Abstract
Abstract Increasing natural pest control in agricultural fields is an important aim of ecological intensification. Combined effects of landscape context and local placement of agri‐environmental schemes (AES) on natural pest control and within‐field distance functions of natural pest control agents have rarely been addressed but might affect the distribution of biocontrol providers. Importantly, it is currently unknown whether ecosystem services provided by adjacent AES are consistent for different crop types during crop rotation. In this study, we assessed whether crop rotation from oilseed rape to cereals altered within‐field distance functions of ground‐dwelling predators from adjacent agri‐environmental fields along a gradient in landscape context. Additionally, we recorded crop pests, predation rates, parasitoids as well as crop yields on a total of 30 study sites. Distance functions varied between trophic levels: Carabid richness decreased while densities of carabid beetles, staphylinid beetles as well as crop yields increased towards the field centres. Distance functions of parasitoids and pests were modulated by the amount of semi‐natural habitat in the surrounding landscape, while the effects of adjacent AES were limited. Distance decay functions found for ground‐dwelling predators in oilseed rape in the previous year were not always present in cereals. Increasing distance to the field edge also increased effects of crop rotation on carabid beetle assemblages, indicating a source habitat function of field edges. Synthesis and applications. Distance functions of natural pest control are not universal and the effects of agri‐environmental schemes (AES) in different adjacent crops during crop rotation vary and depend on ecological contrasts. A network of semi‐natural habitats and spatially optimized AES habitats can benefit pest control in agricultural landscapes, but constraints as a result of crop type need to be addressed by annually targeted, spatially shifting agri‐environment schemes for different crops.
Highlights
Increasing natural pest control in agricultural fields is one of the main goals of ecological intensification
We investigated whether different trophic levels, predation rates and crop yields depend on distance from the field edge, semi-natural habitat (SNH) in the surrounding landscape and/or adjacent agri-environmental schemes (AES) habitat presence and type within one large-scale field study throughout the growing period
Understanding the distance functions underlying the distribution of beneficial ecosystem service providers as well as their interactions with landscape composition will be essential for the planning of agricultural landscapes under ecological intensification policies
Summary
Increasing natural pest control in agricultural fields is one of the main goals of ecological intensification. As many different biotic factors influence crop yields, ecological intensification aims at understanding and fostering these biotic relations and at replacing external fertilizer and pesticide input by biodiversity-mediated functions to make modern agriculture more sustainable (Bommarco, Kleijn, & Potts, 2013; Garibaldi et al, 2019). Effectiveness varies between the types of AES implemented (Batáry, Dicks, Kleijn, & Sutherland, 2015) and it is largely unknown whether and how effectively AES support ecosystem services in adjacent crops (but see Dainese, Montecchiari, Sitzia, Sigura, & Marini, 2017). In Central Europe, many habitats currently created under AES (e.g. temporary flower strips or fields) are tailored to support pollinators and potential off target effects on other ecosystem services like pest control are poorly understood and rarely investigated (but see Tschumi et al, 2016)
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