Nature and farming: sustaining native biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

摘要

We have come to expect hostility between eco- logists and farmers; agricultural landscapes ap- pear to be the antithesis of native biodiversity. This is a welcome book that avoids rehearsal of this negative and mutually damaging discourse. Instead, the authors are more circumspect, pro- viding a convincing demonstration of how bio- diversity can be brought into mainstream farm planning and, in the process, adding value and future proofing production systems. They em- phasise this must be to the benefit of both nature conservation and agriculture. Within an agricul- tural matrix that accounts for 11% of the land area in Australia and 50% in New Zealand, the challenge is to sustain biodiversity and to improve ecosystem services such as environmental quality and pest management. If ecologists and farmers share their skills and show mutual respect, this will represent a new paradigm for nature conser- vation on farms.