Research from The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project has produced a number of interesting findings on the effects of farmland management on wildlife and ecosystems. This article, the second of two on the project, focuses on the impact of farming activity on freshwater habitats and soil communities. Chris Stoate provides an overview of some of the project’s most important findings, and discusses the implications for farm management.
For more than 25 years, the Allerton Project has been researching the relationship between productive land use, wildlife conservation and other environmental benefits such as better water quality and improved ecology. Over that time, wildlife has responded, with songbird numbers doubling, for example.