Agriculture is fundamental to feed and supply worldwide human populations. It is also one of the human activities with larger effects on the environment. Organic farming has been suggested as a greener alternative to conventional agriculture. Small waterbodies, such as ponds and shallow lakes, are excellent sentinels of human impact, as they are highly sensitive to local environmental change. Their ecology and functioning is largely determined by land use in their immediate vicinity, making them ideal monitoring systems for localized impacts caused by different types of agriculture and land use. This study aims to quantify the differences in impact of conventional and organic agriculture on small farmland ponds.To do so, we will: 1- compare the effects of different agricultural settings (organic and conventional) and different land use intensities (extensive to intensive) on zooplankton species diversity, zooplankton genetic structure, and ecosystem integrity and functioning; 2- compare the impacts of organic versus conventional farming on population genetic structure and the degree of local genetic adaptation to pesticide use; 3- integrate the obtained results into existing databases, covering ponds over a gradient from semi-pristine (nature reserves) to highly urbanized, so as to provide context on the relative quality of ponds in organic versus conventional agriculture land; and 4- estimate the potential effects on aquatic diversity of increasing levels of organic farming at regional scale and develop a map of priority areas where a transition to organic agriculture can be most beneficial to local and regional biodiversity. My results are expected to be of great value in supporting policies that influence the sector of agriculture and food production.
Ecological and evolutionary impacts of organic versus conventional agriculture on farmland pond biota
Year: 2023
