Wildlife Conservation On Farmland Conflict In The Countryside

This volume investigates the sources of conflicts between farming and wildlife, and ultimately of the threats to conservation, discussing a variety of remedies and mitigations, and demonstrating the benefits of evidence-based, inter-disciplinary policy.

This innovative two-volume book highlights and examines the most important challenges facing farmers, conservationists, and policy makers, using examples of real-life, linked studies from a farmed landscape, which bridge the divide between the theory and practice of wildlife conservation on farmland.

Using more than 30 years research from the author team at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), 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. It demonstrates the essential ecosystem services provided by agricultural land, and discusses the implications of agricultural development for natural habitats and biodiversity.

This innovative two-volume book highlights and examines the most important challenges facing farmers, conservationists, and policy makers, using examples of real-life, linked studies from a farmed landscape, which bridge the divide between the theory and practice of wildlife conservation on farmland.

At a conference called by the Royal Society for the Arts, their President, HRH Prince Philip, laid down a Royal Challenge: that all parties with specific interests in the countryside should work together to achieve a sustainable future for our rural areas. His premise was that there are too many single-issue groups campaigning in isolation and that their interests often conflict; what is needed is a co-ordinated approach to the management of our countryside. World-renowned environmental campaigner David Bellamy has now written this book which highlights the many problems facing our rural areas. Although currently grabbing the headlines, fox hunting is not the only controversial issue affecting our countryside: wind farms; organic farming; the right to roam; species conservation and control - these are just some of the topics discussed in a no-nonsense way by Professor Bellamy, one of the world's leading experts in conservation.Not all is doom and gloom, however, as is shown by the many case studies of successful projects that are going on throughout the length and breadth of these islands and that provide examples of how co-operation and understanding can advance the cause of every countryside interest group. As you would expect, Bellamy pulls no punches; his conclusions and recommendations are typically forthright. There is, however, no doubt that if they are heeded, the future of the British countryside will be far brighter. This is a book that must be read by anyone who cares for Britain's greatest asset - its countryside.

The causes, consequences and control of land use change have become topics of enormous importance in contemporary society. Not only is urban land use and sprawl a hot-button issue, but issues of rural land use have also been in the headlines. Policy makers and citizens are starting to realize that many environmental and economic issues have the question of land use at their very core. Comprising papers from a conference sponsored by the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, Land Use Problems and Conflicts draws together some of the most up-to-date research in this area. Sections are devoted to problems in the United States and Europe, the consequences of such problems, land use-related data and alternative solutions to conflict. With a lineup including some of the best scholarship on this subject to date, this volume will be of use to those studying environmental and land use issues in addition to policy makers and economists.

Hedges and field margins are important wildlife habitats and deliver a range of ecosystem services, and their value is increasingly recognised by ecologists. This book reviews and assesses the current state of research on hedgerows and associated field margins. With the intensification of agriculture in the second half of the last century, field sizes were increased by amalgamation and the rooting out of hedges, synthetic pesticide and inorganic fertiliser use increased, and traditional methods of hedge management were largely abandoned. The book is split into two main sections. The first deals with definitions, current and historic management, the impact of pesticides, the decline in hedge stock and condition, and new approaches to hedge evaluation using remote sensing techniques. The second section explores the pollination and biological pest control benefits provided by hedges and field margins and examines the ecology of some of the major groups that are found in hedgerows and field margins: butterflies and moths, carabid beetles, mammals, and birds. A case study on birds and invertebrates from a research farm managed as a commercial enterprise, but which attempts to farm with wildlife in mind, brings these themes together. A final chapter introduces the neglected area of hedges in the urban environment. The book will be of great interest to advanced students, researchers and professionals in ecology, agriculture, wildlife conservation, natural history, landscape, environmental and land management.