Lowland farmland bird conservation in the context of wider ecosystem service delivery.

Abstract

1. Much policy and research in the UK and elsewhere in Europe has been directed towards the conservation of farmland birds. With changes in the drivers of agricultural land management, farmland bird conservation now needs to be considered alongside provision of a range of ecosystem services (ES) indicative of environmentally sustainable land-management.
2. We explore the extent to which land management for farmland bird conservation provides 'cultural' ES, before assessing the potential consistency between management for bird species conservation and for a suite of ES that relate to the regulation of ecosystem processes.
3. We discuss the potential for co-delivery and trade-offs between farmland bird conservation and regulating ES, at a range of locations and spatial scales.
4. Potentially, action to enhance regulating services could provide some co-benefits for farmland bird conservation. However, more targeted management will still be required for certain species.
5. Synthesis and applications. Integration of species conservation management practices, in this case in farmland, with provision of other ES will be a significant challenge to land management. This will demand careful planning, at multiple scales, to account for the range of synergies and trade-offs between services, the dependence of service provision on time and location of management, and the dependence of service benefit on the number, locations and preferences of human beneficiaries.