Real-World Applications for Virtual Fences – What Are Potential Benefits for Conservation?

Livestock grazing can enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. In many parts of Europe, however, grazing has lost its importance, especially in the dairy sector. Large proportions of permanent grassland have been converted to arable land or intensified by fertilization and frequent defoliation. The disappearance of large herbivores and extensively grazed pastures contributes to the loss of structural, functional and biological diversity and ecosystem services. Modern technologies, which circumvent the cost- and labour-intensive installation of physical fences, could facilitate a precise spatio-temporal management of livestock and promote grazing. We reviewed the literature on the state-of-the-art of virtual fencing, focusing on the prospects of these technologies to enhance environmentally-friendly livestock farming. Novel virtual fencing technologies are expected to entail various ecological benefits, but this has rarely been tested in practice. Future experiments not only need to increase sample sizes and study periods to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of virtual fencing, but also need to be specifically designed for answering questions of conservation interest. Virtual fences have the potential to reconcile agronomic with ecological demands and bring livestock back into the landscape, but whether they will actually find broad application depends on further multidisciplinary research on animal welfare, agronomic, social and legal aspects