Green treasures: Investigating the biodiversity potential of equine yards through the presence and quality of landscape features in the Netherlands

RESEARCH ARTICLE Green treasures: Investigating the biodiversity potential of equine yards through the presence and quality of landscape features in the Netherlands Inga A. WolframmID*, Lara Heric, Andrew M. AllenID Applied Research Centre, Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Velp, Gelderland, Netherlands * inga.wolframm@hvhl.nl Abstract At a time of mounting ecological crises and biodiversity loss, there is an urgent need for nature-based solutions. Equestrian properties cover a considerable proportion of the Euro- pean rural and peri-urban landscape and provide much potential for integrating ecosystem services, such as the inclusion of small landscape features. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence and quality of landscape features (LF) to help determine how the equine sector can contribute to the agro-ecological transition. Using a citizen science approach, 87 commercial and 420 private yard owners reported the type, frequency and geometric dimension of LFs and additional biodiversity enhancing features. A hierarchical multivariate regression was used to determine how equine property characteristics explain variation in the Percentage Property Coverage (PPC) of LFs. The model explained 47% of the variation of PPC. The variables that explained significant variation in PPC included Yard size, Number of LFs, Tree rows, Fruit orchard, Wild hedges, Flowering strips, Buffer strips, Embankments and Cluttered corners. Commercial yards are significantly larger with signifi-

cantly more horses and on average only 9% (±13.87%) of the property was covered by LFs whilst private yards had significantly more coverage of LFs with on average 12% (±14.77%). These findings highlight the substantial yet untapped potential of equine yards in fostering biodiversity, suggesting that the equine sector could play an important role in the agro-eco- logical transition. To encourage more biodiverse-inclusive yard designs, tailored strategies should consider the diverse factors influencing equine yard design, including existing knowl- edge, client demands, financial considerations, and equine health and welfare. Introduction There has been an unprecedented increase in extreme and adverse weather events [1], a stag- gering loss of biodiversity amounting to the Sixth Mass Extinction [2], a decline in quality of water [3] and air [4], an increase in world hunger [5]. The numerous direct and indirect impacts of human activities would likely result in scientists officially announcing the start of a PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301168 April 11, 2024 1 / 16 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Wolframm IA, Heric L, Allen AM (2024) Green treasures: Investigating the biodiversity potential of equine yards through the presence and quality of landscape features in the Netherlands. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0301168. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0301168 Editor: Chris Rogers, Massey University, NEW ZEALAND Received: November 22, 2023 Accepted: March 12, 2024 Published: April 11, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Wolframm et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Raw data files are available from the DANS Data Station Life Sciences (https://doi. org/10.17026/LS/7MIAEK). Funding: IW received partial funding for the study from the Dutch Province Gelderland (dossier number: 2023-006873; website: https://www. gelderland.nl/) The funding body played no role in the study design, data collection and analysis,