The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams: A systematic review

We excluded grey literature, laboratory studies and all studies pertaining to hydropower dams, industrial waste dams, constructed wetlands and levee, resulting in 250 articles remain- ing for review. A full text review was conducted for the previously selected 250 articles to identify those with biodiversity objectives and/or outcomes, and centred around our definition of farm dams, being small (~102–105 m2), typically human-made reservoirs used as a water source for crops, livestock, and other agricultural purposes. Studies that did not have or measure a biodi- versity relevant outcome, goal or aim were removed (e.g., studies that looked at farm dams as a source of water for human consumption or measured greenhouse gas emissions). This pro- duced 104 articles that fit our selection criteria (S2 Appendix). To identify research patterns Table 1. Included and excluded terms for searching farm dam articles, categorized into farm-related and water- body-related terms. Included and excluded search terms for further assessment of farm dam articles Farm-related Waterbody-related Excluded terms agricultur* agro-*, arable, farm*, non-urban artificial, cattle ponds, dam* earth bank, earth tank, excavated tank, human-made, human-modified manmade, man-made, pond* reservoir*, waterbod*, water storage, wetland* arch dam, beaver dam, buttress dam, coffer dam, constructed wetland, diversion dam, embankment dam, gravity dam, hydropower dam, industrial waste dam, levee, masonry dam, overflow dam, regulating dam, saddle dam or dike The search was adapted to account for syntax differences

(*) and quotation marks were used for phrase searching. Terms applied to titles, abstracts, or keywords. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303504.t001 Table 2. The included terms used in part 2 of the screening process to search for appropriate farm dam articles. Included search terms for the second stage of the assessment of farm dam articles abund*, availability, characteristic*, connect* distribut*, ecology*, fauna, habitat*, landscape, occup* organism, presence, reproduce*, selection, use activit*, biodivers*, communit*, conserve*, divers* endanger*, flora, hotspot, life, occur*, population, quality, restore*, species, vulnerable assemblage, biology* compos*, detect*, eco-, ecosystem, environment*, function, invasive, manag*, organic, predator*, rar*, rich*, threaten*, wild* The search was adapted to account for syntax differences (*) and included prefixes and suffixes e.g., “meta-population” and “populations”, and compound words e.g., “wildlife”. Terms applied to titles and abstracts. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303504.t002 PLOS ONE The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303504 May 13, 2024 5 / 18