Diverse landscapes but not wildflower plantings increase marketable crop yield

McCullough, Christopher; Grab, Heather; Angelella, Gina M.; Karpanty, Sarah M.; Samtani, Jayesh B.; Olimpi, Elissa M.; O’Rourke, Megan E.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2022.108120

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…However, there remains no scientific consensus on whether flower strips increase yields [11,37,40,46]. Although flower strips have been proven to be effective in simplified agricultural landscapes, their effectiveness might vary both temporally and spatially [24,40,47]. Wild bee communities are highly influenced by the availability of resources in adjacent natural and semi-natural habitats [41].…”

Section: Limitations and Knowledge Gapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Installing Flower Strips to Promote Pollinators in Simplified Agricultural Landscapes: Comprehensive Viability Assessment in Sunflower Fields

Ortega‐Marcos

Hevia

García-Nieto

et al. 2022

Land

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The installation of flower strips in simplified agricultural landscapes has been promoted as a tool to improve pollination services. While the effectiveness of flower strips in increasing pollinator visitation and yield is well-established, the social and economic feasibility of this measure remains unclear. Here, we evaluated the economic efficiency and social feasibility of installing flower strips to promote pollination under different scenarios of subsidy. A 2-year experiment was implemented by comparing sunflower fields with and without installed flower strips in central Spain, along with local farmer opinions obtained via a focus group. Flower strips significantly increased wild bee visitation to sunflower heads in the second year after implementation, with seed set being 11% higher on average in fields that had flower strips. Cost–benefit analysis revealed that investment in flower strips would be recovered by 4–5 years after installation, depending on the subsidy used. In the most favorable subsidy scenario, farmers could increase their annual benefits by 8.7% (29 €/ha) after recovering the initial investment. However, most local farmers did not perceive a significant increase in yield associated with the flower strip installation. The use of flower strips was negatively identified by farmers as a source of invasive weeds in adjacent fields, along with a lack of technical advice and economic incentives. Farmers fully agreed that direct economic subsidies were required for flower strips to be accepted as feasible approaches in the long-term.

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Section: Limitations and Knowledge Gapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Installing Flower Strips to Promote Pollinators in Simplified Agricultural Landscapes: Comprehensive Viability Assessment in Sunflower Fields

Ortega‐Marcos

Hevia

García-Nieto

et al. 2022

Land

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“…Anjum-Zubair et al [32] showed that the species richness of carabid beetles was significantly higher at the edges of fields than in the centers of fields but the total numbers of arthropods were higher in the centers. However, according to McCullough et al [33], in the short term, maintaining existing semi-natural habitats in the landscape may be more beneficial for plant production than creating flower strips adjacent to crops. According to Beyer et al [34], the feeding area for pollinators shapes both the surrounding landscape and crops, and they are subject to seasonal fluctuations and annual cycles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flower Strips as an Ecological Tool to Strengthen the Environmental Balance of Fields: Case Study of a National Park Zone in Western Poland

Antkowiak,

Kowalska,

Trzciński

2024

Sustainability

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Maintaining biodiversity in agrocenoses is becoming an important element of sustainable development strategies. Flower strips can perform various functions, and their use in the agricultural landscape is a form of a natural mechanism for regulating the agricultural habitat and improving the effectiveness of biological methods of combating crop pests. This manuscript is a case study in Wielkopolska National Park, a valuable wildlife area situated in a temperate zone characteristic of the climate conditions of western Poland. The purpose of this study was to analyze the species composition of plants in a flower strip two years after sowing a mixture of seeds of perennial plants, and to determine the diversity of the collected arthropods depending on the flowering intensity of plants in the strip. The most intense flowering period in the flower strip occurred in June, when the number of flowering plants was the highest and belonged to one species, Trifolium repens (81.52% of all flowering plants). In the same month, the largest share of beneficial arthropods were specimens from Hymenoptera/Parasitica (29.15%), which may indicate their preference for T. repens. The share of beneficial arthropods in relation to all caught arthropods was higher in June (58.74%) than in July (35.16%), with Hymenoptera predominating, represented mainly by Parasitica, which may indicate their preference for species from the genus Trifolium.

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Fruit set is moderately dependent on insect pollinators in strawberry and is limited by the availability of pollen under natural open conditions

Menzel¹

2023

The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology

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Modern strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) cultivars are hermaphrodite and have fertile flowers, with the anthers releasing viable pollen. Cultivars are self-compatible and do not require cross-pollination. Studies supporting managed or wild insects are based on a few reports and there are problems with the methods used to assess pollination. This review examined the role of pollination in strawberry. The mean (± s.d. or standard deviation) pollinator dependence (PD) for yield (self-pollination versus open-or insect-assisted pollination) was 0.36 ± 0.26 (P < 0.001, N = 52 studies). The yields of plants exposed to supplementary insects were higher than those exposed to pollinators under natural open conditions, with a calculated pollen limitation (PL) of 0.20 ± 0.17 (P < 0.001, N = 20 studies). Fields close to seminatural habitats, wildflowers, grass or hedges can have more pollinators and a greater diversity of pollinators than fields further away. However, a greater abundance of pollinators does not always lead to higher fruit set. Yield is dependent on insect pollinators (moderate pollinator dependence) and is limited by the availability of pollen under natural open conditions (moderate pollen limitation).

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Diverse landscapes but not wildflower plantings increase marketable crop yield

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

Installing Flower Strips to Promote Pollinators in Simplified Agricultural Landscapes: Comprehensive Viability Assessment in Sunflower Fields

Installing Flower Strips to Promote Pollinators in Simplified Agricultural Landscapes: Comprehensive Viability Assessment in Sunflower Fields

Flower Strips as an Ecological Tool to Strengthen the Environmental Balance of Fields: Case Study of a National Park Zone in Western Poland

Fruit set is moderately dependent on insect pollinators in strawberry and is limited by the availability of pollen under natural open conditions

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