Optimizing grassland management for flower-visiting insects in roadside verges

Noordijk, J.; Delille, Katrien; Schaffers, A.P.; Sýkora, K.V.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.04.009

Cited by 118 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…While this loss was not as sudden under grazing, continuous pressure from cattle from May through to October had a negative effect on flower heads availability and so on the pollinators. The slight superiority of cutting management in supporting higher abundances of pollinators may reflect the benefits of a single early cut stimulating the growth and subsequent flowering of some wild flowers, in particular the legumes (Noordijk, et al, 2009). …”

Section: Breaks In Management Increases Resource Provision To Pollinamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This loss of floral diversity has been linked to the increased use of inorganic fertilisers, reseeding, improved drainage and a greater frequency of cutting and grazing (Blackstock, et al, 1999;Bullock, et al, 2011). For those areas that have escaped the impact of modern practices and remain under traditional extensive management systems, the diversity and cover of flowering plants represents a key resource for many insect pollinators (Forup and Memmott, 2005;Noordijk, et al, 2009;Steffan-Dewenter and Tscharntke, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the hairy bodies of bees are particularly efficient at transferring pollen (Forup and Memmott, 2005). However, asynchrony in the sowing dates of different fields would compensate this problem to a large extent, and in the case mobile bees provide a continuity of legume resources at a landscape scale that could support their populations (Decourtye, et al, 2010 ;Noordijk, et al, 2009). …”

Section: Breaks In Management Increases Resource Provision To Pollinamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancing floral resources for pollinators in productive agricultural grasslands

Woodcock

Savage

Bullock

et al. 2014

Biological Conservation

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Contact CEH NORA team at noraceh@ceh.ac.ukThe NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. hoverflies. While the creation of wildflower habitats has been widely used to re-establish such resources into arable ecosystems (e.g. sown into field margins), comparable low cost methods for enhancing floristic diversity in production grasslands are lacking. We investigated how simple and cheep seed mixtures based around three plant functional groups (grasses, legumes and non-leguminous forbs) could be used to enhance flowering resources to benefit insect pollinator communities over a four year period. We demonstrate that the abundance and species richness of pollinators was correlated with the increased availability of legume and non-legume forb flowers. While the flowering resources provided by agricultural cultivars of legumes declined rapidly once sown, the inclusion of a forb component within seed mixtures was effective in increasing the long-term persistence of these resources. As a result the abundance and species richness of insect pollinators over the four years showed greater stability where forbs were also sown. Sward management also played a role in the persistence of floral resources, with grazing more likely to maintain legume cover than cutting.In conclusion, we demonstrate that low cost seed mixtures can be used to enhance floristic diversity to benefit pollinators, although the continued value of these grasslands over time is dependent on complementarity between sown legumes and forbs. As permanent grassland covers c. 40 % of the UK the enhancement of their floristic diversity has a huge potential to benefit insect pollinators. The type of land sharing approaches suggested here maintain modest agricultural productivity and so may be the most likely to achieve benefit to pollinators through wide-scale farmer uptake.3

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Section: Breaks In Management Increases Resource Provision To Pollinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Breaks In Management Increases Resource Provision To Pollinamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancing floral resources for pollinators in productive agricultural grasslands

Woodcock

Savage

Bullock

et al. 2014

Biological Conservation

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“…Margins can then still be established to last for a long time, but with plant biomass now being removed and vegetation succession set-back, thus providing less suitable conditions for high herbivore abundances while probably promoting predators. In addition, margins managed for haymaking will have fewer noxious weeds (De Cauwer et al 2008), but greater plant diversity (Schaffers 2002;Musters et al 2009;Blomqvist et al 2009), which might in turn permit higher invertebrate diversity (Thomas and Marshall 1999;Asteraki et al 2004) and more flower-visiting insects (Noordijk et al 2009). The actual effect of hay-making on invertebrate species richness in arable field margins needs further study.…”

Section: Management Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invertebrates in field margins: taxonomic group diversity and functional group abundance in relation to age

et al. 2010

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Sown, temporary field margins are a common agri-environment scheme (AES) in the Netherlands. Despite their wide application, though, there has been scarcely any long-term monitoring of the succession of invertebrates. In the field margins of 40 farms, invertebrate diversity and the abundance of three functional groups were assessed in relation to age. The diversity in terms of number of species groups was found to increase with the age of the margins. The abundance of herbivores and detritivores also showed a positive correlation with the age of the margins. However, the abundance of predators decreased with increasing age. Older margins showed a higher total vegetation cover and fewer plant species, also resulting in lower plant species evenness. We suggest several changes to the current AES regulations. For the conservation of invertebrate diversity, longer-lasting field margins are desirable. In addition, old margins are favoured by detritivores, a group that has particular difficulty finding suitable habitats in agricultural landscapes. However, such margins are less favourable from an agricultural perspective, as they appear unsuitable for high abundances of potentially useful predators and the high vegetation cover attracts many potentially harmful herbivores. To circumvent this, the AES might be extended by incorporating hay-making, which would reduce standing biomass and might lead to more predators and fewer herbivores.

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“…Opposite to this, Ilmarinen and Mikola [10] concluded that mowing increased the areal cover of legumes, and it has less effect on the areal cover of individual woody species compared to the total cover of the woody plant group that is reduced. High floral diversity positively affects the diversity of flower-visiting insects [11] and therefore predatory arthropods such as spiders [12,13,14,15] and beetles [16]. Opposite to this, some representatives of other trophic levels are affected by other conditions and the connection with the number of microhabitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The short- and long-term effects of changes of vegetation structure on isopod (Oniscidea) diversity and composition in Mátra Mountains

Vona-Túri

Szmatona-Túri²

2017

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Agriculture and Environment

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Abstract. The aim of the present study was to examine the short-and long-term effects of changes in vegetation structure caused by shrub removal and mowing on isopod diversity and composition in Natura 2000 habitats of Mátra Landscape Protection Area. Species richness and isopod diversity increased in the short term as a result of annual changes in vegetation; however, the values of both indices were reduced in the long term. The changes in vegetation structure on a regional scale led to a reduced isopod diversity in the short and long term. The changes in vegetation structure caused alterations in community structure in the long term. We conclude that changes of vegetation structure have a negative effect on species richness and the diversity of isopod communities in the long term.

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Optimizing grassland management for flower-visiting insects in roadside verges

Cited by 118 publications

References 42 publications

Enhancing floral resources for pollinators in productive agricultural grasslands

Enhancing floral resources for pollinators in productive agricultural grasslands

Invertebrates in field margins: taxonomic group diversity and functional group abundance in relation to age

The short- and long-term effects of changes of vegetation structure on isopod (Oniscidea) diversity and composition in Mátra Mountains

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