10 - Biodiversity survey in typical organic agriculture production regions of China

Abstract

Organic agriculture has been believed to attribute many positive features of food production. The aim of this chapter was to survey the effect of organic agriculture production on biodiversity with the rise of organic farming in China. Ongoing research on the biodiversity in five typical organic versus conventional farming were conducted by NIES and Nanjing Normal University researchers during the year 2013–20. Our survey results suggested that both the species count and population in organic farming field were significantly higher than in conventional fields, mainly on arthropods, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. For instance, a total of 130 species in 28 orders under 10 classes were found in Daizhuang village's organic rice farms, including molluscs, annelids, arthropods, amphibians, fishes, and mammals, however, 27 species in 13 orders under 8 classes in conventional rice fields. Similar results were also found in the other four typical organic farming bases, including organic tea, waxberry, lotus root, peach, vegetables, and grapes bases.