Short Rotation CoppiceenSRC -alley cropping: an integrative measure to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes?

Agroforestry systems are currently discussed with respect to their potential as integrative biodiversity conservation measure in agriculture (Jose et al. 2012; Tsonkova et al. 2012). An open question is whether agroforestry, as a cultivated habitat, should be eligible as ecological focus area within the greening of the EU common agricultural policy. One type of agroforestry in Europe is alley cropping for the combined production of food and energy with strips of short rotation coppice (SRC; mainly of fast growing poplar; FNR 2012). So far little is known about the importance of those systems for the effective support of biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes (Jose et al. 2004)