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Abundance of weeds in lowland arable fields, 2006-2009 - RELU Management options for biodiverse farming

This data collection results from abundance surveys of seven species of weeds in ca. 500 lowland arable fields in 49 farms over three years. Each field was divided into large grids of 20x20 metre cells, and the density of seven species was estimated three times a year. The study is part of the NERC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. In the context of changing external and internal pressures on UK agriculture, particularly those associated with the ongoing reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, it is imperative to determine whether all of the various dimensions of sustainability - including the relevant economic and environmental objectives as well as social and cultural values - can be integrated successfully at the farm and landscape levels. Although the ways in which economic, technological, and regulatory changes are likely to affect the profitability and management of farms of varying size are reasonably well understood, there is not the knowledge or understanding to predict the resulting effects on biodiversity. For example, the effect of changes in arable farming practices on field weeds and, in turn, on habitats and food supply required to sustain farm birds is a case in point. This knowledge is critical, however, if we are to understand the ecological consequences of changes in agricultural policy. Furthermore, it is also important if we are to design and justify changes in farming methods that can not only enhance nature conservation, but do this is ways that are practical and appealing from a farmer's point of view. This understanding is essential if we are to achieve an agriculture that is sustainable in both economic and environmental terms and is widely perceived to have social and cultural value. A consistent theme in all components of this research project is to understand the behaviour (of farmers, weeds or birds) and then use this information to produce predictive models. Whilst there have been a number of models of economic behaviour, weed populations and bird populations - including many by the research team here - the really novel component of this research is to integrate these within one framework. Farmer interviews on economic attitudes and preferences associated with and importance of different land-use objectives to lowland arable farmers are available at the UK Data Archive under study number 6728 (see online resources). Further documentation for this study may be found through the RELU Knowledge Portal and the project's ESRC funding award web page (see online resources).

Simple

Date (Publication)
2013-07-23
Citation identifier
CEH:EIDC: / 1374597694599
Citation identifier
https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/6762f1b5-2bcc-4062-bff6-e560d902b593
Point of contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role
University of Cambridge

Sutherland, W.

w.sutherland@zoo.cam.ac.uk

Principal investigator
University of Sheffield

Freckleton, R.

r.freckleton@sheffield.ac.uk

Author
University of Sheffield

Queenborough, S.

s.a.queenborough@sheffield.ac.uk

Author
University of Sheffield

Queensborough, S.

s.a.queenborough@sheffield.ac.uk

Point of contact
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Publisher
Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Land Use

GEMET - Concepts, version 4.1.3

  • agricultural land
  • agricultural policy
  • weed
  • land use
  • nature conservation
  • bird
  • biodiversity
  • arable farming
  • modelling
Keywords
  • Norfolk

  • Bedfordshire

  • Lincolnshire

  • Rural Economy and Land Use Programme

  • environmental conservation

  • farming systems

Access constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Registration is required to access this data
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
This resource is licensed from UK Data Archive (a department of the University of Essex and not a separate legal entity) and made available under the RELU data licence terms and conditions
Spatial representation type
Text, table
Distance
20  urn:ogc:def:uom:EPSG::9001
Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Environment
  • Farming
Begin date
2006-09-01
End date
2009-12-31
N
S
E
W
thumbnail




Unique resource identifier
WGS 84
Distribution format
Name Version

Text

Distributor contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Distributor
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/6762f1b5-2bcc-4062-bff6-e560d902b593

Download the data

OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/sd/6762f1b5-2bcc-4062-bff6-e560d902b593.zip

Supporting information

Hierarchy level
Dataset
Other

dataset

Conformance result

Title

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Statement

Research funded by Economic and Social Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Award Number: RES-227-25-0025 Survey of arable weeds in ca. 500 fields in 49 farms over three years. Each field was divided into large grids of 20x20 m cells, and the density of seven species was estimated three times a year. Categorical abundance (0, low, medium, high, very high) of 7 weed species in 20x20 m grid cells in 20x20 m grid cells in 2-4 ha per field. The area was picked to maximise efficiency in order to decrease between-field transit time. The samples are random in the sense that nothing was known about their weed density beforehand.

Metadata

File identifier
6762f1b5-2bcc-4062-bff6-e560d902b593 XML
Metadata language
English
Character set
8859 Part 1
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Hierarchy level name

dataset

Date stamp
2026-01-09T12:21:34
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version

2.3

Metadata author
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Point of contact
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

thumbnail

Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Land Use


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