Land‐use intensity and the effects of organic farming on biodiversity: a hierarchical meta‐analysis
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Summary: The benefits of organic farming to biodiversity in agricultural landscapes continue to be hotly debated, emphasizing the importance of precisely quantifying the effect of organic vs. conventional farming. We conducted an updated hierarchical meta‐analysis of studies that compared biodiversity under organic and conventional farming methods, measured as species richness. We calculated effect sizes for 184 observations garnered from 94 studies, and for each study, we obtained three standardized measures reflecting land‐use intensity. We investigated the stability of effect sizes through time, publication bias due to the ‘file drawer’ problem, and consider whether the current literature is representative of global organic farming patterns. On average, organic farming increased species richness by about 30%. This result has been robust over the last 30 years of published studies and shows no sign of diminishing. Organic farming had a greater effect on biodiversity as the percentage of the landscape consisting of arable fields increased, that is, it is higher in intensively farmed regions. The average effect size and the response to agricultural intensification depend on taxonomic group, functional group and crop type. There is some evidence for publication bias in the literature; however, our results are robust to its impact. Current studies are heavily biased towards northern and western Europe and North America, while other regions with large areas of organic farming remain poorly investigated. Synthesis and applications . Our analysis affirms that organic farming has large positive effects on biodiversity compared with conventional farming, but that the effect size varies with the organism group and crop studied, and is greater in landscapes with higher land‐use intensity. Decisions about where to site organic farms to maximize biodiversity will, however, depend on the costs as well as the potential benefits. Current studies have been heavily biased towards agricultural systems in the developed world. We recommend that future studies pay greater attention to other regions, in particular, areas with tropical, subtropical and Mediterranean climates, in which very few studies have been conducted.
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Organic farms have been shown to be associated with higher on-farm biodiversity, although variation is large and outcomes depend on surrounding landscapes.
“Organic farms have also been shown to be associated with higher on-farm biodiversity, although the variation is large and outcomes are dependent on surrounding landscapes (Tuck et al. 2014).”
From Delivering “less but better” meat in practice—a case study of a farm in agroecological transition (2022) · cites this paper as Tuck et al. 2014
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- Authors
- Tuck, S. L., Winqvist, C., Mota, F., Ahnström, J., Turnbull, L. A., & Bengtsson, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Tuck, Sean L.
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Ecology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-02-07
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 746-755
- ISSN
- 0021-8901 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2664
- PMC
- PMC4299503
- OpenAlex
- W2105272443
- Cited by
- 846
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 64 · 2025: 75 · 2024: 78 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 82 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 96 · 2018: 61 · 2017: 49 · 2016: 59 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 20 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 150.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Ecology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas
- Vetenskapsrådet
- Ekhagastiftelsen
- Natural Environment Research Council (1282072)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant and soil sciences
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Organic Food and Agriculture
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
- Keywords
- organic farming, conventional farming, biodiversity, species richness, land use intensity, agricultural intensification, arable land, publication bias, taxonomic groups, functional groups, crop types
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