Persefone.jl: Modelling Biodiversity in Dynamic Agricultural Landscapes

Daniel Vedder , Marco C. Matthies, Gabriel Díaz Iturry, Guy Pe'er

Agricultural landscapes are highly dynamic, constantly changing in space and time due to the effects of farm management and environmental factors. To forecast the effects of changes in agricultural systems on biodiversity, we need to understand these landscape dynamics and how they impact different species. Here, we present Persefone.jl, an open-source process-based model of agricultural landscapes and animal species. The model simulates farm management, crop growth, and two wildlife animal species (skylark Alauda arvensis and marbled white Melanargia galathea) using daily time steps in three German farming regions. We describe the model and show that it replicates multiple qualitative and quantitative empirical patterns, as well as discussing design principles and limitations of the software. Persefone.jl is a modular and extensible agroecological model that can be used to study population dynamics of farmland wildlife species, and evaluate the biodiversity impacts of new policies or other changes to agricultural systems.