Parmentier Laurian, Vanderstappen Hannah, Haesaert Geert
Agrozoology Lab, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Department Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
Insects. 2024 Nov 30;15(12):953. doi: 10.3390/insects15120953.
Agricultural intensification has led to significant declines in beneficial insect populations, such as pollinators and natural enemies, along with their ecosystem services. The installation of perennial flower margins in farmland is a popular agri-environmental scheme to mitigate these losses, promoting biodiversity, pollination, and pest control. However, outcomes can vary widely, and recent insights into flower margins in an agricultural context suggest that management could be an important contributor to this variation. This study evaluated two mowing management regimes: the new "three-strip management" method with uneven, curved mowing lines and regular phased mowing as a control method. During the third year of application, we evaluated the effects on the alpha diversity indices of pollinators and natural enemies, as well as plant-pollinator visitation networks. Curved three-strip management significantly increased the abundance of all pollinator groups (+44%) and natural enemies (+50%), and the taxonomic richness and diversity of pollinators, especially for rarer solitary bees. Floral diversity was also higher, with more unique plants blooming in early spring and late summer, generating more unique plant-pollinator interactions (+54%) and a positive impact on multiple network-level properties. Our findings provide new evidence that nature-based management methods can be a win-win solution, creating high-quality habitats that enhance the insect diversity of various groups, support associated ecosystem services, and help restore overall farmland biodiversity.
农业集约化导致了传粉者和天敌等有益昆虫种群数量的显著下降，以及它们的生态系统服务功能的衰退。在农田中设置多年生花卉边缘带是一种常见的农业环境改善方案，旨在减轻这些损失，促进生物多样性、授粉和害虫控制。然而，其效果可能差异很大，最近对农业环境中花卉边缘带的研究表明，管理方式可能是造成这种差异的一个重要因素。本研究评估了两种割草管理制度：一种是新的“三条带管理”方法，割草线不均匀且呈曲线状，另一种是常规分阶段割草作为对照方法。在应用的第三年，我们评估了对传粉者和天敌的α多样性指数以及植物-传粉者访花网络的影响。曲线状三条带管理显著增加了所有传粉者群体的数量（增加44%）和天敌数量（增加50%），以及传粉者的分类丰富度和多样性，尤其是对于较稀有的独居蜂。花卉多样性也更高，在早春和夏末有更多独特的植物开花，产生了更多独特的植物-传粉者相互作用（增加54%），并对多个网络层面的特性产生了积极影响。我们的研究结果提供了新的证据，表明基于自然的管理方法可以是一种双赢的解决方案，创造高质量的栖息地，增强各类昆虫的多样性，支持相关的生态系统服务，并有助于恢复农田整体生物多样性。
