Abstract
Abstract In agriculture, both valuable ecosystem services and unwanted ecosystem disservices can be produced by the same organism group. For example, small rodents can provide biological control through weed seed consumption but may also act as pests, causing crop damage. We studied the hypothesized causal relationships between ecosystem services (removal of weed seeds) and disservices (removal of wheat grains and crop damage) derived by small rodents (voles and mice) at multiple spatial scales. At the landscape scale, we studied the effects of landscape compositional and configurational heterogeneity on the abundance of voles and mice and their related ecosystem services and disservices along the former inner German border in east and west Germany. At the local scale, we studied how abundance and ecosystem functions are affected by management intensity (organic vs. conventional winter wheat), associated differences in crop characteristics and edge effects. Linear mixed‐effects models and path analysis show that voles drove ecosystem disservices, but not ecosystem services, in agricultural fields. Daily wheat seed removal by voles was influenced by increasing wheat height and was almost three times higher than weed seed removal, which was not related to local‐ or landscape‐scale effects. Abundance of voles and associated crop damage decreased with lower crop density and higher wheat height, which were associated with organic farming. Abundance of voles and crop damage were highest in conventional fields in west Germany. Synthesis and applications. As the ecosystem disservice of wheat seed consumption by small rodents must be considered mainly during crop sowing, management before crop harvest should focus on decreasing the pest potential of voles but not mice. Our results suggest that densities of voles and their ecosystem disservices could be reduced by having fields with low crop density and high wheat height, practices associated with organic farming. Surrounding landscapes with low compositional and configurational heterogeneity could further reduce voles’ pest potential, but with probable negative effects on farmland biodiversity.
Highlights
During the past few decades, agricultural land use has further intensified
Our results suggest that densities of voles and their ecosystem disservices could be reduced by having fields with low crop density and high wheat height, practices associated with organic farming
We studied edge effects on small rodents’ abundances and ecosystem functions by collecting data at three transects, which were placed at the field edges, field interiors (15 m from field edge) and field centres (100 ± 10 m from field edge in East and 54 ± 5 m in West; Figure 2)
Summary
During the past few decades, agricultural land use has further intensified. Natural and semi-natural habitats have been converted into arable land, and management intensity has increased (Foley et al, 2005). Other functions result in “perceived or actual negative impacts on human well-being”, known as ecosystem disservices (Shackleton et al, 2016) These include herbivores, pathogens and seed predators that increase production costs and negatively affect productivity in agricultural ecosystems (Zhang, Ricketts, Kremen, Carney, & Swinton, 2007). At the fine scale (Hierarchical Level B), we tested for the effects of landscape compositional and configurational heterogeneity (measured by Shannon habitat diversity and edge length respectively), as well as local crop characteristics (density and height) on the abundance of voles and mice on weed seed removal vs removal of wheat seeds and crop damage. What management actions facilitate biological weed control by small rodents, without promoting their disservices of damaging crops?
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