Re-established grasslands on farmland promote pollinators more than predators

Hussain, Raja Imran; Brandl, Manuela; Maas, Bea; Rabl, Dominik; Walcher, Ronnie; Krautzer, B.; Entling, Martin H.; Moser, Dietmar; Frank, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107543

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Variation in dispersal rate affects the temporal mean and variability of ecosystem productivity through two mechanisms: spatial averaging by intermediate-type species that tend to dominate the landscape at high dispersal rates, and functional compensations between species that are made possible by the maintenance of species diversity (Loreau et al 2003 ). While we found no difference in predation rate in OG and NG, species assemblages of predatory arthropods (carabids and spiders) constituted of different species in OG compared to NG and differences in species diversity were dependent on the taxonomic group (Hussain et al 2021 ). We therefore assume that the community assembly time might be particularly important for ground-dwelling predator communities.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 53%

“…Therefore, maintaining and restoring permanent grasslands is an effective measure to foster functional diversity in predatory arthropod communities (Maas et al 2021 ). In a previous study, however, we could show that epigeic predatory arthropods react much slower to restored grasslands compared to pollinators (Hussain et al 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…While other studies show a positive effect of flower strips and semi-natural habitats on biological pest control (Tschumi et al 2015 , 2016 ; Cahenzli et al 2019 ; Albrecht et al 2020 ), we were not able to observe this effect. This could be explained by inconsistent predator responses to NG within the study sites (Hussain et al 2021 ). Species richness and activity density of carabids and ants did not increase in NG, at least not in the 3 years of observation, indicating slower adaptation of predatory insects to this new habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…From the 50 most abundant plant species, occurring in at least 25% of the samples, we selected 41 plant species in accordance to seed material availability (Supplementary Information Table SI.1). The total seed weight of the resulting composition consisted of 34.1% grasses, 14.6% legumes and 51.3% other herbs (see Hussain et al 2021 for further details). These NG were mown once a year in late summer.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New grasslands promote pollination but not biological pest control in nearby arable fields in the short term

Bürgler,

Hussain,

Maas

et al. 2024

Arthropod-Plant Interactions

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Agricultural intensification is a major threat to farmland biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Semi-natural habitats are integral to the preservation of farmland biodiversity and ecosystem services, however, the extent in which they contribute to specific services is largely unclear. We studied predation rates of ground-dwelling predatory arthropods, and pollination success within old permanent grasslands, newly established grasslands and arable fields near and far from new grasslands. We evaluated whether grassland restoration can enhance pollination and biological control in crop fields. For this purpose, we established new grassland strips within cereal fields, which directly bordered existing permanent grasslands. We evaluated if the distance to these old and new grasslands affects the delivery of the two ecosystem services within crop fields. We found significantly higher seed numbers and seed weight in sentinel plants placed in old grasslands, new grasslands and nearby arable fields compared to distant arable fields. We also found significantly decreasing seed numbers and seed weight in sentinel plants placed in distant arable fields with increasing distance from old grasslands, while pollination success was not affected by distance in nearby arable fields. Contrary, we did not find any significant effects of new grasslands on biological control. Our study showed that 3 years after establishing grasslands arable fields benefited from the proximity of flower-rich new grasslands through increased pollination success though not regarding biological control. This indicates that, on a short term, establishing new grasslands can support beneficial arthropods in providing ecosystem services such as pollination. Predators, in contrast, might take longer to establish effective populations that denote higher predation rates. Our study provides a baseline for future long-term studies to better evaluate pollination and pest control patterns within arable fields.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New grasslands promote pollination but not biological pest control in nearby arable fields in the short term

Bürgler,

Hussain,

Maas

et al. 2024

Arthropod-Plant Interactions

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“…Establishing new grassland, with native seed mixture, might be a tool (FAO 2021) to restore disrupted meta‐populations of semi‐natural grassland communities (Ouvrard et al 2018). Such new grasslands are recognized to support arthropods (Hussain et al 2021; Maas et al 2021; Scharnhorst et al 2021), but their efficiency strongly depends on plant communities (Schaffers et al 2008). It is well known that plant communities determine the niche, food resource, and physical structure in grassland and, therefore, considerably influence the communities, species richness, and abundance of arthropods (McCoy & Bell 1991; Liu et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing new grasslands on crop fields: short‐term development of plant and arthropod communities

Hussain

Brandl

Maas

et al. 2022

Restoration Ecology

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Establishment of semi-natural grasslands offers a valuable approach to the conservation of threatened grassland biodiversity. We established new grassland strips on former crop fields adjacent to old semi-natural grasslands and monitored the development of plant, carabid, spider, and wild bee communities over 3 years. The studied plant and arthropods communities were significantly different between newly established grassland strips and old grassland. Our results suggest that restoring plant and arthropod communities takes longer than 3 years to become similar to old semi-natural grasslands.

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Contrasting Patterns of Plants, Bees, Hoverflies and Spiders in Different Habitats in a Central European Agricultural Landscape

Vajna,

Pellaton,

Molnár

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Semi‐natural grasslands and their biodiversity decline rapidly, although they are key elements of agricultural landscapes. Therefore, there is a need for the re‐establishment of semi‐natural grasslands in intensively managed farmlands (e.g., via sowing wildflower seeds). Our knowledge, however, is limited on how different arthropod groups may respond to such newly established wildflower fields. This knowledge gap is especially relevant for the Pannonian biogeographical region, and more generally for Central Europe, where there is little to no evidence so far. We aimed to compare three different habitats (i.e., sown wildflower fields (WFF), semi‐natural road verges and adjacent crop fields) in terms of their species and individual numbers and assemblage compositions to reveal differences between primary producers (plants), pollinators (bees and hoverflies) and predators (spiders). We selected eight landscapes in Central Hungary within conventionally managed crop areas. We analysed species and individual numbers by generalised linear mixed models (GLMM) and the assemblage composition with non‐metric multidimensional scaling for each taxon in the three habitats. Crop, road verge and WFF habitats had distinct assemblages for each studied group, indicating clear separation among habitats. There are, however, contrasting patterns in the diversity measures of the studied groups. Crop fields are the poorest in both species and individual numbers, road verges harboured the highest abundance of spiders, while WFF had the most bees and plants. No clear pattern for hoverflies emerged. Our results suggest that the studied habitats do not harbour all groups in equal share. We propose that the design of future restorations in Central European farmlands should target a diversity of habitat types needed to support a wide range of functional groups.

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Re-established grasslands on farmland promote pollinators more than predators

Cited by 18 publications

References 59 publications

New grasslands promote pollination but not biological pest control in nearby arable fields in the short term

New grasslands promote pollination but not biological pest control in nearby arable fields in the short term

Establishing new grasslands on crop fields: short‐term development of plant and arthropod communities

Contrasting Patterns of Plants, Bees, Hoverflies and Spiders in Different Habitats in a Central European Agricultural Landscape

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