BTO - British Trust for Ornithology - Habitats

The State of the UK's Birds 2020

WSKELLORN — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 13:35:42 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

Burns, F., Eaton, M.A., Balmer, D.E., Banks, A., Caldow, R., Donelan, J.L., Douse, A., Duigan, C., Foster, S., Frost, T., Grice, P.V., Hall, C., Hanmer, H.J., Harris, S.J., Johnstone, I., Lindley, P., McCulloch, N., Noble, D.G., Risely, K., Robinson, R.A. & Wotton, S. Our volunteers: the beating heart of BTO data

SUKB collates data from annual, periodic and one-off surveys and monitoring studies of birds, such as the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP), the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP) and Goose and Swan Monitoring Programme (GSMP). In addition, the 2020 report also includes results from the Nest Record Scheme, Constant Effort Sites (CES) Scheme and Re-trapping Adults for Survival (RAS) Scheme, the latter two schemes collecting demographic information through the efforts of bird ringers.

The report takes information from these and other schemes, research and surveys and delivers information at a country-specific scale, as well as providing an overview for the UK as a whole.

Volunteers play an essential role in bird monitoring in the UK, by donating their time, energy and expertise. The data they collect are vital for conservation, tracking changes in populations and supporting policy development. This year, many monitoring schemes have been adversely affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic and we want to say a special thank you to all of our volunteers for their continued support through this difficult time. Their skill, effort and dedication deserve huge recognition. Sarah Harris, BBS National Organiser

Woodland species

This year’s report highlights the continuing poor fortunes of the UK’s woodland birds. The UK Wild Bird Populations Indicator for woodland species show a long-term decline of 27% since the early 1970s, with declines of 7% evident over just the last five years. More worryingly, when looking at individual trends within the report, some specialist woodland birds have declined dramatically, including Willow Tit with a 94% decline since 1970 as illustrated by the joint Common Birds Census / Breeding Bird Survey UK-wide trend.

After worrying declines in breeding Tawny owl populations were flagged-up by the Breeding Bird Survey, BTO launched targeted survey work on this species during 2018 and 2019. SUKB reports on some of the results from this research, which revealed a decline in site occupancy from 65% in 2005 to 53% in 2018/19. The BTO work has also sought to understand some of the reasons for this change in fortunes.

Results at different scales

Data from many of the surveys covered in SUKB also feed into European-wide schemes and the SUKB report goes from celebrating the publication of the latest European Breeding Bird Atlas, through to finer-scale country-specific results and research. Not bad for an 80 page report!

Country-specific headlines include increases in House Sparrow populations in Wales, where work is also taking place to address the pronounced decline in Curlew numbers. In Scotland, the fragile status of Corncrake is highlighted, alongside increases in farmland species such as Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer. The Northern Ireland pages look into changing fortunes of seabirds and explore how proposed marine Special Protection Areas may be used to tackling the observed decline. The Northern Ireland pages also examine declines in wintering geese, such as Light-bellied Brent Goose. Finally, over to England and promising results for Stone Curlew conservation work, as well as reporting back on the English Winter Bird Survey for which 1,485 sites were surveyed by volunteers to help us understand the value of agri-environment options.

As in previous reports, we hear about species from 14 UK Overseas Territories and three Crown Dependencies – including Black-browed Albatross, St Helena Plover and South Georgia Pipit, about the Gough Island Restoration Programme, and discover that 69 species in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are now Globally Threatened.

Closer to home, 25 years of BTO Garden BirdWatch is also celebrated, with Goldfinch now the 8th most commonly recorded garden bird, up from 20th back in 1995.

Volunteers

There is a common theme in this report: volunteers. The sheer enormity of their contributions to bird monitoring as a whole is evident throughout this report. Most of the surveys and schemes covered here are only possible thanks to the dedication and skills of the thousands of volunteers who give up their time to help monitor birds and in turn, inform conservation action. Thank you.

Who produces this report?

SUKB 2020 is produced by a coalition of three NGOs: the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), together with the UK’s statutory nature conservation bodies: Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland (DAERA), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Natural England (NE), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and NatureScot.

Breeding Bird Survey

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 11:46:31 +0000

The Breeding Bird Survey is the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s common and widespread breeding birds. The survey involves two early-morning spring visits to a 1-km square, to count all the birds you see or hear while walking two parallel 1-km lines across the square.

Breeding Bird SurveyButterfly Monitoring Friday, April 1, 1994 - 00:00

BBS monitors the population changes of 118 breeding bird species across the UK thanks to the dedication of almost 3,000 volunteers who survey their randomly selected 1-km square each spring.

The BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s common and widespread breeding birds, producing population trends for 118 bird and nine mammal species.

The survey involves a recce visit and two early-morning spring visits to an allocated 1-km square, to count all the birds you see or hear while walking two 1-km lines across the square and record any nest counts for colonial nesting birds in the square.

You can optionally record mammals and visit your square later in the season to survey for butterflies. There is the option to return data on paper, via field recording forms or to submit your data on BBS-Online.

Support the future of our birds

Our surveys are vital. The data they produce help us drive positive change for the UK’s birds.

But increased pressure on funding is putting our surveys and data at risk – which is why we need your support.

Donate today

bbs-report-2022-cover.jpg

Read the latest BBS report

The Breeding Bird Survey started in 1994, and a report is produced every year containing population changes and other results from the scheme.

The 2022 Breeding Bird Survey Report reveals a mixed picture, especially for birds which breed in farmland habitats.

Read the 2022 Breeding Bird Survey report

How to take part

Find out how to request a square and what the survey entails.

Results

Explore the results from the data BBS volunteers provide.

Mammal recording

Find out how to record mammals during your BBS visits.

Count butterflies on your BBS square

Take part in the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey by making additional visits to your BBS square.

How to enter BBS data online

Instructions and video tutorials on submitting your BBS data.

Download BBS forms

Download and print BBS recording forms instructions and recording forms.

Support the future of our birds

Our surveys are vital. The data they produce help us drive positive change for the UK’s birds.

But increased pressure on funding is putting our surveys and data at risk – which is why we need your support.

Donate today

Take part in BBS - counting for conservation

David White

James Heywood

February – March Forms sent or downloaded
March Reconnaissance visit
Early April – mid May Early visit
Mid May – late June Late visit
May – August Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey
End of August Data entry deadline

Undertake three site visits between April and June - a recce and two morning visits, along with data entry. Able to identify UK breeding birds by sight, song and call. If you have the necessary bird ID skills to take part in the Breeding Bird Survey but want to learn more about survey methods, there are a number of BTO training courses covering this subject.

ongoing Farmland birdsUpland birdsWoodland birdsOther species volunteers

BTO Urban AppealWider Countryside Butterfly SurveyAssessing agri-environment schemes No bbs@bto.org

Spatially targeted nature-based solutions can mitigate climate change and nature loss but require a systems approach

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 17:06:10 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Finch, T., Bradbury, R.B., Bradfer-Lawrence, T., Buchanan, G.M., Copping, J.P., Massimino, D., Smith, P., Peach, W.J. & Field, R.H. One Earth 10.1016/j.oneear.2023.09.005

Finite land is under pressure to provide food, timber, human infrastructure, climate change mitigation, and wildlife habitat. Given the inherent trade-offs associated with land-use choices, there is a need to assess how alternative land-use trajectories will impact the delivery of these benefits. Here, we develop nine exploratory, climate change mitigation-driven land-use scenarios for the UK. The scenario that maximized deployment of nature-based solutions reduced greenhouse gas (CO2e) emissions from the land sector by 100% by 2050 but resulted in a 21% decline in food production. All mitigation scenarios delivered aggregate increases in habitat availability for 109 bird species (including 61 species of conservation concern), although farmland-associated species lost habitat. Our study reiterates the potential of nature-based solutions to address global climate and biodiversity challenges but also highlights risks to farmland wildlife and the importance of food system reform to mitigate potential reductions in primary food production.

This study was funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Natural England (project code ECM 58632). The Breeding Bird Survey is a Partnership between the BTO, RSPB, and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (on behalf of Natural Resources Wales, Natural England, Council for Nature Conservation and Countryside, and NatureScot) and relies on volunteer surveyors.

Distance functions of carabids in crop fields depend on functional traits, crop type and adjacent habitat: a synthesis

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 14:36:35 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Boetzl, F.A., Sponsler, D., Albrecht, M., Batáry, P., Birkhofer, K., Knapp, M., Krauss, J., Maas, B., Martin, E.A., Sirami, C., Sutter, L., Bertrand, C., Bosem Baillod, A., Bota, G., Bretagnolle, V., Brotons, L., Frank, T., Fusser, M., Giralt, D., González, E., Hof, A.R., Luka, H., Marrec, R., Nash, M.A., Ng, K., Plantegenest, M., Poulin, B., Siriwardena, G.M., Tscharntke, T., Tschumi, M., Vialatte, A., Van Vooren, L., Zubair-Anjum, M., Entling, M.H., Steffan-Dewenter, I. & Schirmel, J. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6984205 Natural pest and weed regulation are essential for agricultural production, but the spatial distribution of natural enemies within crop fields and its drivers are mostlyunknown. Using 28 datasets comprising 1204 study sites across eight Western and Central European countries, we performed a quantitative synthesis of carabid richness, activity densities and functional traits in relation to field edges (i.e. distance functions). We show that distance functions of carabids strongly depend on carabid functional traits, crop type and, to a lesser extent, adjacent non-crop habitats. Richness of both carnivores and granivores, and activity densities of small and granivorous species decreased towards field interiors, whereas the densities of large species increased. We found strong distance decays in maize and vegetables whereas richness and densities remained more stable in cereals, oilseed crops and legumes. We conclude that carabid assemblages in agricultural landscapes are driven by the complex interplay of crop types, adjacent non-crop habitats and further landscape parameters with great potential for targeted agroecological management. In particular, our synthesis indicates that a higher edge–interior ratio can counter the distance decay of carabid richness per field and thus likely benefits natural pest and weed regulation, hence contributing to agricultural sustainability. This research was partially funded by the ERA-Net BiodivERsA, with the national funders French National ResearchAgency (ANR-11-EBID-0004), German Ministry of Research and Education, German Research Foundation and Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, part of the 2011 BiodivERsA call for research proposals and the BiodivERsA-FACCE project ‘Enhancing biodiversity-based ecosystem services to crops through optimized densities of green infrastructure in agricultural landscapes’ (PCIN-2014-048). P.B. was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH KKP133839), M.K. was funded by TAČR (SS02030018–DivLand).

Using butterfly survey data to model habitat associations in urban developments

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:24:45 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Cooper, J.E.J., Plummer, K.E., Middlebrook, I. & Siriwardena, G.M. Journal of Applied Ecology 10.1111/1365-2664.14583

1. One approach for measuring the potential biodiversity in new urban construction projects is through ecological models that predict how wildlife will respond. For the United Kingdom, such models have only been developed for birds, but to maximise the extent to which models represent overall biodiversity, species from different indicator groups must be considered.

2. Here, we assess this possibility for butterflies by combining citizen science survey data with high-resolution digital maps. We derive detailed characteristics of urban landscapes around survey sites using previously established methods and quantify their relationship to counts of adults of 18 butterfly species in urban and peri-urban settings.

3. Higher butterfly counts were found when traversing urban sites with larger areas of semi-natural grassland, other managed greenspaces, and adjacent arable land. Most of the butterfly community were found to have negative relationships with highly built-up or fragmented landscapes.

4. We found high species-specificity for different details of urban form, particularly in habitat elements such as gardens, vegetation around railways, and grass verges.

5. Policy implications: Improving biodiversity is now part of legislation governing new construction projects from England and Wales. However, predicting quantitative changes from hypothetical land-use modifications remains challenging. Our models provide the foundation through which butterfly abundance could be integrated into an urban biodiversity assessment tool, providing species- and community-level statistics to non-specialists from the urban planning and design sector. This would allow them to hone configurations for built surfaces, private gardens, greenspaces, and wildlife areas and assess their capacity to provide residents with the intended access to nature.

The authors thank the hundreds of volunteers who have contributed to the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) and the UKBMS partnership who manage the surveys: Butterfly Conservation (BC), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). This project was funded by a partnership with the BTO, CEH and JNCC. MasterMap data were provided by the EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service, (May 2017).

Linking climate warming and land conversion to species’ range changes across Great Britain

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 10:29:10 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Suggitt, A.J., Wheatley, C.J., Aucott, P., Beale, C.M., Fox, R., Hill, J.K., Isaac, N.J.B., Martay, B., Southall, H., Thomas, C.D., Walker, K.J. & Auffret , A.G. Nature Communications 10.1038/s41467-023-42475-0 Although increased temperatures are known to reinforce the effects of habitat destruction at local to landscape scales, evidence of their additive or interactive effects is limited, particularly over larger spatial extents and longer timescales. To address these deficiencies, we created a dataset of land-use changes over 75 years, documenting the loss of over half (>3000 km²) the semi-natural grassland of Great Britain. Pairing this dataset with climate change data, we tested for relationships to distribution changes in birds, butterflies, macromoths, and plants (n = 1192 species total). We show that individual or additive effects of climate warming and land conversion unambiguously increased persistence probability for 40% of species, and decreased it for 12%, and these effects were reflected in both range contractions and expansions. Interactive effects were relatively rare, being detected in less than 1 in 5 species, and their overall effect on extinction risk was often weak. Such individualistic responses emphasise the importance of including species-level information in policies targeting biodiversity and climate adaptation. The authors thank the many thousands of volunteer surveyors of land use and biodiversity, without whom these analyses would not have been possible. Data and imagery from the Land-Utilisation Survey of Great Britain are reproduced with permission of the copyright holder Giles N. Clark. Chris Fleet at National Library of Scotland provided assistance with land-use maps covering Scotland, and Natural England provided assistance with maps covering England and Wales. This work was supported by a UKRI Natural Environment Research Council grant (NE/M013030/1, for A.J.S., J.K.H. and C.D.T.), a Northumbria University Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellowship (for A.J.S.), and grants from the Swedish Research Councils Formas and VR (2015-1065 and 2020-04276, for A.G.A.).

Lasso Penalisation identifies consistent trends over time in landscape and climate factors influencing the wintering distribution of the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 11:20:02 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Kenobi, K., Read, W., Bowgen, K., Macgregor, C., Taylor, R., Cámaro García, W., Hodges, C., Dennis, P. & Holloway, P. Ecological Informatics 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2023.102244 Migratory birds are particularly susceptible to climate change and habitat loss due to their reliance on a global network of ecosystems, with waders and seabirds undergoing significant population decline. The Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, but breeding populations in Great Britain and the island of Ireland have declined drastically, with the species on the brink of local extinction. We present a set of models of the distribution of Curlew sightings between November and February in the British Isles over the period 2003 to 2019. Using a model selection process (cross-validated lasso regression), we reduce the fairly large set of CORINE satellite land cover classes to a much smaller set of explanatory variables which we combine with environmental variables and fit binomial Generalized Linear Models to Curlew observation records. This enables us to build up a detailed picture of where and when Curlew are sighted between November and February over the 17 years of the study. Reproducibly, from November to January between 2003 and 2019, the coastal land cover classes, Estuaries, Intertidal Flats, Salt Marshes and Port Areas, feature prominently in the sets of explanatory variables selected by the lasso regression. Moreover, this study represents the first regional scale analysis on the impact of landscape and climate features on wintering curlew distribution, identifying the importance of landscape factors that warrant further research, such as the importance of artificial structures and the importance of February within the migration of the Curlew. This research is part of the ECHOES project. ECHOES is funded through the Ireland-Wales Programme 2014-2020 and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government.

Trends in butterfly populations in UK gardens - new evidence from citizen science monitoring

MIKETOMS — Mon, 22 May 2023 13:28:23 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Plummer, K.E., Dadam, D., Brereton, T., Dennis, E.B., Massimino, D., Risely, K., Siriwardena, G.M. & Toms, M.P. Insect Conservation and Diversity 10.1111/icad.12645 Private gardens are recognised as potentially important refugia for butterflies. Yet little is known about how gardens might be contributing to butterfly conservation, as their restricted accessibility has meant that garden habitats are not well-represented in traditional monitoring schemes. Garden BirdWatch (GBW) is the UK’s largest structured bird survey, comprising over 25 years of weekly bird counts from more than 14,000 gardens, predominantly occupying suburban and rural locations. Since 2007, a subset of GBW participants have additionally recorded the weekly abundances of butterflies. Using data for 14 seasons (2007–2020) from 7971 gardens with consistent butterfly monitoring, we present the first garden-specific, national trends for 22 widespread butterfly species (37% of all UK butterflies). Half of the species investigated increased significantly in abundance in gardens between 2007 and 2020. Conversely, only one species, Wall (Lasiommata megera), showed a marginal reduction, though this change was not statistically significant. A strong, positive association between these new, habitat-focused trends and those for UK butterflies more broadly, previously reported by the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS), indicates that patterns of abundance in gardens are largely a reflection of the changes that are occurring nationally. However, butterflies do appear to be faring better in gardens compared to the wider landscape. Averaging trends across non-migratory species revealed that GBW recorded significantly greater increases over time than UKBMS. Effective monitoring of butterflies in gardens can produce reliable and informative population trends, and it provides important evidence of the significant role gardens play in sustaining butterfly populations. BTO Garden BirdWatch is funded by its participants through an annual subscription and additional donations, and would not be possible without their generosity and support. This analysis was funded through the Garden BirdWatch Research Appeal and we are very grateful to those who donated so generously to the Appeal. We would like to note our particular thanks to John McCaig, whose interest in and support of this research has been especially generous. Thanks also to Clare Simm for her involvement in the earlier stages of this work, and other GBW and IS staff and volunteers for help with data processing and logistical support. Wider Countryside Butterfly SurveyPatterns and causes of covariation in bird and butterfly community structure A niche-based approach for evaluating the mechanisms of community stability in butterfly communities across three countries

Landscape fires disproportionally affect areas of conservation priority but only under low moisture conditions

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Mon, 15 May 2023 10:36:05 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Kirkland, M., Atkinson, P.W., Pearce-Higgins, J.W., De Jong, M., Dowling, T.P.F., Grummoe, D., Critchley, M. & Ashton-Butt, A. Science of The Total Environment 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163849

Landscape fires are a natural component of the Earth System. However, they are of growing global concern due to climate change exacerbating their multiple impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, carbon storage, human health, economies, and wider society. Temperate regions are predicted to be at greatest risk of increasing fire activity due to climate change, where fires can seriously impact important ecosystems for biodiversity and carbon storage, such as peatlands and forests. There is insufficient literature on the background prevalence, distribution, and drivers of fires in these regions, especially within Europe, to assess and mitigate their risks. Using a global database of fire patches based on the MODIS FireCCI51 product, we address this knowledge gap by quantifying the current prevalence and size of fires in Polesia, a 150,000 km² area comprising a mosaic of peatland, forest, and agricultural habitats in northern Ukraine and southern Belarus. Between 2001 and 2019, fires burned 31,062 km² of land, and were most frequent in spring and autumn. Although most fires started in agricultural land, fires disproportionately affected natural and semi-natural land cover types, particularly in protected areas. Over one fifth of protected land burned. Coniferous forests were the most common land cover type in protected areas, but fires mostly occurred in meadows, open peatlands (especially fen and transition mires), and native deciduous forests. These land cover types were highly susceptible to fires under low soil moisture conditions, but the risk of fire was low under average or higher soil moisture conditions. Restoring and maintaining natural hydrological regimes could be an effective nature-based solution to increase the resilience of fire-vulnerable ecosystems and support global biodiversity and carbon storage commitments under the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change and Convention on Biological Diversity.

The authors acknowledge support from BTO and the Endangered Landscapes Programme (ELP). ELP is managed by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and is funded by Arcadia, a charitable fund of LisbetRausing and Peter Baldwin. Thanks to Wentao Chen and Florent Mouillot of Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Their input was invaluable in the acquiring and preparation of the fire data. Thanks to Neil Wilyman and Susana Baena for their technical input.

Inconsistent relationships between area, heterogeneity and plant species richness in temperate farmed landscapes

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 15:38:40 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Maskell, L., Alison, J., Forbes, N., Jarvis, S., Robinson, D., Siriwardena, G., Wood, C. & Smart, S. Oikos 10.1111/oik.09720 Relationships between area, heterogeneity and species richness are fundamental concepts in ecology yet questions remain about how area and heterogeneity tradeoff (AHTO) to constrain biodiversity. Although there is growing evidence for unimodal heterogeneity diversity relationships (HDR's) and an AHTO, tests of the concept and consequences for species richness across a landscape-scale gradient of human-modified ecosystems are rare. Using data from a national (Wales) field survey we analysed relationships between environmental heterogeneity and plant species richness (α and γ). We used ordination to produce a composite metric of heterogeneity and compared this to commonly used metrics. We used niche hypervolumes to categorise the breadth of plant species' ecological preferences and analysed relationships between species richness, niche width and heterogeneity. The HDR was unimodal with α diversity at the smallest scale and positive with α and γ diversity (non-linear) at the 1 km scale although in low intensity landscapes the HDR with γ diversity was unimodal. There was a unimodal relationship between habitat diversity and γ diversity. Land use intensity was unimodally related to diversity. There were significant interactions between niche width and heterogeneity. Richness of broad niche species increased with heterogeneity with flattening of the curve at higher levels. Narrow niche species were rare and mostly unresponsive. The expected decline in narrow niche species with increasing heterogeneity was not found although they did decline with land-use intensity. Using a unique dataset, an analysis of a large-scale mosaic of ecosystems found that the shape of the HDR varies with land use intensity, the heterogeneity metric, spatial scale, diversity type and niche width. Although heterogeneity can increase species richness, there may be tradeoffs at higher heterogeneity. A fundamental constraint on realising the benefit of heterogeneity is the low availability of narrower niche species in local species pools in modified landscapes. This research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCaPE programme delivering National Capability, the Welsh Government and the Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring and Modelling Programme (ERAMMP) (Welsh Government Contract C210/2016/2017) and the European Union's Interreg North-West Europe programme, supported by grant agreement no. NWE 810, project FABulous Farmers (Functional Agro-Biodiversity in farming).