The project develops indicators for ecosystem services and biodiversity at plot and farm level, and incorporates these indicators into an overall concept for measuring sustainability. The focus of ecosystem services is on the regulation of harmful organisms and on spraying.
Background
Ecosystem services based on species diversity can be used in a targeted manner to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems. Biodiversity, for example, can serve to supplement or even replace fertilisers or plant-protection products; with the help of flowering strips, the natural antagonists of pests can be encouraged so successfully that pest numbers remain under the damage threshold.
Measuring and improving biodiversity and its ecosystem services on farms and assessing the effects of agricultural policy measures in this area requires indicators that are simple to use in practice. The rapid development of digital measuring methods allows the implementation of measurement routines – for example, key habitats for biodiversity and ecosystem service providers can be mapped with drones.
Although indicators for ecosystem services such as biological pest control, spraying or soil biodiversity have been developed in various projects – inter alia, BioBio and QuESSA – biological mechanisms behind the ecosystem services are a complex subject. For this reason, indicators for ecosystem services is a new, still-developing research area.
Aims
The aim of the project is to identify important indicators for biodiversity and its ecosystem services (especially in the areas of pest control and spraying). Based on these indicators, an easily measurable system is designed which is validated on commercial farms.
Original title
BioSerSys – Biodiversität für Ökosystemleistungen [‘BioSerSys – Biodiversity for Ecosystem Services’]
