Action

Action Synopsis: Bird Conservation About Actions

Create open patches or strips in permanent grassland

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    20%
  • Certainty
    19%
  • Harms
    0%

Key messages

A randomised, replicated and controlled study from the UK found that more Eurasian skylarks used fields with open strips in, but that variations in skylark numbers were too great to draw conclusions from this finding.

 

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A randomised, replicated and controlled trial on 14 fields in southern England in winter 1995-6 (Wakeham-Dawson & Aebischer 1998), found more Eurasian skylarks Alauda arvensis on seven fields that had open strips created in them, than in seven control fields, but the variation in numbers was so great that these differences were not significant (2-55 skylarks/km2 on treated fields vs. 0 on controls). Open strips were created in a grid pattern, 25 m apart, using a tine-cultivator in November 1995. Experimental fields were still significantly more open in May 1996, but the swards had closed entirely by February 1997. This study is also described in ‘Revert arable land to permanent grassland’ and ‘Habitat restoration and creation’.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Williams, D.R., Child, M.F., Dicks, L.V., Ockendon, N., Pople, R.G., Showler, D.A., Walsh, J.C., zu Ermgassen, E.K.H.J. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Bird Conservation. Pages 137-281 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

 

Where has this evidence come from?

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Bird Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Bird Conservation
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What Works in Conservation

What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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