Resource description:
Over the past eight decades, economic growth and technological advances in Europe and North America have driven a rapid shift toward highly intensified, industrialized agriculture. This shift has resulted in substantial gains in agricultural productivity but has also contributed to the expansion of cropland and the degradation or loss of semi‑natural habitats. High‑diversity landscape features (HDLFs) including hedgerows, ponds, small forest patches, isolated trees, dry‑stone walls, and terraced areas have been progressively reduced, weakening local ecological networks and disrupting connectivity across agricultural landscapes.
This study examines how bird species composition varies with land‑use types in the Apulia region of Italy. The region supports a relatively rich community of farmland‑dependent bird species, with 37 species recorded. Its agricultural landscape is dominated by cereals such as wheat, along with fodder crops, pastures, and olive groves, interspersed with vineyards and vegetable fields. A total of 20 bird survey sites were selected across three land‑use categories: arable agricultural land, mixed-use land, and natural areas.
Findings indicate that natural areas exhibit the highest species richness and diversity, followed by mixed-use areas and, lastly, strictly agricultural lands. These results align with widely recognized ecological principles: natural habitats generally maintain higher biodiversity and a more even species distribution due to lower levels of disturbance and greater habitat heterogeneity. The results further suggest that agroecological practices such as organic farming and agroforestry can meaningfully enhance biodiversity in agricultural settings. Even the limited introduction of HDLFs, such as hedgerows or tree rows, can substantially improve landscape‑level biodiversity. The relatively high biodiversity observed in mixed land‑use areas underscores their potential role in conservation planning and highlights the importance of integrating such mosaic landscapes into regional land‑use strategies.
Author/Contact:
Maurizio Gioiosa, Biodiversity and Rural Landscape Lab, Department of Science of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resources and Engineering, University of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25, 71122 Foggia, Italy