Increasing crop diversity has been suggested as a practical measure to counteract ongoing biodiversity decline in intensively managed agricultural landscapes, because it does not take land out of production. Yet the temporal component of diversified crop rotations is poorly understood, in particular regarding functional biodiversity. Furthermore, biodiversity effects of relative changes in landscape structure and crop diversity over time are completely unknown. To investigate these effects, high resolution bird survey data collected by LUKE from 2001 onwards to assess the effects of the Finnish agri-environment scheme (Maatalouden ympäristötukien vaikutusten arviointi)-program, containing >100 000 territories, will be used in combination with detailed data on agricultural land-use and landscape structure. The aim is to analyse responses in functional diversity (e.g. functional richness, evenness, and dispersion) in relation to 1) landscape-scale variation in crop diversity, 2) of long-term changes in landscape structure and crop diversity, and 3) legacy effects of crop rotation locally. Understanding functional biodiversity responses is crucial to shed light on underlying ecological processes governing farmland biodiversity, and thus to formulate effective strategies to enhance farmland biodiversity.

2025