New Research Looks at Land Use, Farming and Protecting Biodiversity
New research has prompted debate on how best to use land for farming and to preserve biodiversity. A study by researchers at the UK's Cambridge University was carried out in Ghana and India to assess the diversity of birds and trees on land being farmed in a variety of ways as well as land that was left natural. The study also looked at the amount of food being produced . The researchers do say that more work needs to be done in other locations to allow for factors like climate, land quality and different ecosystems , the area of land involved and whether, for example, several smaller but separated areas interfere with the hunting or migratory patterns of the animals within them. The findings from this first piece of research showed that farmland with some retained natural vegetation had more species of birds and trees than high-yielding monocultures of oil palm, rice or wheat but produced far less food energy and profit per hectare. However, farms that were supposedly na...