The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis
Matthias Albrecht, David Kleijn, Neal M. Williams, Matthias Tschumi, Brett R. Blaauw, Riccardo Bommarco, Alistair J. Campbell, Matteo Dainese, Francis A. Drummond, Martin H. Entling, Dominik Ganser, G.A. de Groot, Dave Goulson, Heather Grab, Hannah Hamilton, Félix Herzog, Rufus Isaacs, Katja Jacot, Philippe Jeanneret, Mattias Jonsson, Eva Knop, Claire Kremen, Douglas A. Landis, Gregory M. Loeb, Lorenzo Marini, Megan McKerchar, Lora A. Morandin, Sonja C. Pfister, Simon G. Potts, Maj Rundlöf, Hillary Sardiñas, Amber R. Sciligo, Carsten Thies, Teja Tscharntke, Eric Venturini, Eve Veromann, Ines M.G. Vollhardt, Felix Wäckers, Kimiora L. Ward, Duncan B. Westbury, Andrew Wilby, Megan Woltz, Steve Wratten, Louis Sutter
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.