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Review of the Impacts on Biodiversity of Land-Use Changes Induced by Non-food Biomass Production

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Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 30

Part of the book series: Sustainable Agriculture Reviews ((SARV,volume 30))

Abstract

Over the last few decades, much emphasis has been put on using biomass and other renewable resources for energy production. In a context of increasing human population, global biodiversity decline and rapid climate change, expanding land clearance for bioenergy crop cultivation raises many concerns about the competition for agricultural land use between food, feed, and fibre production. Expanding land for bioenergy therefore challenges the sustainability of agricultural systems as well as its environmental impact. Several studies have attempted to quantify these impacts of land use change (LUC), however they do not take into account the causal chain from “the drivers of LUC to the impact assessment” which is required to understand the underlying mechanism.

The work is part of a global project assessing the impact of LUC toward bioenergy crops cultivation considering the causal chain. Here, we review studies assessing how land-use shifts towards bioenergy crops impact biodiversity. The review first reveals that very few studies have assessed biodiversity by considering the whole causal chain. Despite this, a general consensus emerges on a negative impact on biodiversity of bioenergy crops cultivation. This study also points out the diversity of metrics used to assess biodiversity, from species richness to proxies such as habitat quality. Overall, this review suggests that a sounder quantification of the effect of LUC toward bioenergy crops cultivation could be obtained by using more accurate metrics both for biodiversity (i.e. coupling taxonomic and functional diversity indices, and selecting relevant taxa) and the characterization of the environment (i.e. landscape configuration and composition, and the integration of management practices).

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Annex: References in the Study Corpus Addressing Impacts on Biodiversity

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry under grant contract 12-60-C0004. Assistance from Sophie Le Perchec (INRA Rennes) in the literature search is acknowledged, as well as the following scientists who contributed to the detailed analysis of the scientific articles: Laure Bamière (INRA Grignon), Aude Barbottin (INRA Grignon), Valentin Bellassen (INRA Dijon), Martial Bernoux (IRD Montpellier), Cécile Bessou (CIRAD Montpellier), Antonio Bispo (ADEME Angers), François Chiron (AgroParisTech, Orsay), Stéphane De Cara (INRA Grignon), Patrice Dumas (CIRAD Montpellier), Guillaume Décocq (Univ. Picardie Jules-Vernes, Amiens), Jean-François Dhôte (INRA Nancy), Monia El Akkari (INRA Paris), Nathalie Frascaria (AgroParisTech, Orsay), Benoît Gabrielle (AgroParisTech, Grignon), Philippe Lescoat (AgroParisTech, Paris), David Makowski (INRA Grignon), Olivier Réchauchère (INRA Paris), Julie Wohlfahrt (INRA Mirecourt).

The author would also like to thank two anonymous readers for their insightful comments, which made it possible to improve the quality of this article.

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  1. Agroécologie, INRA, Dijon Cedex, France

    Sabrina Gaba

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  1. Sabrina Gaba
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Correspondence to Sabrina Gaba .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. DEPE (Unit for Collective Scientific Expertise, Foresight and Advanced Studies), INRA, Paris, France

    Olivier Réchauchère

  2. Agriculture and Forest, ADEME (French Agency for Environment and Energy Management), Angers cedex 01, France

    Antonio Bispo

  3. EcoSys, AgroParisTech – INRA, Thiverval-Grignon, France

    Benoît Gabrielle

  4. Agronomie, INRA, Thiverval-Grignon, France

    David Makowski

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Gaba, S. (2018). Review of the Impacts on Biodiversity of Land-Use Changes Induced by Non-food Biomass Production. In: Réchauchère, O., Bispo, A., Gabrielle, B., Makowski, D. (eds) Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 30. Sustainable Agriculture Reviews, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96289-4_8

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