Monitoring biodiversity across agroecosystems: insights from Southern Ontario

As biodiversity protection and restoration goals grow, so must impact assessments that can guide conservation efforts on the ground. This is especially true in agricultural areas, where competing pressures on use of the land leave little room for manoeuvre for conservation actions. As much as they are needed, biodiversity impact assessments are limited by the difficulty of tracking wildlife and associated ecosystem services at scale. This special collection features a series of original articles that contribute broadly to the topic of monitoring biodiversity dynamics in agroecosystems. They are rooted in Southern Ontario, a densely populated and intensively farmed region with a rich ecological history, and programs like the Alternative Land Use Services, which support on-farm conservation practices, including habitat restoration on agriculturally marginal field areas. Contributions fall under two broad themes: (1) impact of habitat management and agricultural practices on biodiversity, with a particular focus on regionally important taxa and ecosystems (arthropods in grasslands, aquatic food webs in riparian ecosystems); and (2) challenges and opportunities for monitoring arthropods across agricultural landscapes. The collection illustrates the value of partnerships between regional organizations and researchers for producing locally applicable insights with relevance to the broader literature.