Sown wildflower strips as overwintering habitat for arthropods: Effective measure or ecological trap?

Ganser, Dominik; Knop, Eva; Albrecht, Matthias

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2019.02.010

Cited by 84 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…) and act as overwintering sites for several natural enemies (Ganser et al. ). Although one common goal of wildflower plantings is to attract pollinating bees and other beneficial insects, Grass et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Utilizing wildflower plantings can provide pollen and nectar resources to the overall pollinator community when nearby crop(s) are not blooming, thus providing sustenance in a temporally resource-poor area. Additionally, wildflower plantings may also provide suitable nesting habitat for many ground-nesting bees and wasps (Cope et al 2019) and act as overwintering sites for several natural enemies (Ganser et al 2019). Although one common goal of wildflower plantings is to attract pollinating bees and other beneficial insects, Grass et al (2016) found that the majority of flower visitors in wildflower plots were not bees or beneficial syrphids, thus exemplifying the complex and diverse arthropods that can be attracted.…”

Section: Ecological Benefits Of Wildflower Plantingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wildflower plantings harbor increased arthropod richness and abundance within agricultural areas in Florida (USA)

et al. 2019

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Intensive agriculture has led to a reduction of overall biodiversity and ecosystem services such as pollination and biological control. To offset these economic losses, many farmers are planting native wildflowers to enhance flowering plant diversity and augment pollinator and other beneficial arthropod populations on their farms. In this study, we examined arthropod communities in Florida (USA) within wildflower plots and fallow control plots, which were primarily composed of grasses. Significantly more herbivorous insects, predatory arthropods, and pollinators were found within wildflower plots than in fallow control plots. We also implemented pollinator surveys at flowering plants. These surveys highlighted numerous plant–pollinator interactions within wildflower plots, supporting the idea that some native wildflower species are more attractive to pollinators than are others. Nevertheless, utilizing diverse flowering plants for wildflower plots may support a wide diversity of beneficial arthropod species, including native bees. Our results suggest that wildflower plantings in Florida can be a successful management tool to harbor increased overall plant and arthropod diversity (including native pollinators and other beneficial arthropods) within intensive agricultural areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecological Benefits Of Wildflower Plantingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildflower plantings harbor increased arthropod richness and abundance within agricultural areas in Florida (USA)

et al. 2019

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“…A Field Trophic Langer and Hance, 2004;Litsinger et al, 2006;Schmidt et al, 2007;Yoo and O'Neil, 2009;Unruh et al, 2012;Segoli and Rosenheim, 2013;Villegas et al, 2013;Derocles et al, 2014;Damien et al, 2017;Nelson et al, 2018B Structural Halaj et al, 2000Sorribas et al, 2016;Boinot et al, 2019;Ganser et al, 2019 Both/Unmeasured Hossain et al, 2002;Men et al, 2004;Prasifka et al, 2006;Dong et al, 2012;Koch et al, 2015;Ramsden et al, 2015;Tsutsui et al, 2016;Pellissier and Jabbour, 2018;Toivonen et al, 2018;Bowers et al, 2020C Landscape Trophic Settle et al, 1996Prasifka et al, 2004;Pfannenstiel et al, 2012;Heimoana et al, 2017;Bertrand et al, 2019D Structural Öberg et al, 2007Royauté and Buddle, 2012;Roume et al, 2013;Sarthou et al, 2014;Raymond et al, 2015;Hanson et al, 2017;Gallé et al, 2018;Mestre et al, 2018;Ng et al, 2018;Sutter et al, 2018;K...…”

Section: Management Scale Resource Type Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the absence of seminatural landscape features, in-field enhancements (see section In-Field Features) have the potential to provide supplemental overwintering habitat to natural enemies. In one study from Switzerland, perennial wildflower strips were found to host significantly more overwintering spiders, ground beetles, rove beetles, and hoverflies than adjacent wheat fields, but plowing strips during the overwintering period reversed any benefits they provided (Ganser et al, 2019). In an alley cropped agroforestry system, Boinot et al (2019) found that more predators, and disturbance-sensitive ground beetle species in particular, overwintered in understory vegetation strips than crop alleys, suggesting that the structural complexity created by the trees could enhance biocontrol services during the growing season.…”

Section: Structural Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Resource (Dis)continuity for Conservation Biological Control: From Field to Landscape Scales

Iuliano

Gratton

2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Conservation biological control (CBC) seeks to promote the occurrence of natural enemies of agricultural pests by managing habitat to provide key resources in and around farm fields. In particular, vegetation diversity may help ensure temporal resource continuity such that natural enemies are less likely to experience detrimental gaps or bottlenecks as they move through and use different habitats. While the conceptual value of resource continuity has long been recognized by CBC researchers and practitioners, empirical studies have tended to focus on snapshots in space and time. Here we review how continuity of trophic (food) and structural (shelter) resources affect natural enemy conservation and pest control outcomes within farm fields and across agricultural landscapes. Key trophic resources include alternative prey and non-prey food (such as floral nectar and pollen), which can bolster natural enemy nutrition when pests are scarce. Vegetative and non-vegetative structural resources can protect enemies when crop fields are disturbed and provide important overwintering habitat in temperate regions. Within fields, non-crop plantings such as wildflower strips or beetle banks are the most popular habitat management strategies, but temporal intercropping, asynchronous planting/harvesting, and the construction of artificial shelters have high potential to contribute to resource continuity. Analogously, semi-natural habitat at the landscape scale may contribute to resource continuity in some cases, but crop diversity, asynchrony, and urban habitat can also be important. Simultaneous consideration of resource diversity and continuity could generate better predictions and more targeted management interventions for particular pest and enemy assemblages. Future research should strive to expand our understanding of natural enemy resource requirements in space and time.

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“…Our findings illustrate that new grasslands should be integrated into a long-term management strategy for the promotion and resilience of yield-enhancing ecosystem services provided by ants. Firstly, a turnover of newly established grasslands back into crop fields inevitably destroys initiated ant colonies, disrupts ant community succession and dramatically reduces arthropod populations that deliver key biocontrol services (Ganser, Knop, & Albrecht, 2019). Secondly, a long-term establishment of new grasslands is paramount to promote not only ubiquitous ant species in their abundance but also habitat specialists with longer colonization times (Dauber & Wolters, 2005), in account of the fact that only a broad diversity of functional insurance species can guarantee the resilience of biological control services in European agroecosystems (Tscharntke et al, 2005).…”

Section: Synthesis and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant community composition and functional traits in newly established grasslands within agricultural landscapes

Scharnhorst

Fiedler

Frank

et al. 2020

Preprint

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1. Ongoing intensification and fragmentation of European agricultural landscapes dramatically reduce biodiversity and associated functions. To sustain ecosystem services such as ant mediated pest control, the enhancement of perennial non-crop areas holds great potential. 2. To study the potential of newly established grasslands to enhance ant diversity and associated functions, we used hand collection data to investigate differences in ant community composition (a) between cereal crops, old grasslands, and new grassland transects of three years age; (b) depending on ant functional traits; and linked to (c) natural pest control services quantified through predation experiments. 3. Ant species richness did not significantly differ between new and old grasslands, but was significantly higher in grasslands compared to cereal crops. Contrary, ant community composition of new grasslands was more similar to cereal crops and distinct from the species-pool of old grasslands. The functional trait space covered by the ant communities overlapped between old and new grasslands but was extended in the old grasslands. Pest control did not differ significantly between habitat types, and therefore could not be linked to the prevalence of functional traits related to biocontrol services in new grasslands. 4. Our findings show trends of convergence between old and new grasslands, but also indicate that enhancing ant diversity through newly established grasslands takes longer than three years to provide comparable biodiversity and functions. 5. Synthesis and applications Newly established grasslands can increase ant species richness, abundance, and pest control in agroecosystems. However, three years after establishment, new grasslands were still dominated by common agrobiont ant species and lacked habitat specialists present in old grasslands, who require a constant supply of food resources and long colonization times. New grasslands represent a promising measure for enhancing agricultural landscapes but must be preserved in the longer term to sustain biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. 5. Synthesis and applications Newly established grasslands can increase ant species richness, abundance, and pest control in agroecosystems. However, three years after establishment, new grasslands were still dominated by common agrobiont ant species and lacked habitat specialists present in old grasslands, who require a constant supply of food resources and long colonization times. New grasslands represent a promising measure for enhancing agricultural landscapes but must be preserved in the longer term to sustain biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.

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Sown wildflower strips as overwintering habitat for arthropods: Effective measure or ecological trap?

Cited by 84 publications

References 44 publications

Wildflower plantings harbor increased arthropod richness and abundance within agricultural areas in Florida (USA)

Wildflower plantings harbor increased arthropod richness and abundance within agricultural areas in Florida (USA)

Temporal Resource (Dis)continuity for Conservation Biological Control: From Field to Landscape Scales

Ant community composition and functional traits in newly established grasslands within agricultural landscapes

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