Reaching under the wings of birds in the agricultural landscape

A characteristic breeding bird of the agricultural landscape: the yellowhammer. Its populations are declining, but it benefits from a small-scale, diverse agricultural landscape. Photo: Hans Glader Research team shows links between agricultural landscape structure and bird populations. The intensification of agriculture has its price: it makes landscapes structurally more uniform and thus contributes to the decline in biodiversity. How should agricultural landscapes be designed in order to promote biodiversity? A new study by researchers from the University of Göttingen, the Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) e. V. and the Thünen Institute contributes to current discussions on this question. The results clearly show that a small-scale, diverse agricultural landscape is necessary to protect farmland birds.