How to promote multifunctionality of vegetated strips in arable farming: A qualitative approach for Germany

Abstract

AbstractVegetated strips are in the focus of many stakeholders of agroecosystems and are part of several agri‐environmental schemes in Germany. Stakeholders have different expectations and demands on the functionality and services of vegetated strips. In our review, we focused on biodiversity and the ecosystem services pollination, conservation biocontrol, landscape aesthetics, buffer function, and biomass production and their associated functions. We assessed factors that are crucial to support service provision and reviewed trade‐offs between the ecosystem (dis)services. We identified five characteristics that are important for the provision of the assessed ecosystem services: age of vegetated strips, flower cover, size or width of the strip, management, and type of adjacent habitat. We conclude that adjusting the target of subsidies with respect to the analyzed factors for biodiversity can help to promote the multifunctionality of vegetated strips in arable farming.