Suchergebnisse

The effect of grouse moor management intensity on the distribution of selected upland species was assessed. The species used in this study were chosen through consultation with the project Research Advisory Group and the Scottish Government to reflect a small selection of species that are likely to be negatively or positively affected by grouse moor management, and for which there was suitable occurrence data available for analyses within the time frame and resources available. Some obvious species of interest such as mountain hare Lepus timidus, red deer Cervus elaphus, and high conservation priority species such as lapwing Vanellus vanellus, were not included in the final list of species assessed because there is already a substantial body of evidence indicating that these species benefit from and are positively associated with moorland managed for grouse shooting. Rather the aim of this work was to assess the effects of the intensity of grouse moor management on species where the association between species distribution and grouse moor management is less well understood or unknown. The species assessed were: Birch, Green hairstreak butterfly, Curlew, Merlin, Lesser redpoll, Bilberry / blaeberry, Adder, Golden plover, Kestrel, Whinchat. It was difficult to draw any firm conclusions and for all species care is needed in interpreting the relationship between species occurrence and the high levels of muirburn as the sample size of both the number of assessed squares within each burn category, and the number of species records are low for these high intensity burn categories. Species may be responding to aspects of moorland management other than Muirburn and for the bird species occurrence was likely influenced by the wider landscape.

The paper presents insights from carrying out a pan-EU sustainability assessment using Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data (the old wine) with societal metabolism accounting (SMA) processes (the new bottles). The SMA was deployed as part of a transdisciplinary study with EU policy stakeholders of how EU policy may need to change to deliver sustainability commitments, particularly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The paper outlines the concepts underlying SMA and its specific implementation using the FADN data. A key focus was on the interactions between crop and livestock systems and how this determines imported feedstuffs requirements, with environmental and other footprints beyond the EU. Examples of agricultural production systems performance are presented in terms of financial/efficiency, resource use (particularly the water footprint) and quantifies potential pressures on the environment. Benefits and limitations of the FADN dataset and the SMA outputs are discussed, highlighting the challenges of linking quantified pressures with environmental impacts. The paper concludes that the complexity of agriculture's interactions with economy and society means there is great need for conceptual frameworks, such as SMA, that can take multiple, non-equivalent, perspectives and that can be deployed with policy stakeholders despite generating uncomfortable knowledge. ; This project was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 689669. The James Hutton Institute is supported by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS). Authors AR, JC-B and MG acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN), through the "María de Maeztu" program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000940-M).