Establishing protected areas within agricultural landscapes is often beneficial for maintaining biodiversity. Converting a portion of agricultural land into natural habitat can be a successful, static approach to maintaining wildlife corridors and supporting multiple species. However, taking land out of production can come at a high economic cost, and conservation may not be a priority when available agricultural land is scarce and opportunity costs are high.
McComb, S., Powers, L. C., Larcon, A. E. 2022. Evaluating climate-driven fallowing for ecological connectivity of species at risk. Landscape Ecology 37:3059-3077
In addition, climate change has affected agricultural productivity, and predicting how climate change will impact a given area is challenging. Strategies that adapt to unpredictable changes in climate could maintain production while providing wildlife habitat in short and long term extremes. In other words, when deciding whether to conserve or to cultivate, the choice does not have to be all or nothing.
In a recent study, researchers examined how fallowing crop-land in response to extreme drought has impacted habitat connectivity within Kern County, an area in the San Joaquin Valley of California dominated by agriculture. Using the federally listed San Joaquin kit fox as a focal species, researchers evaluated the potential for incorporating temporary or semi-permanent fallow land in high-production agricultural areas as a dynamic and adaptive approach to alleviate the impacts of climate change, and as an strategy to provide wildlife connectivity on land that is less likely to be placed in fixed protection areas.
Connectivity was modeled by mapping kit fox core habitat based on habitat suitability and landscape features that inhibit movement. They also mapped how habitat conditions change as land was fallowed during a multi-year drought starting in 2011. Circuitscape and least-cost path analysis were used to estimate how landscape changes from crop production to fallow impacted the energetic cost of kit fox movement between core habitats.
Results suggest that the increase in climate-driven fallowing increased the functional habitat connectivity for San Joaquin kit fox in agricultural landscapes by reducing the difficulty for kit fox to travel between high quality habitats. Between 2011 and 2015, the energetic cost of traveling between core habitats decreased by 18% when farms created semi-permanent fallow land, and decreased by 12% when land was temporarily fallowed. Land that was under fallow for a longer period provided benefits 2.4 times greater than land that was temporarily fallowed.
Their study identifies climate-driven fallowing as a dynamic conservation strategy for land that is not likely to be set aside as protected areas, and may be a viable solution of creating habitat as landscapes change due to climate change. However, agricultural fallowing may not support all species based on land cover type, species’ sensitivity to land change, or dispersal ability. Given the ubiquity of agricultural land, identifying areas where opportunistic conservation can provide habitat, even short term, may be a key to maintaining biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
Related Posts
Targeting conservation lands for better connectivity
A new approach shows how incorporating connectivity into large-scale programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program could help prioritize lands for key ecosystems and create more connected habitat networks.
Forest plantations as stepping stones for connectivity in agriculture
Bird surveys across France and Spain show that strategically placed poplar plantations can act as stepping stones that improve forest connectivity in agricultural landscapes, especially for species with moderate to high dispersal ability.
Connected, heterogeneous oil palm landscapes reduce pest abundance
Landscape structure plays a crucial role in how two aggressive agricultural pests spread across oil palm plantations.
