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

Albrecht, Matthias, Agroscope, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5518-3455

Kleijn, David, Wageningen University & Research

Williams, Neal, University of California, Davis

Tschumi, Matthias, Agroscope

Blaauw, Brett, University of Georgia

Bommarco, Riccardo, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Campbell, Alistair, Laboratório de Entomologia, Embrapa Amazônia Oriental

Dainese, Matteo, Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research

Drummond, Frank, University of Maine

Entling, Martin, University of Koblenz and Landau

Ganser, Dominik, University of Bern

De Groot, Arjen, Wageningen University & Research

Goulson, David, University of Sussex

Grab, Heather, Cornell University

Hamilton, Hannah, University of Sussex

Herzog, Felix, Agroscope

Isaacs, Rufus, Michigan State University

Jacot, Katja, Agroscope

Jeanneret, Philippe, Agroscope

Jonsson, Mattias, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Knop, Eva, Agroscope

Kremen, Claire, University of British Columbia

Landis, Doug, Michigan State University

Loeb, Greg, Cornell University

Marini, Lorenzo, DAFNAE, University of Padova

McKerchar, Megan, University of Worcester

Morandin, Lora, Pollinator Partnership

Pfister, Sonja, University of Koblenz and Landau

Potts, Simon, University of Reading

Rundlöf, Maj, Lund University

Sardiñas, Hillary, University of California, Berkeley

Sciligo, Amber, University of California, Berkeley

Thies, Carsten, University of Göttingen

Tscharntke, Teja, University of Göttingen

Venturini, Eric, Xerces Society

Veromann, Eve, Estonian University of Life Sciences

Vollhardt, Ines, University of Göttingen

Wäckers, Felix, Lancaster University

Ward, Kimiora, University of California, Davis

Wilby, Andrew, Lancaster University

Woltz, Megan, Michigan State University

Wratten, Steve, Lincoln University

Sutter, Louis, Agroscope

matthias.albrecht@agroscope.admin.ch

Published Mar 20, 2021 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ns1rn8pq2

Cite this dataset

Albrecht, Matthias et al. (2021). The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ns1rn8pq2

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 optimize floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.

Methods

To identify datasets suitable to address the research questions of this quantitative synthesis a search in the ISI Web of Science and SCOPUS was performed. To minimise potential publication bias and to maximise the number of relevant datasets we also searched for unpublished data by contacting potential data holders through researcher networks. Data was requested through a standardized data sheet template from dataset holders. As different studies used different methods and measures to quantify pollination services, pest control services and crop yield, the data was standardized prior to statistical analysis using z-scores. A mixed effect-modelling approach was used to statistically analyse the data. Details on methods of data collection and analysis is are given in the material and methods section of the paper, and in the Supporting Figure 1 and Supporting Tables 1-5.

Usage notes

Meta-data files (ReadMe files) with the information required to use this dataset are provided.