Data from: Organic farming and associated management practices benefit multiple wildlife taxa: a large-scale field study in rice paddy landscapes

1. Organic farming has potential for the conservation of global
biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Despite this, knowledge of
the effects of organic farming systems on farmland biodiversity is limited
in Asia, the worldwide leader in rice production. 2. We conducted the
first national-scale study to investigate the effects of three different
rice farming systems (conventional, low-input, and organic) and specific
management practices (e.g. herbicide and insecticide applications, crop
rotation, and levee-vegetation management) on species richness and
abundance of multiple taxonomic groups (plants, invertebrates, Pelophylax
and Hyla japonica frogs, cobitid loaches, and birds) in Japan during
2013–2015. 3. Organic fields supported the highest richness and abundance
of several taxonomic groups (native/Red List plants, Tetragnatha spiders,
Sympetrum dragonflies, and Pelophylax frogs), followed by low-input and
conventional fields. We also found taxon-specific responses to specific
management practices. For instance, plant richness and Tetragnatha and
Sympetrum abundance increased with reduced herbicide and/or insecticide
applications. Sympetrum and Cobitid loach abundance increased in the
absence of crop rotation, whereas H. japonica abundance increased with
crop rotation. Pelophylax abundance increased with an increased height of
levee vegetation. 4. At spatial scales larger than single fields,
waterbird richness and abundance were positively correlated with the
proportion of organic rice fields, presumably due to increased prey
abundance. Meanwhile, landbird richness and abundance were positively
associated with annual precipitation and annual mean temperature,
suggesting that such climate increases food availability. 5. Synthesis and
applications. We highlight the positive effects of organic and low-input
farming for biodiversity relative to conventional farming in rice-paddies.
We also provide the scientific basis of the current agri-environmental
schemes in Japan, subsidising organic and low-input farming for
biodiversity. The taxon-specific associations with management practices
indicate that avoiding crop rotation, maintaining levee vegetation, and
organic farming at large spatial scales can also be wildlife-friendly.
These practices may thus be incorporated into agri-environment schemes for
effective biodiversity conservation.