Comparing organic farming and land sparing: optimizing yield and butterfly populations at a landscape scale

Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 1358–1367 Abstract Organic farming aims to be wildlife‐friendly, but it may not benefit wildlife overall if much greater areas are needed to produce a given quantity of food. We measured the density and species richness of butterflies on organic farms, conventional farms and grassland nature reserves in 16 landscapes. Organic farms supported a higher density of butterflies than conventional farms, but a lower density...