Some bird species often benefit farmers by suppressing invertebrate crop pests, yet birds are rarely considered in integrated pest management (IPM) strategies. This is likely because some bird species pose risks to farmers through crop damage, intraguild predation, and food safety concerns. Nonetheless, the benefits of some bird species on crop production are often substantial. Therefore, understanding when birds are most likely to enhance crop production (and when they are most likely to depress it) is crucial for designing effective IPM strategies. Here, we briefly review the literature on birds in agricultural systems, discuss examples of how birds can provide services and disservices to crops, examine factors that influence the net effects of birds, and discuss emerging tools that will help fill key knowledge gaps surrounding the complex roles of birds in agricultural systems.
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1. Bird conservation in agricultural settings can be controversial. While some bird species damage some crops, others suppress insect pests. Few studies have simultaneously compared bird services and disservices to assess their net impact.2. Using an exclusion experiment in six California strawberry farms, we show that bird suppression of berry damage by insect pests (about 3.8% of berries) is similar in magnitude to the damage birds inflict on strawberries (about 3.2% of berries).3. Across 27 farms, we found that bird species richness and the relative abundance of insectivorous birds increased, while the relative abundance of strawberry-eating birds and bird damage decreased on farms with more semi-natural land cover in the surrounding landscapes (1000 m radius).4. Relative to homogeneous farms, those that implemented diversification practices, such as hedgerows, flower strips or increased crop diversity, had greater bird species richness, total relative abundance, insectivore abundance and strawberryeating bird abundance.
Synthesis and applications.Conserving semi-natural land cover in the surrounding landscape benefits bird species richness locally and aids farmers through reduced abundance of strawberry-eating birds and bird damage. These results highlight the need to consider both the services and disservices of birds when making management decisions.
K E Y W O R D Sagriculture, agroecology, bird, diversified farming systems, ecosystem services, humanwildlife conflict, pest suppression, strawberry
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