Closing yield gaps: perils and possibilities for biodiversity conservation

by Ben Phalan, Rhys Green, and Andrew Balmford

Philosophical Transactions BVolume 369(1639):20120285

April 5, 2014

©2014 by The Royal Society

Illustration of the potential effect of closing yield gaps on the future area of land needed for growing maize, rice and wheat.

Ben Phalan et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2014;369:20120285

©2014 by The Royal Society

Schematic of different categories of relationships between the population density of individual species and agricultural yields (after [8,15]).

Ben Phalan et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2014;369:20120285

©2014 by The Royal Society

(a) Area at stake (land-sparing potential) for wheat, rice and maize combined.

Ben Phalan et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2014;369:20120285

©2014 by The Royal Society

Estimated importance of cells at 5 min resolution for (a) bird species with populations expected to benefit from agriculture (winners), and (b) bird species which are negatively affected by

agriculture at some or all levels of yield (losers), predicted from...

Ben Phalan et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2014;369:20120285

©2014 by The Royal Society

(a) Estimated importance of cells at 5 min resolution for loser bird species which would have a larger total population under land sparing than other strategies (SP losers).

Ben Phalan et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2014;369:20120285

©2014 by The Royal Society

(a) Estimated importance of cells at a 5 min resolution for loser bird species which would have a larger total population under land sharing than other strategies (SH losers).

Ben Phalan et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2014;369:20120285

©2014 by The Royal Society