Flower strip networks offer promising long term effects on pollinator species richness in intensively cultivated agricultural areas.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Intensively cultivated agricultural landscapes often suffer from substantial pollinator losses, which may be leading to decreasing pollination services for crops and wild flowering plants. Conservation measures that are easy to implement and accepted by farmers are needed to halt a further loss of pollinators in large areas under intensive agricultural management. Here we report the results of a replicated long-term study involving networks of mostly perennial flower strips covering 10% of a conventionally managed agricultural landscape in southwestern Germany.

Results

We demonstrate the considerable success of these measures for wild bee and butterfly species richness over an observation period of 5 years. Overall species richness of bees and butterflies but also

SUBMITTER: Buhk C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6280486 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature