Arthropod and plant abundances, crop yield, field management, and environmental structures
Data files
Jun 05, 2025 version files 1.16 MB
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GanzM_AGEE_43798.zip
1.15 MB
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README.md
3.92 KB
Abstract
Policies promoting agroecological management aim to counteract the adverse effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity, and ecosystem health with varying effectiveness. This study evaluates the effects of agroecological management practices and environmental heterogeneity on biodiversity, pest control services, and crop yields in winter wheat, barley, and oilseed rape fields in Switzerland. We assessed plant species diversity, pest and predator populations, and crop yield across 44 agricultural fields managed with either conventional or agroecological practices, including the establishment of wildflower strips (WFS) and reduced pesticide use. Vegetation diversity was higher in agroecological fields compared to conventional fields, but this did not lead to an increase in predator populations. While ground-dwelling beetles are potentially enriched, neither spiders or parasitoids nor pest abundance was higher abundances in agroecological fields. Pest pressure was not affected by predator abundance, while yields were significantly higher in conventional fields, with the differences attributed to farming practices rather than the influence of vegetation diversity or pest presence. The effect of environmental heterogeneity varies across taxa and depends on the landscape feature considered.
Synthesis and applications: Our findings indicate that while agroecological practices can enhance vegetation diversity and support a diverse arthropod community, these benefits do not necessarily lead to improved pest control or increased yields. The variability in responses suggests that the effectiveness of such measures is highly context-dependent. Therefore, tailored strategies that consider specific crop and landscape characteristics are needed to optimize pest management and maintain productivity in sustainable farming systems.
Date: 12.11.2024
Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8w9ghx3x9
All data had been collected on a total of 30 agricultural fields, organized in pairs (in close proximity) of one agro-ecologically and one conventionally managed field belonging to 15 farms in 2022 and 2023. In each year we sampled from 22 fields belonging to 11 farmers. All plots included in the study were in the same lowland Swiss agricultural landscape of Canton Solothurn.
Arthropods (spiders, carabids, staphylinids, parasitoids, cabbage stem flea beetles, and cereal leaf beetles) and vascular plants have been recorded in the field. Additionally, environmental structures within a radius of 500m around each field were analyzed in QGIS (QGIS.org, 2023) using swisstopo data (Bundesamt für Landestopografie swisstopo, 2023). All blank cells represent either data was not available or not detected.
All analyses were performed using the statistical software R (R Core Team, 2024).
Description of the data and file structure
Each data file has two sheets, DATA (data) and a separeate README containing explanations for each variable. Unit_IDs are consisten across datasheets. The reason for each missing data entry is specified in column "CommentNA" and addtionally described below (if applicable). For detailed sampling protocols refer to the publication.
- ARTHROPODS contains abundances of spiders, carabids, staphylinids, paraitoids, cabbage stem flea beetles and cereal leaf beetles. there are the following reasons for missing data; missing data was excluded from the analysis.
pantrap data:- "not existing; field not growing" & "field cut down" : one field was prematurely harvested because it completely failed; excluded from the data
- "broken / dried out": some pantraps froze and broke in the cold early season or dried out during the summer when temperatures where very high
- "empty": some pantraps where empty due to various reasons, such as storms, or farmers that moved over the traps
- "not counted in farmers samples at the beginning": additional pantrap samples. No parasitoid counts at the beginning of the season
- vacuum: "not possible to sample in OSR": OSR fields could not be entered for vacuum suctioning later in the season anymore
- CEREAL_YIELD and OSR_YIELD contain yield and yield quality measures of cereal (wheat and barley) and oil seed rape fields, respectively.
- Sources of 'n/a' in cereals: In 2022, 10 yield samples across the field had been pooled and the weight of the whole sample recorded. In 2023, the protocol was refined and for every sample, the total seed weight (total_seed_weight), the weight of 1000 seeds (TSW_g), seed area (seed_area), width (seed_width), and length (seed_length) have been recorded. Additionally, humidity and protein content in percent have been measured (Humidity_perc, Protein_perc).
- Sources of 'n/a' in OSR: one field was in very bad condition and has been cut down mid-season, one sample in 2023 has gone missing. TSW and Seed Weight not assessed in 2022
- HABITAT contains directly adjacent landuse structures to each fields as recorded by me.
- LANDUSE_GIS holds landscape features extracted from swisstopo data in 500m radius around each field.
- MANAGMENT contains all operations conducted in and synthetic inputs by the farmers.
- PARASITISM_PCR are the results form the PCR of pest larva testing for hymenopteran DNA.
- VEGETATION contains all plant species that have been recorded int the fields including their percent cover. 'n/a' where not applicable; see README (quality assessment had only been done in intervention)
- Environmental heterogeneity was analysed from Swisstopo data [https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/de/landeskarten].
All data had been collected on a total of 30 agricultural fields, organized in pairs (in close proximity) of one agroecologically and one conventionally managed field belonging to 15 farms in 2022 an 2023. In each year we sampled from 22 fields belonging to 11 farmers. All plots included in the study were in the same lowland Swiss agricultural landscape of Canton Solothurn.
Arthropods (spiders, carabids, staphylinids, paraitoids, cabbage stem flea beetles and cereal leaf beetles) and vascular palnts have been recorded in the field. Additionally, environmental structures within a radius of 500m around each field was analyzed in QGis (QGIS.org, 2023) using swisstopo data (Bundesamt für Landestopografie swisstopo, 2023).
All analyses were performed using the statistical software R (R Core Team, 2024).
Each data file has two sheets, DATA (data) and README (description/ explanation).