The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis

Matthias Albrecht¹, David Kleijn², Neal M Williams³, Matthias Tschumi¹, Brett R Blaauw⁴, Riccardo Bommarco⁵, Alistair J Campbell⁶, Matteo Dainese⁷, Francis A Drummond⁸, Martin H Entling⁹, Dominik Ganser^{1

10}, G Arjen de Groot¹¹, Dave Goulson¹², Heather Grab¹³, Hannah Hamilton¹², Felix Herzog¹, Rufus Isaacs¹⁴, Katja Jacot¹, Philippe Jeanneret¹, Mattias Jonsson⁵, Eva Knop^{1

10}, Claire Kremen¹⁵, Douglas A Landis¹⁶, Gregory M Loeb¹³, Lorenzo Marini¹⁷, Megan McKerchar¹⁸, Lora Morandin¹⁹, Sonja C Pfister⁹, Simon G Potts²⁰, Maj Rundlöf²¹, Hillary Sardiñas²², Amber Sciligo²², Carsten Thies²³, Teja Tscharntke²³, Eric Venturini²⁴, Eve Veromann²⁵, Ines M G Vollhardt²³, Felix Wäckers²⁶, Kimiora Ward³, Duncan B Westbury¹⁸, Andrew Wilby²⁶, Megan Woltz¹⁶, Steve Wratten²⁷, Louis Sutter¹

Affiliations

¹ Agroecology and Environment, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, Zurich, CH-8046, Switzerland.
² Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, Wageningen, 6708PB, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Entomology and Nematology and Graduate Group in Ecology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
⁴ Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA.
⁵ Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7044, Uppsala, 75007, Sweden.
⁶ Laboratório de Entomologia, Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, Pará, CEP 66095-903, Brazil.
⁷ Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Viale Druso 1, Bozen/Bolzano, 39100, Italy.
⁸ School of Biology And Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469, USA.
⁹ iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstr. 7, Landau, D-76829, Germany.
¹⁰ University of Bern, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Baltzerstrasse 6, Bern, 3012, Switzerland.
¹¹ Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, Wageningen, 6700 AA, The Netherlands.
¹² School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK.
¹³ Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, 14456, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Entomology and EEBB Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
¹⁵ Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, & Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Entomology and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
¹⁷ DAFNAE, University of Padova, viale dell'Università 16, Padova, 35020, Italy.
¹⁸ Institute of Science & the Environment, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK.
¹⁹ Pollinator Partnership, 475 Sansome Street, 17th Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94111, USA.
²⁰ Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, Reading University, Reading, RG6 6AR, UK.
²¹ Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, 223 62, Sweden.
²² Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, 130 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
²³ Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
²⁴ Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, 5784 York Complex, Suite 52, Orono, Maine, 04469, USA.
²⁵ Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, Tartu, 51006, Estonia.
²⁶ Lancaster Environnent Centre, Lancaster University, LA1 4YQ, UK.
²⁷ Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand.

PMID: 32808477
PMCID: PMC7540530
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13576

The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis

Matthias Albrecht et al. Ecol Lett. 2020 Oct.

. 2020 Oct;23(10):1488-1498.

doi: 10.1111/ele.13576. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Agroecology and Environment, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, Zurich, CH-8046, Switzerland.
² Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, Wageningen, 6708PB, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Entomology and Nematology and Graduate Group in Ecology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
⁴ Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA.
⁵ Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7044, Uppsala, 75007, Sweden.
⁶ Laboratório de Entomologia, Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, Pará, CEP 66095-903, Brazil.
⁷ Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Viale Druso 1, Bozen/Bolzano, 39100, Italy.
⁸ School of Biology And Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469, USA.
⁹ iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstr. 7, Landau, D-76829, Germany.
¹⁰ University of Bern, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Baltzerstrasse 6, Bern, 3012, Switzerland.
¹¹ Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, Wageningen, 6700 AA, The Netherlands.
¹² School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK.
¹³ Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, 14456, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Entomology and EEBB Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
¹⁵ Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, & Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Entomology and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
¹⁷ DAFNAE, University of Padova, viale dell'Università 16, Padova, 35020, Italy.
¹⁸ Institute of Science & the Environment, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK.
¹⁹ Pollinator Partnership, 475 Sansome Street, 17th Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94111, USA.
²⁰ Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, Reading University, Reading, RG6 6AR, UK.
²¹ Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, 223 62, Sweden.
²² Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, 130 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
²³ Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
²⁴ Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, 5784 York Complex, Suite 52, Orono, Maine, 04469, USA.
²⁵ Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, Tartu, 51006, Estonia.
²⁶ Lancaster Environnent Centre, Lancaster University, LA1 4YQ, UK.
²⁷ Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand.

PMID: 32808477
PMCID: PMC7540530
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13576

Erratum in

ADDENDUM.
[No authors listed] [No authors listed] Ecol Lett. 2021 Aug;24(8):1738. doi: 10.1111/ele.13748. Epub 2021 Apr 27. Ecol Lett. 2021. PMID: 33982412 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimise floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.

Keywords: Agroecology; agri-environment schemes; bee pollinators; conservation biological control; ecological intensification; farmland biodiversity; floral enhancements; natural pest regulation; pollination reservoirs; sustainable agriculture; wildflower strips.

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Figures

**Figure 1**
Forest plot showing effects of flower strips and hedgerows on pollination and pest control service provisioning in adjacent crops compared to control crops without adjacent floral plantings. Squares illustrate predicted mean effects (z‐score estimates), bars show 95% confidence intervals (CIs). On average, pest control services were enhanced by 16% (z‐score: 0.25) in fields with adjacent flower strip compared to control fields.

**Figure 2**
Predicted relationships between (a) mean natural pest control service and (b) mean crop pollination service (z‐scores (solid lines) ± 95% CI (dashed lines)) and in‐field distance to field border for field with (red lines; dots) or without adjacent floral planting (black lines, triangles).

**Figure 3**
Predicted relationships between mean crop pollination service (z‐scores (fat solid lines) ± 95% CI (fine solid lines)) and (a) flowering plant species richness and (b) time since establishment of adjacent flower strips. Predicted relationship and results of an analysis without the points representing flower strips older than four years were qualitatively identical.

**Figure 4**
Predicted relationship between mean (a) pest control and (b) crop pollination service (z‐scores (solid lines) ± 95% CI (dashed lines)) and landscape simplification (percentage of arable crops in the landscape) in fields with adjacent floral planting (red line; red circles) or without planting (black line; black triangles). Pollination services, but not pest control services, declined with landscape simplification; the slight differences in slopes for pollination‐landscape simplification relationships of fields with or without adjacent plantings were statistically not significant.

**Figure 5**
Mean predicted crop yield (z‐scores; ±95% CI) of fields with adjacent flower strips (red circles) and control fields without adjacent flower strip (black triangles). The data set includes a subset of 11 studies.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Albrecht, M. , Duelli, P. , Müller, C. , Kleijn, D. & Schmid, B. (2007). The Swiss agri‐environment scheme enhances pollinator diversity and plant reproductive success in nearby intensively managed farmland. J. Appl. Ecol., 44, 813–822.
1. Buhk, C. , Oppermann, R. , Schanowski, A. , Bleil, R. , Lüdemann, J. & Maus, C. (2018). Flower strip networks offer promising long term effects on pollinator species richness in intensively cultivated agricultural areas. BMC Ecol., 18, 55. - PMC - PubMed
1. Bartomeus, I. , Gagic, V. & Bommarco, R. (2015). Pollinators, pests and soil properties interactively shape oilseed rape yield. Basic Appl. Ecol., 16, 737–745.
1. Bátary, P. , Baldi, A. , Kleijn, D. & Tscharntke, T. (2011). Landscape‐moderated biodiversity effects of agri‐environmental management: a meta‐analysis. Proc. Royal Soc. B, 278, 1894–1902. - PMC - PubMed
1. Bates, D. , Maechler, M. , Bolker, B. , Walker, S. , Christensen, R.H.B. , Singmann, H. et al (2015). Package ‘lme4’. Convergence, 12 . Available at: https://cran.r‐project.org/web/packages/lme4/lme4.pdf. Last accessed 20 January 2020.

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The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis

Affiliations

The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis

Authors

Affiliations

Erratum in

Abstract

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources