SignificanceDecades of research have fostered the now-prevalent assumption that noncrop habitat facilitates better pest suppression by providing shelter and food resources to the predators and parasitoids of crop pests. Based on our analysis of the largest pest-control database of its kind, noncrop habitat surrounding farm fields does affect multiple dimensions of pest control, but the actual responses of pests and enemies are highly variable across geographies and cropping systems. Because noncrop habitat often does not enhance biological control, more information about local farming contexts is needed before habitat conservation can be recommended as a viable pest-suppression strategy. Consequently, when pest control does not benefit from noncrop vegetation, farms will need to be carefully comanaged for competing conservation and production objectives.

Context Place-based transdisciplinary research involves multiple academic disciplines and non-academic actors. Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform is one concept with * 80 initiatives globally.

Natural habitats in agricultural landscapes promote agro-ecosystem services but little is known about negative effects (dis-services) derived by natural habitats such as crop seed predation. Birds are important seed predators and use high landscape structures to perch and hide. High trees in agricultural landscapes may therefore drive seed predation. We examined if the presence, the distance and the percentages of high trees (tree height >5 m) and the percentages of natural habitat surrounding sunflower fields, increased seed predation by birds in Israel. At the field scale, we assessed seed predation across a sample grid of an entire field. At the landscape scale, we assessed seed predation at the field margins and interiors of 20 sunflower fields. Seed predation was estimated as the percentage of removed seeds from sunflower heads. Distances of sample points to the closest high tree and percentage of natural habitat and of high trees in a 1 km radius surrounding the fields were measured. We found that seed predation increased with decreasing distance to the closest high tree at the field and landscape scale. At the landscape scale, the percentage of high trees and natural habitat did not increase seed predation. Seed predation in the fields increased by 37%, with a maximum seed predation of 92%, when a high tree was available within 0-50 m to the sunflower fields. If the closest high tree was further away, seed predation was less than 5%. Sunflower seed predation by birds can be reduced, when avoiding sowing sunflowers within a radius of 50 m to high trees. Farmers should plan to grow crops, not sensitive to bird seed predation, closer to trees to eventually benefit from ecosystem services provided by birds, such as predation of pest insects, while avoiding these locations for growing crops sensitive to bird seed predation. Such management recommendations are directing toward sustainable agricultural landscapes.

Abstract. 1. The simultaneous influence of specific habitats on agro-ecosystem services, dis-services, and their interactions are largely unknown. Natural and semi-natural habitats surrounding cropland may support ecosystem services and dis-services and their net balance is important to guide decision-making in agriculture.2. It was tested how natural and semi-natural habitats surrounding almond orchards in Israel influence: pest control services by parasitoids, pest predation dis-services by the Almond wasp, and seed predation dis-services by granivorous birds. The latter could provide sanitation services when consuming almonds infested by Almond wasps after harvest.3. Seventeen almond orchards were surveyed, surrounded by varying percentages of natural and semi-natural habitats. We harvested almonds to identify Almond wasp infestation and parasitoid abundance, monitored bird-feeding marks, and observed birds.4. Almond wasp predation was positively influenced by semi-natural habitat and highest at orchard edges. Parasitoid abundance was not influenced by natural or semi-natural habitats. Granivorous bird abundance was negatively influenced by semi-natural habitats but did not influence bird seed predation of harvestable or overwintered almonds.5. Natural habitats did not influence the studied ecosystem services or dis-services in almond orchards in Israel. Therefore, protecting natural habitats for conservation is not necessarily disadvantageous for farmers. Semi-natural habitats increased insect pests, but no direct link to services or dis-services by birds was observed. Therefore, a more holistic approach by accounting for several services and dis-services and their connection to different habitat types to manage agriculture more sustainably is advocated.