Intensification of New Zealand agriculture: Implications for biodiversity

Abstract Intensification of New Zealand agricultural practices is an ongoing and accelerating process which potentially threatens the environment, biodiversity and even the sustainability of agricultural production. However, neither the exact nature of this threat nor the extent of its impact has received adequate analysis. There is clear evidence that agricultural intensification has degraded aquatic biodiversity, but there is a critical lack of research and monitoring of robust indicators of terrestrial biodiversity in New Zealand production landscapes. Therefore, we can only infer a generalised likelihood that intensification has also reduced terrestrial biodiversity and agro‐ecosystem resilience. It is unknown whether biodiversity and ecological services provided by the actual land growing crops, pasture or wood fibre are degrading because of intensification. Increased use of ecological subsidies (nutrient and energy inputs) may have compensated, at least in part, for the increased rate of food produc...