Ecological Infrastructures: Ideabook on Functional Biodiversity at the Farm Level, Temperate Zones of Europe

Multifunctional agriculture, functional biodiversity, conservation biological control and ecological infrastructure are recent terms reflecting a change to a new philosophy in agricultural production. Healthy, safe food and an attractive, biodiverse production environment are becoming increasingly important benchmarks for high quality produce requested by critical, well-educated consumers.
The International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC) has a long tradition and much expertise in the fi eld of conservation biological control, and also in its incorporation into sustainable production systems. However, the practical implementation of scientific knowledge and further development of this knowledge at the farm level is often hampered by the lack of information about the available tools and expertise gained in other regions.
Practical information is especially scarce and diffuse in the developing fields of functional biodiversity, habitat management and quality assessment of ecological infrastructures. The IOBC Commission on Integrated Production Guidelines and Endorsement has been able to motivate many specialists in Europe to help preparing this Ideabook. As a result of the very stimulating guidance by Dr. Ernst Boller, this Ideabook containing a wealth of until now unavailable information, could appear to fi ll important gaps in common knowledge about Integrated Production.
With tools like this Ideabook IOBC pursues as international scientific organisation the traditional objective to make new, field-tested and sustainable knowledge available to the farmers’ community.