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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2017
Most agricultural grassland in lowland UK is species-poor and structurally uniform. Management intensification has had a deleterious affect on the biodiversity of invertebrates and the suitability of grassland as feeding and breeding habitat for birds (Vickery et al. 20001). The PEBIL project (Defra BD 1444: Potential for Enhancing Biodiversity in Intensive Livestock Farms) is investigating the effects of structural and plant species manipulation on the invertebrate communities of field margins. The different treatments are designed to test the effects of increasing amounts of sward structural heterogeneity, in terms of canopy height, architectural complexity & botanical composition, on faunal abundance and diversity as well as improving food resources for birds.