Ag-Biota: ACTION 1 Development of methods for monitoring the current and likely future status of biodiversity in the agro-ecosystem
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Resource or Project Abstract
Agriculture accounts for about 62% of total land use in Ireland. Due to intesification of the industry, there has been a drastic change in the farmed landscape since the second half of last century, and a widely perceived decline in Irish biodiversity similar to that across much of Western Europe. This integrated study, informally known as the 'Ag-Biota' Project was funded to develop capacity and expertise in biodiversity research within the context of agriculture. This part of the Ag-Biota project undertook a programme of standardised monitoring for birds (farm scale) and terrestrial invertebrates (field level) and aimed to identify the most useful bioindicator groups likely to be informative in longer-term assessment of the changing impact of farming on biodiversity within the countryside. Parasitoid wasps, which have importance in natural pest regulation were shown at the family level to reflect wider biodiversity and ecological change in agricultural grasslands. The incidence of birds was shown to reflect the management of field boundaries, farm habitat diversity and the intensity of grassland husbandry. The project undertook a 5-year programme of standardised monitoring for a wide selection of taxonomic groups at scales appropriate to those groups (individual field, farm or landscape). Initially, this monitoring was done at a relatively small number of farm sites with the intention of identifying the most useful and bio-indicator groups likely to be informative in the longer-term monitoring and assessment of the wider impact of farming on biodiversity within the countryside. Subsequently, once candidate indicator groups had been identified, the scale of monitoring was increased with the aim of confirming the utility of the chosen groups as useful bio-indicators, and beginning the process of collating and analysing information relevant to the current baseline status of the chosen groups in Irish farmland.
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Contact Information for This Resource
| Dr. Gordon Purvis |
| University College Dublin |
| Dr. Alvin Helden |
| Anglia Ruskin University |
| Dr. Barry McMahon |
| University College Dublin |
| Dr. Annette Anderson |
| UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science |
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Data, Files, Information Objects Related To This Project Resource
There are currently 0 data files and/or information objects connected to this resource. You will need to contact the owners of this resource to enquire if data files and/or information objects will be made available to the public in the future. Contact information for the owners of this resource can be found in the Responsible Parties information section of the metadata.
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Access Information For This Resource
| SAFER-Data Display URL | https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=112 |
| Resource Keywords | Agricultural grassland, bioindicators, biodiversity, birds, vegetation arthropods |
| EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code | 2001-CD/B1-M1 |
| EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme | Biodiversity |
| Resource Availability: |
 Public-Open |
| Limitations on the use of this Resource | At present there are no datasets, data files, or information objects attached to this metadata resource. When datasets, data files, and information objects become available and are attached to this metadata resource anyone download and hence obtaining access to datasets corresponding to this resource any datasets, data, or information resources being used in a journal article or other means of publication the original authors should be informed of this usage and an appropriate acknowledgement or citation is included within the published article. The EPA advise that this acknowledgement should take one of the following forms dependent upon how heavily the published work relates to the downloaded data:
* Co-Authorship(s) for the original author(s)* Written acknowledgement within the body of the article* Written acknowledgement by means of the inclusion of a bibliography entry which clearly cites the original authors. The EPA as a/the primary funder of the research should be acknowledged. |
| Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download): | 0 |
| Project Start Date | Saturday 1st December 2001 (01-12-2001) |
| Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects | Thursday 1st August 2002 (01-08-2002) |
| Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects | Friday 1st August 2003 (01-08-2003) |
| Published on SAFER | Wednesday 6th May 2009 (06-05-2009) |
| Date of Last Edit | Wednesday 6th May 2009 at 13:47:30 (06-05-2009) |
| Datasets or Files Updated On | Wednesday 6th May 2009 at 13:38:13 (06-05-2009) |
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Geographical and Spatial Information Related To This Resource
Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
The 10 monitoring sites were located in east and south-east Ireland. Four commercial farms were 'paired' with Teagasc research centres at: Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford; Grange, Co. Meath; Oak Park, Co Carlow; and Solohead, Co. Tipperary. In addition, two sites were located at Lyons, the UCD research farm in Co. Kildare. All sites were lowland (below 200m) agricultural grasslands. Birds species were identified from 10 sites . Araneae (Species), Coleoptera (Species), Diptera (Family), Hemiptera (Species), parasitic Hymenoptera (Genus) were collected using a Vortis suction sampler across 10 sites Abundance and taxon richness were obtained for each of the above groups Grass height was also taken using a Jenquip platemeter
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Supplementary Information About This Resource
In this section some supplementary information about this resource is outlined. Lineage information helps us to understand why this project was carried out, what policy or research requirements did it fulfil, etc. Lineage is important in understanding the rationale behind the carrying out of a project or the collection of a specific dataset etc. Links to web sites, applications, papers, etc are outlined to provide you with additional information or supplementary reading about the project or dataset
| Lineage information about this project or dataset |
| One of the main concerns at the UN Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED) at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, was the worldwide decline in biodiversity. Much of this decline in Europe, and especially in Ireland, has been due to the loss of native habitats and expansion of modern agriculture. Our main response in Ireland has been the identification and protection of the proportion of non-agricultural land that still retains a high value in terms of native flora and fauna. The value of biodiversity and its conservation within the much more extensive agro-ecosystem has largely been ignored.
Whilst much is know about some of the more detrimental effects of certain intensive practices on particular taxonomic groups, the longer-term practical and agronomic consequences of changing farming practices throughout much of our countryside remain relatively unknown |
| Supplementary Information |
| Anderson, A., Helden, A.J., Purvis, G. and Kirwan, L. (2005). Assessing indicators of biodiversity in agricultural grasslands ? some preliminary results from monitoring grassland arthropods. Tearmann: The Irish Journal of Agri-environmental Research. 4: 51-65
Anderson, A., Broad, G. and Baur, H. (2006). New Irish records of Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, and Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera) collected from agricultural grasslands. Irish Naturalists' Journal. 28: 246-248 Anderson, A., Helden, A., Carnus, T., Gleeson, R., Sheridan, H., McMahon, B., Melling, J., Lovic, Y. and Purvis, G. 2008. Arthropod biodiversity of agricultural grassland in south and east Ireland: Introduction, sampling sites and Araneae. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society. 32:142-159. Anderson, A. McCormack, S., Helden, A., Broad, G., Baur, H., Noyes, J. and Purvis, G. 2008. Arthropod biodiversity of agricultural grassland in south and east Ireland: Parasitoid Hymenoptera.Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society. 32: 201-211. Helden, A., Anderson, A. and Purvis, G. 2008. Arthropod biodiversity of agricultural grassland in south and east Ireland: Hemiptera. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society. 32:160-171. Helden, A., Anderson, A. and Purvis, G. 2008. Arthropod biodiversity of agricultural grassland in south and east Ireland: Coleoptera. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society. 32:172-200. McMahon, B.J. (2007). Irish agriculture and farmland birds, research to date and future priorities. Irish Birds 8, 195-207. McMahon, B.J., Purvis, G. & Whelan, J. (2008). The influence of habitat heterogeneity on bird diversity in Irish farmland. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 108B, 1-8. McMahon, B.J. & Whelan, J. (2005). Grassland and avian biodiversity within Irish agriculture. In XX International Grassland Congress (eds. F. O'Mara, R.J. Wilkins, L. 't Mannetje, D.K. Lovett, P.A.M. Rodgers & T. Boland), 654. Wageningen Academic Publishers, University College Dublin. McMahon, B.J. & Whelan, J. (2006). Individual field boundary evaluation and grading system attributes and Irish farmland birds. Tearmann: Irish Journal of Agri-Environmental Research 5, 29-41. McMahon, B.J., Whelan, J., Kirwan, L. & Collier, M. (2005). Farmland birds and the field boundary evaluation and grading system in Ireland. Tearmann: Irish Journal of Agri-Environmental Research 5, 29-41 4, 67-77. |
| Links To Other Related Resources |
| http://www.ucd.ie/agbiota/index.htm (Opens in a new window) |
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