Cited research: Ecol. Lett. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01481.x (2010)

It seems intuitive that organic farming should be good for biodiversity, but studies at the single-farm scale have had mixed results. This is probably because many species need more space than one field or farm provides to support their life cycle.

Doreen Gabriel at the University of Leeds, UK, and her colleagues decided to expand the analysis area. They compared biodiversity levels in 100-square-kilometre areas of British farmland that contained either high or low amounts of organic cultivation.

The researchers sampled thousands of organisms — including plants, birds, insects and worms — in the farms' fields and along their edges (pictured), and found that the farming practices of both a given farm and its neighbours affect biodiversity. A conventional farm in an organic hotspot is likely to be as biodiverse as an organic farm surrounded by conventional ones. E.M.

Credit: M. TASKER