Abstract
Because of their specific role in the fate of natural resources of landscapes, riparian lands are considered as landscape management units. Yet, they are part of many farms: In what way does this influence their land use and sustainability? In this article, farm riparian land was defined as the set of riparian fields of a given farm. Our aim was to evaluate farm riparian lands as farm management units and the balance between technical and ecological functions associated with farm riparian land-use types. Technical functions designated the role of land use in elaborating farm production and maintaining farm territory. Ecological functions corresponded to farm riparian land-use intensity and ratio of permanent vegetation. The analysis was carried on 102 farms from 5 study sites representative of dairy agriculture and landscapes in a region straddling Brittany and Normandy (France). Farm riparian land-use types were identified using statistical clustering. Technical and ecological functions associated with land-use types were expressed in the light of agronomy and landscape ecology expertise. Descriptors of farm holdings and farm riparian land were tested as explanatory factors of farm riparian land-use types. The use of farm riparian lands was diverse but well defined; they proved to be farm management units. Compatibilities or antagonisms between technical and ecological functions were underscored according to farm riparian land-use type. We argued that decision support could gain in combining perspectives on riparian lands as landscape management units and farm management units.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Aubry C. 2000 Une modélisation de la gestion de production dans l’exploitation agricole. Revue française de gestion 129:32–46
Aurousseau P., and H. Squividant. 1995. Rôle environnemental et identification cartographique des sols hydromorphes de bas-fonds. Ingénieries EAT n° spécial Rade de Brest, pp. 75–85
Baldock D., G. Beaufoy, F. Brouwer, F. Godeschalk . 1996. Farming at the margins: Abandonment or redeployment of agricultural land in Europe. Institute for European Environmental Policy & Agricultural Economics Research Institute, London
Baudry J. 1997. Buffer zones and farming systems. Pages 275–282 in N. Haycock, T. P. Burt, K. W. T. Goulding, and G. Pinay, (eds.). Buffer zones: Their processes and potential in water protection. Quest Environmental, Harpenden
Baudry J., and F. Papy. 2001. The role of landscape heterogeneity in the sustainability of cropping systems. Pages 243–259 in J. Nösberger, H. H. Geiger, and P. C. Struik, (eds.). Crop Science. CAB International, Wallingford
Baudry J., C. Thenail. 2004. Riparian zones in landscapes and farming systems: A case study in western France. Landscape and Urban Planning 67:121–129
Baudry J., F. Burel, C. Thenail, D. Le Coeur. 2000. A holistic landscape ecological study of the interactions between farming activities and ecological patterns in Brittany, France. Landscape and Urban planning 50:119–128
Baudry J., P. Steyaert, C. Thenail, J. P. Deffontaines, J. L. Maigrot, M. C. Léouffre, P. Santucci, G. Balent. 1996. Approche spatiale des systèmes techniques agricoles et environnement. In:G. Allaire B. Hubert A. Langlet .(eds). Nouvelles fonctions de l’agriculture et de l’espace rural: enjeux et défis identifiés par la recherche. INRA, Paris.pp:123–137
Benoît M. 1985. La gestion territoriale des activités agricoles, l’exploitation et le village: deux échelles d’analyse en zone d’élevage. Cas de la Lorraine (région de Neufchateau). Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon, Paris
Benoît M., J. P. Deffontaines, F. Gras, E. Bienaimé, R. Riela-Cosserat. 1997. Agriculture et qualité de l’eau. Une approche interdisciplinaire de la pollution par les nitrates d’un bassin d’alimentation. Cahiers Agricultures 6:97–105
Benton T. G., J. A. Vickery, J. D. Wilson. 2003. Farmland biodiversity: is habitat heterogeneity the key? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:182–188
Burel F., J. Baudry 2003. Landscape ecology. Science Publishers, Enfield, NH
Castro Coelho J., P. AguiarPinto, L. Mira da Silva. 2001. A systems approach for the estimation of the effects of land consolidation projects (LCPs): A model and its application. Agricultural Systems 68:179–195
de Koning G. H. J., P. H. Verburg, A. Veldkamp, L. O. Fresco. 1999. Multi-scale modeling of land use change dynamics in Ecuador. Agricultural Systems 61:77–93
De’ath G., K. E. Fabricius. 2000. Classification and regression trees: A powerful yet simple technique for ecological data analysis. Ecology 81:3178–3192
DRAFBasseNormandie. 2001. Recensement agricole 2000. Basse-Normandie. Agreste Basse-Normandie 2001:1–4
DRAFBretagne. 2001. Recensement agricole 2000. Bretagne. Agreste Bretagne 2001:1–4
Durand P., C. Gascuel-Odoux, C. Kao, P. Mérot. 2000. Une typologie hydrologique des petites zones humides ripariennes. Etude et Gestion des Sols 7:207–218
EuropeanParliament and EuropeanCouncil. 2000. EU Water Framework Directive. EU Official Journal L327:1–72
Fausch K. D., C. E. Torgersen, C. V. Baxter, H. W. Li. 2002. Landscapes to riverscapes: Bridging the gap between research and conservation of stream fishes. BioScience 52:483–498
Gergel S. E., M. G. Turner, J. R. Miller, J. M. Melack, E. H. Stanley. 2002. Landscape indicators of human impacts to riverine systems. Aquatic Science 64:118–128
Gras R., M. Benoît, J. P. Deffontaines, M. Duru, M. Lafarge, A. Langlet, P. L. Osty. 1989. Le fait technique en agronomie. Activité agricole, concepts et méthodes d’étude. INRA, L’Harmattan, Paris
Hawkins V., P. Selman. 2002. Landscape scale planning: exploring alternative use scenarios. Landscape and Urban Planning 60:211–224
Haycock, N. E., T. P. Burt, K. W. T. Goulding, and G. Pinay (eds.). 1996. Buffer zones: Their processes and potential in water protection. Quest Environmental, Harpenden, U.K
Iverson L. R. 1988. Land-use changes in Illinois, USA: The influence of landscape attributes on current and historic land-use. Landscape Ecology 2:45–61
Kullback S. 1959. Information theory and statistics. John Wiley & Sons, New York
Laurent C. 1992. L’agriculture et son territoire dans la crise. Analyse et démenti des prévisions sur la déprise des terres agricoles à partir d’observations réalisées dans le Pays d’Auge. Université de Paris VII, Paris
Liu J., W. W. Taylor (eds) 2002. Integrating landscape ecology into natural resources management. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Nerbonne B. A., B. Vondracek. 2001. Effects of local land use on physical habitat, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish in the Whitewater River, Minnesota, USA. Environmental Management 28:87–99
Paine L. K., C. A. Ribic. 2002. Comparison of riparian plant communities under four land management systems in southwestern Wisconsin. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment 92:93–105
Papy F. 2000. Farm models and decision support: a summary review. In J. P. Colin E. W. Crawford, (eds). Research on agricultural systems. Accomplishments, perspectives and issues. Nova Science Publishers, Huntington, NY.pp:89–107
Phipps M. 1981 Entropy and community pattern analysis. Journal of Theoretical Biology 93:253–273
Phipps M., J. Baudry, F. Burel. 1986. Ordre topo écologique dans un espace rural les niches paysagiques. Compte rendus de l’Académie des Sciences 20:691–696
Piorr H.-P. 2003. Environmental policy, agri-environmental indicators and landscape indicators. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 2060:1–17
Poudevigne, I., and D. Alard. 1997. Landscape and agricultural patterns in rural areas: A case study in the Brionne Basin, Normandy, France. Journal of Environmental Management 50:335–349
Rhodes H. M., L. S. J. Leland, B. E. Niven. 2002. Farmers, streams, information, and money: Does informing farmers about riparian management have any effect? Environmental Management 30:665–677
Robinson R. A., W. J. Sutherland. 2002. Post-war changes in arable farming and biodiversity in Great Britain. Journal of Applied Ecology 39:157–176
Sabater S., A. Butturini, J.-C. Clement, D. Dowrick, M. Hefting, V. Maître, G. Pinay, C. Postolache, M. Rzepecki, F. Sabater. 2003. Nitrogen removal by riparian buffers along a European climatic gradient: patterns and factors of variation. Ecosystems 6:20–30
Shannon, C. E., and W. Weaver. 1949. The mathematical theory of communication. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, USA
Sharifi M. A., H. van Keulen. 1994. A decision support system for land use planning at farm enterprise level. Agricultural Systems 45:239–257
ThenailC. 2002 Relationships between farm characteristics and the variation of the density of hedgerows at the level of a micro-region of bocage landscape. Study case in Brittany, France. Agricultural System 71:207–230
Thenail, C., and J. Baudry. 1994. Méthodes d’étude des relations entre activités agricoles et paysages. Pages 316–321 in M. Sebillotte (ed.). Recherches-systèmes en agriculture et développement rural. 13e Symposium International. CIRAD Montpellier, France
Thenail C., J. Baudry 1996. Consequences on landscape pattern of within farm mechanisms of land use changes (example in western France). In R. H. G. Jongman, (ed). Ecological and landscape consequences of land use change in Europe. European Center for Nature Conservation, Tilburg, The Netherlands.pp:242–258
Thenail C., J. Baudry. 2001. Modélisation des systèmes techniques agricoles contribuant aux dynamiques des structures paysagères: De la parcelle à l’exploitation agricole et au paysage. In L. Hubert-Moy (ed). Etude des changements d’utilisation et d’occupation du sol: Échelles et modèles. Université de Géographie de Rennes 2, Rennes.pp:16–24
Thenail C., J. Baudry. 2004. Variation of farm spatial land use pattern according to the structure of the hedgerow network (bocage) landscape: A study case in northeast Brittany, France. Agriculture, Ecosystem and Environment 101:53–72
Thenail, C., D. Le Coeur, and J. Baudry. 2000. Relationships between field boundaries, farming systems and landscape: Consequences on biodiversity pattern in agrarian landscapes. Pages 109–126 in A. Koutsouris and L. O. Zorini (eds.). European farming and rural systems research and extension into the next millennium: Environmental, agricultural and socio-economic issues. Papazisis Publishing, Volos, Greece
van der Ploeg J. D. 1995. The tragedy of spatial planning. In J. F. T. Schoute P. A. Finke F. R. Veeneklaas H. P. Wolfert, (eds). Scenario studies for the rural environment. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Wageningen.pp:75–90
van Dijk, G. 2001. Biodiversity and multifunctionality in European agriculture: Priorities, current initiatives and possible new directions. In L. Buguñá-Hoffmann, (ed.). Agricultural functions and biodiversity. A European stakeholder approach to the CBD Agricultural Biodiversity work programme. European Center for Nature Conservation, Tilburg, The Netherlands
van Lanen H. A. J., C. A. van Diepen, G. J. Reinds, G. H. J. de Konig, J. D. Bulens, A. K. Bregt. 1992. Physical land evaluation methods and GIS to explore the crop growth potential and its effects within the European Communities. Agricultural Systems 39:307–328
Vogt K. A., M. Grove, H. Asbjornsen, K. B. Maxwell, D. J. Vogt, R. Sigurdardóttir, B. C. Larson, L. Schibli, M. Dove. 2002. Linking ecological and social scales for natural resource management. In J. L. Liu W. W. Taylor, (eds). Integrating landscape ecology and natural resource management. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.pp:143–175
Walsh S. E., P. A. Soranno, D. T. Rutledge. 2003. Lakes, wetland and streams as predictors of land use/cover distribution. Environmental Management 31:198–214
Acknowledgments
This study has been funded by the French National Research Project on Riparian Zones (PNRZH) and the European project “NItrogen COntrol by LAndscape Structures in agricultural landscapes” (NICOLAS). We thank J. P. Turgie and M. Chevallereau for their contribution respectively to farmers’ interviews and database management, and the farmers for their kind participation in these interviews. We also thank M. Novak for editorial assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thenail, C., Baudry, J. Farm Riparian Land Use and Management: Driving Factors and Tensions Between Technical and Ecological Functions. Environmental Management 36, 640–653 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0255-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0255-y