By Inga Wolframm, Lara Heric, Andrew M. Allen
Graphs/Tables: The authors
It is important, at a time when the critics of equestrian sport are becoming ever more vocal via social media, that we shine a light on horse welfare through the quality of land management, which was mentioned in our past three editorial columns by Xavier Libbrecht.
We should preface the publication of this research paper with its full title: Green treasures: Investigating the biodiversity potential of equine yards through the presence and quality of landscape features in the Netherlands. It should, however, be remembered that using landscape features to support and enhance biodiversity is a formula that can be applied universally by land and horse owners.
Introduction
There has been an unprecedented increase in extreme and adverse weather events [1], a staggering loss of biodiversity amounting to the Sixth Mass Extinction [2], a decline in quality of water [3] and air [4], an increase in world hunger [5]. The numerous direct and indirect impacts of human activities would likely result in scientists officially announcing the start of a new epoch (the Anthropocene era) to denote the impact human beings have had on the earth’s ecosystems [6]. As a result, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions that help mitigate the effects of human activities such as land use and climate change, while also assisting society to adapt to current and future situations.
Nature itself is increasingly being viewed as one of the most important assets to mitigate the effects of climate change [1]. The concept of ecosystem services as a means to raise awareness to the benefits of the ecological environment to human society was devised in the late 1970s and early 1980s [7,8]. However, the increasing threat of climate change has accelerated the need to understand how anthropogenic management of landscapes might affect the functioning of the natural environment [9].
Small landscape features (LF) have long since been considered important elements of such ecosystem services. Small LFs are defined as ‘small fragments of non-productive natural or semi-natural vegetation in agricultural landscapes which provide ecosystem services and support for biodiversity [10]. Examples include hedges, ponds, individual trees, trees in lines or groups, field margins and stone or earth walls [10,11]. LFs have numerous functional uses, such as the provision of windbreaks and shelter for livestock, regulation of, and protection from, soil erosion, management of water quantity and quality, enhancement of air quality, CO2 sequestration, as well as the maintenance and protection of biodiversity [9,11-16]...
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