Land Use Change

Food Production

40 % of terrestrial land is croplands and pastures, 87% of this is for food
Demand for food is expected to increase by 50% by 2050
55% of new agricultural land came from intact forests, a major driver of carboon emissions
In south America, a lot of expansio goes into soybeans, oil palm in SE Asia

Gibson et al. 2011 - Meta-analysis of the effects of deforestation on biodiversity
Examined which types of agriculture caused the most effect on biodiversity in which continenents and on which taxa
Highest biodiversity loss due to agriculture is in Asia
- Helen focused on Asia specifically on her MSc and PhD
- Examined the raw data - difference in species richness and Continuous weighted mean (CWM) range size (average range size of a species within a community)
  - Number of species declined, but range increasd (Metacommunity Homognization)
- Conclusion - palm oil plantations are extremely bad for biodiversity

Two strategies for land use management -

land sparing (highest intensity to gain highest yield)
- Reduce area of land used for production
- Better for habitat specialist species
Land sharing
- Lower intensity, moderate yields, highesr biodiversity in the habitat areas
- Better for generalist species

Extensive - large area, low stocking density - e.g. sheep, reindeer grazing
Intensive - harger yield, fieldsize, mechanization, decreased fallow time
- Lots of fertilizer and pesticide input
- GMO crops
- Increased stocking rate e.g. factory farm

Increases in cereal yield result in loss of many species, and increase in aphid (pest) species
Reduction in body SR, Shannon index, body size
Soil erosion: Removing boundaries between fields and mechanization result in much higher erosion