle abundance. A trial from Switzerland found increased earthworm abundance in a maize plot immediately followed by a rye grass crop. A review found ground beetle numbers were enhanced by intercropping relative to single crops. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F124https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F124Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:30:53 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Add yellow rattle seed Rhinanthus minor to hay meadows A review of studies from the UK found that adding hay rattle seed helped other sown target meadow species to colonize and that more plant species were found when yellow rattle was present. A randomized, replicated controlled trial in the UK found that yellow rattle could be established on a pasture field by ‘slot seeding’. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F129https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F129Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:56:48 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Implement 'mosaic management', a Dutch agri-environment option A replicated, controlled, before-and-after study from the Netherlands found that northern lapwing population trends changed from decreases to increases following the introduction of mosaic management. Three other species of wading bird did not show such a response and Eurasian oystercatcher populations did less well under mosaic management than other management types. A replicated, paired sites study in the Netherlands that black-tailed godwit had higher productivity under mosaic management than other management types due to higher nest survival, and nests were less likely to be trampled by livestock or destroyed by mowing under mosaic management. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F130https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F130Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:01:50 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Increase the proportion of semi-natural habitat in the farmed landscapeFive studies monitored the effects of the Swiss Ecological Compensation Areas scheme at a landscape scale, including three replicated site comparisons. Of these, one found an increase in numbers of birds of some species. Two found no effect on the number of bird species or population densities of farmland birds. Three studies found mixed effects, with some species or groups of species increasing and others decreasing.Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F145https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F145Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:48:09 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Make direct payments per clutch for farmland birds Two replicated and controlled studies from the Netherlands found limited evidence for increased wading bird populations on farms with per-clutch payments. One study found no population effects over three years. The second found slightly higher breeding densities of wading birds, but not higher overall numbers. A replicated and controlled study found higher hatching success of northern lapwing and black-tailed godwit on farms with payment schemes than control farms. A replicated site comparison from the Netherlands that looked at the effects of per-clutch payments in combination with postponed agricultural activities found more birds bred on 12.5 ha plots under the per-clutch payment and postponed agricultural activities scheme but found no differences at the field-scale. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F146https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F146Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:46:56 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Provide refuges during harvest or mowing Three studies examined the effect of providing refuges for birds during harvest or mowing in France and the UK. One replicated study in France found evidence that providing refuges during mowing reduced contact between mowing machinery and unfledged quail and corncrakes. However one replicated controlled study and a review from the UK found that Eurasian skylark did not use nesting refuges more than other areas. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F147https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F147Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:49:58 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Plant cereals for whole crop silage Two studies (one review, one replicated trial) from the UK investigated the effects of cereal-based whole crop silage. One replicated study found that cereal-based whole crop silage fields were used more by farmland birds and supported a higher abundance of seed-eating songbirds, swallows and martins than other crop types. The same study also found that important bird food plants were more abundant in cereals than other crop types and more invertebrates were found in wheat, barley and grass silage fields compared to maize. A review found one study in which cereal-based whole crop silage fields were avoided by seed-eating birds during winter, but used as much as a control during summer. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F149https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F149Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:59:01 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Manage heather, gorse or grass by burning A long-term replicated controlled trial in Switzerland found that annual spring burning of calcareous grassland did not increase plant species richness relative to abandoned plots, after 15 years. A replicated controlled trial in Northern Ireland found that heather moorland subject to a single burn had more plant species eight years after the management, than control unburned plots. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F152https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F152Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:22:28 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Provide owl nest boxes (Tawny owl, Barn owl) Two studies from the UK (a before-and-after study and a controlled study) found that the provision of owl nest boxes in farm buildings maintained barn owl nesting and roosting activity and resulted in an increase in population density. A study from the Netherlands found that the barn owl population increased with increased availability of nest boxes. A replicated, controlled study in Hungary found that juvenile barn owls fledged from nest boxes were significantly less likely to be recovered alive than those reared in church towers. A replicated study from the UK investigating barn owl nest site use, found that the number of occupied nest sites and the proportion breeding decreased from 2001 to 2009, but were unaffected by the number of boxes. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F154https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F154Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:38:54 +0000Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Use traditional breeds of livestock Two UK studies (one replicated) and a review reported differences in quantities of plant species grazed, vegetation structure and invertebrate assemblages between areas grazed with different breeds of sheep or cattle. A small, replicated study found that Hebridean sheep grazed more purple moor grass than Swaledale sheep, but the resulting density of purple moor grass and heather did not differ. A UK study found that at reduced grazing pressure, traditional and commercial cattle breeds created different sward structures and associated invertebrate assemblages. One replicated trial from France, Germany and the UK found grazing by traditional rather than commercial livestock breeds had no clear effect on the number of plant species or the abundance of butterflies, grasshoppers, birds, hares, or ground-dwelling arthropods in general. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F539https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F539Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:57:52 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Increase crop diversity All four studies (including one replicated, controlled study and one review) from Belgium, Germany, Hungary and unspecified European countries reported a positive effect of crop rotations on ground beetles or plants. Three studies found higher ground beetle species richness and/or abundance and one study found higher plant species richness in rotation fields or on farms with more crops in rotation compared to monoculture fields. A study from Hungary found that fields in monoculture had a more stable and abundant ground beetle community than fields within a rotation. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F560https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F560Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:08:33 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Create open patches or strips in permanent grassland Two studies (both randomized, replicated and controlled) investigated the effects of creating open strips in permanent grassland. One trial from the UK found that more Eurasian skylarks used fields containing open strips, but variations in skylark numbers were too great to draw conclusions from this finding. One trial from Scotland found insect numbers in grassy headlands initially dropped when strips were cleared. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F563https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F563Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:19:06 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Plant cereals in wide-spaced rows One replicated, controlled randomized study and four reports from the same replicated, controlled study in the UK investigated the effects of planting cereals in wide-spaced rows on birds, invertebrates and plants. Both studies found no or inconsistent differences in plant and invertebrate abundance and/or species richness between wide-spaced row and control fields. The replicated controlled study found higher undesirable weed cover, and one study found no significant difference in weed cover in fields with wide-spaced rows compared to control fields. One study found significantly lower invertebrate abundances and fewer Eurasian skylark nests in wide-spaced row fields than control fields or fields with undrilled patches. However it also found an increase in the body condition of nestlings over the breeding season in wide-spaced row fields compared with control fields. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F564https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F564Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:47:40 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Restrict certain pesticides A small scale study in the UK found that using the fungicides Propiconazole and Triadimefon reduced chick food insect abundance less than using Pyrazophos. A replicated, controlled trial in Switzerland found that applying metaldehyde slug pellets in a 50 cm band along the field edge adjacent to wildflower strips provided equivalent crop protection to broadcasting the pellets across the whole field. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F565https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F565Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:37:14 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Sow rare or declining arable weeds Two studies from the UK (both replicated, controlled and randomized) found that the establishment of rare or declining arable weeds depended upon cover crop, cultivation, timing of cut and year or a combination of cultivation in autumn and herbicide treatment. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F642https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F642Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:52:39 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Create rotational grass or clover leys A controlled study in Finland found that creating clover leys resulted in higher spider abundance and fewer pest insects than a barley control plot. A study in the UK found that one-year ley plots had significantly lower earthworm species richness and abundance than three-and-a-half-year leys. A replicated study in the UK found that grass leys had fewer plant species than nine other conservation measures. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F643https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F643Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:45:06 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Restore or create wood pasture One replicated controlled trial in Belgium found that protection from grazing enhanced the survival and growth of tree seedlings planted in pasture. One replicated study in Switzerland found that cattle browsing increased the mortality of tree saplings of four species, and reduced average shoot production and total above-ground biomass. Browsing frequency decreased with increasing height of the surrounding vegetation. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F644https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F644Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:01:11 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Restore or create upland heath/moorland A small unreplicated trial of heather moorland restoration in northern England found that mowing and flail cutting along with grazing could be used to control the dominance of purple moor grass. The same study found moorland restoration benefited one bird species, with one or two pairs of northern lapwing found to breed in the area of restored moorland, where none had bred prior to restoration. A review from the UK concluded that vegetation changes took place very slowly following the removal of grazing to restore upland grassland to heather moorland. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F650https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F650Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:03:29 +0100Collected Evidence: Collected Evidence: Maintain traditional orchards Two replicated site comparisons from Germany and Switzerland found that, on average, 12% of traditional orchards in Swiss Ecological Compensation Areas were of ‘good ecological quality’, and traditional orchards under a German agri-environment scheme did not have more plant species than paired control sites. Traditional orchards in Ecological Compensation Areas appeared to offer little benefit to birds. A replicated, controlled site comparison study in Germany found that plant species richness was higher on mown orchards than grazed or abandoned ones, but numbers of species and brood cells of bees and wasps did not differ. Collected Evidencehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F703https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservationevidence.com%2Factions%2F703Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:17:09 +0000