Agri‐environment schemes targeting farmland bird populations also provide food for pollinating insects

Abstract

Abstract Farmland biodiversity has declined over the past few decades. European Common Agricultural Policy encourages farmers to set up agri‐environment schemes (AES) that support biodiversity and associated ecosystem services such as pollination. Although few AES are specifically devoted to pollinating insects, many AES could provide resources for pollinators. In Belgium, AES designed to provide seed resources for wild birds (bird‐strip AES) contain mixed‐plant communities that may benefit insects, although their ability to support pollinators has not yet been evaluated. The present study aimed to assess the ability of bird‐strip AES to support pollinating insects. We identified and quantified floral resources, flower‐visiting insects and insect–flower interaction networks over 2 years on four bird strips located in intensive agro‐ecosystems in Belgium. The bird strips contained plant species that were either purposely sown or established spontaneously. The spontaneous Cirsium species, with its high nectar production, offered floral resources that complemented those of the sown species Raphanus sativus and Phacelia tanacetifolia. Most of the flower‐visiting insects considered as pollinators belonged to the orders Hymenoptera and Diptera. In conclusion, bird‐strip AES provided floral resources to pollinators, even in the absence of annual sowing.