Agriculture and Biodiversity

• What human activity can affect biodiversity?

  Agriculture
• How does agriculture impact biodiversity?

  • Farmers maximize food production
  • Methods reduce biodiversity
  • Woodland clearance destroys habitats
  • Hedgerow removal reduces biodiversity
  • Pesticides kill pests and their predators
  • Herbicides reduce plant diversity
  • Monoculture supports fewer organisms
• What is woodland clearance done for?

  To increase farmland area
• What is a consequence of woodland clearance?

  It destroys habitats for various species
• How does hedgerow removal affect biodiversity?

  It reduces biodiversity by merging small fields
• What do pesticides do?

  They kill pests that feed on crops
• How do pesticides indirectly affect biodiversity?

  They reduce food sources for pest predators
• What do herbicides target?

  Unwanted plants (weeds)
• What is the effect of herbicides on biodiversity?

  They reduce plant diversity
• What is monoculture?

  Fields with only one type of plant
• How does monoculture affect biodiversity?

  It directly reduces biodiversity
• What correlation was found in the UK regarding agriculture and insect diversity?

  • Insect diversity fell with intensified agriculture
  • Large areas for cereals correlated with fewer insects
  • Bird diversity that fed on insects also fell
• Why is biodiversity important in agriculture?

  • Maintains the environment
  • Provides new food sources
  • Supplies medicines
  • Benefits agriculture through pollination
• What are some conservation schemes to protect biodiversity?

  • Legal protection for endangered species
  • Creation of protected areas (SSSIs, AONBs)
  • Environmental Stewardship Scheme for farmers
• What does SSSI stand for?

  Sites of Special Scientific Interest
• What does AONB stand for?

  Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• What does the Environmental Stewardship Scheme encourage?

  Conservation of biodiversity by farmers
• How do you calculate Spearman's rank correlation coefficient?

  • Formula: $r =$$1 - \frac{6 \Sigma d^2}{n(n^2 - 1)}$
  • 'd' is the difference in rank
  • 'n' is the total number of data pairs
• What does a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of -1 indicate?

  Perfect negative correlation
• What does a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of +1 indicate?

  Perfect positive correlation
• What does a coefficient close to 0 indicate?

  Weak correlation between variables
• What is the null hypothesis in correlation studies?

  No correlation between the factors investigated
• How do you determine if a null hypothesis can be rejected?

  Compare test result to critical value
• What is the critical value at p = 0.05 for n = 7?

  0.786
• What does it mean if the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient is higher than the critical value?

  Null hypothesis can be rejected
• What should you do if the Spearman's rank result is negative?

  Ignore the minus sign for comparison
• What does a statistically significant result indicate?

  • Unlikely due to chance
  • Supports the alternative hypothesis
  • Suggests a real correlation exists