Speaker
Description
Biodiversity losses in agricultural landscapes are a well-known problem in ecology, and widely discussed in society. They are largely caused by shifts in farming practices over the past century, including the loss of semi-natural habitat, the increased use of agrochemicals, and changes in the timing and frequency of crop management actions. However, different species are impacted in different ways, depending on their specific habitat requirements and life cycles.
Ecological research over the past two decades has focussed strongly on the role of the landscape in mediating biodiversity impacts, analysing spatial patterns (e.g. habitat availability and connectivity) and their effect on species populations. Less attention has been paid to the temporal dynamics of these landscapes, despite the fact that they are continuously changing due to processes such as plant phenology, seasonal management, crop rotations, and climate change.
Here, we show how a process-based model can be used to study both the spatial and the temporal dynamics of agricultural landscapes, and their influence on different animal species. Our model Persefone.jl simulates agricultural management and crop growth in different regions in Germany, thereby creating in-silico landscapes that change within the course of a year as well as between years. These landscapes form the backdrop for a suite of individual-based models of animal indicator species, which simulate these species’ movement and life-history processes. This integrated modelling set-up allows us to track the effects of agricultural management on the abundance and distribution of species over both space and time.
In our talk, we present the model structure of Persefone.jl and show how it emulates known ecological patterns of two animal species (Alauda arvensis and Melanargia galathea). We also present first results of a study on the likely biodiversity effects of recent changes in the Common Agricultural Policy.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
|---|---|
| Poster Presentation Option | Undecided/No preference |
