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Table 1 Expected risks and opportunities for biodiversity conservation from suggested scenarios

From: To integrate or to segregate food crop and energy crop cultivation at the landscape scale? Perspectives on biodiversity conservation in agriculture in Europe

Scenarios

Energy crop types

Production system?

Risks and opportunities for biodiversity conservation

A1

1st-gen. crops

Productive agricultural land (food/fodder crops)

Risk of no improvements in farmland biodiversity

A2

1st-gen. crops + dedicated energy crops

Opportunity for mitigating pressures on farmland biodiversity

A3

Dedicated energy crops

Opportunities for mitigating various impacts of agriculture and supporting biodiversity

B1

1st-gen. crops

Economically marginal land (food/fodder crops and permanent grassland)

Risks of negative effects on grassland biodiversity

B2

1st-gen. crops + dedicated energy crops

Risks and opportunities depending on a planning and landscape design; opportunity for stabilising HNV farming systems

B3

Dedicated energy crops

Trade-off between conservation of rare species and habitats and conservation of biodiversity-friendly farming systems

C1; C2

Dedicated energy crops

Unsuitable low-grade land (semi-natural vegetation, permanent grassland)

Opportunity for supporting and enhancing biodiversity through supporting pastoral systems

C3

Vegetation biomass from grasslands

 

Unknown, depending on changes in management