Plant cereals in wide-spaced rows

Overall effectiveness category Likely to be ineffective or harmful
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

20%
Certainty

44%
Harms

20%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Planting cereals in widely spaced rows can increase the proportion of habitat in the farmland that can be used by birds, as spaces between rows can be left fallow or planted with grass or legumes.

Key messages

A replicated and controlled study from the UK found that planting cereals in wide-spaced rows “offered benefits over conventional wheat for Eurasian skylarks, but details were not given. Another replicated and controlled study from the UK found that fields with wide-spaced rows had fewer skylark nests than control or skylark plot fields.
A replicated and controlled study from the UK found that the faecal content (and therefore diet) of skylark nestlings was similar between control fields and those with wide-spaced rows.

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

A replicated, controlled study from April-August in 2002-3 in 30 treatment and 30 control fields of winter wheat in northern and eastern England, UK (Smith et al. 2009) found no difference in faecal content of Eurasian skylark Alauda arvensis nestlings in fields with wide-spaced rows, compared to control fields.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Smith B., Holland J., Jones N., Moreby S., Morris A.J. & Southway S. (2009) Enhancing invertebrate food resources for skylarks in cereal ecosystems: how useful are in-crop agri-environment scheme management options? Journal of Applied Ecology, 46, 692-702.

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?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Bird Conservation

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Actions	Effectiveness	Studies	Category
Plant nettle strips Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	0	Synopsis Link
Leave unharvested cereal headlands within arable fields Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	0	Synopsis Link
Undersow spring cereals, with clover for example Action Link	Likely to be beneficial	5	Synopsis Link