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Potential impacts of cropland biofuel production on the provision of avian habitat
Citation:
SANDER, H. Potential impacts of cropland biofuel production on the provision of avian habitat. Presented at A Community of Ecosystem Services (ACES), Phoenix, AZ, December 06 - 09, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
The goal of this research is to develop methods and indicators that are useful for evaluating the condition of aquatic communities, for assessing the restoration of aquatic communities in response to mitigation and best management practices, and for determining the exposure of aquatic communities to different classes of stressors (i.e., pesticides, sedimentation, habitat alteration).
Description:
Present laws and policies encourage the growth of corn for the production of starch-based and cellulosic ethanol on agricultural lands in the U.S. This has been touted as an environmentally-friendly solution to problems of energy-independence, particularly in the midwestern U.S. where much of the corn required to produce these biofuels is grown. However, the ongoing intensification of corn production is likely to negatively impact the delivery of a number of ecosystem services. This study explores how this production intensification is likely to impact one ecosystem service, habitat for bird species, which proivdes opportunities for recreation via bird watching and hunting, in the midwestern U.S.