Private land conservation has landscape-scale benefits for wildlife in agroecosystems

摘要

1. Private lands contain much of the world's biodiversity. Conservation of private land, especially agricultural land, is urgent yet challenging because of the diverse priorities of landowners. Local effects of farmland conservation programmes have been evaluated thoroughly, but population-level response to these programmes may depend on effects that extend beyond targeted land parcels. We investigated the landscape-scale effects of a grassland conservation initiative, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), on a socially and economically important game bird, the Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus.