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Which interventions contribute most to the net effect of England’s agri-environment schemes on pollination services?

Image, Mike ; Gardner, Emma ; Clough, Yann LU ; Kunin, William E. ; Potts, Simon G. ; Smith, Henrik G. LU ; Stone, Graham N. ; Westbury, Duncan B. and Breeze, Tom D. (2023) In Landscape Ecology 38(1). p.271-291
Abstract

Context: Agri-environment schemes support land management interventions that benefit biodiversity, environmental objectives, and other public goods. Process-based model simulations suggest the English scheme, as implemented in 2016, increased wild bee pollination services to pollinator-dependent crops and non-crop areas in a geographically heterogeneous manner. Objectives: We investigated which interventions drove the scheme-wide predicted pollination service increase to oilseed rape, field beans and non-cropped areas. We determined whether the relative contribution of each intervention was related to floral and/or nesting resource quality of the intervention, area of uptake, or placement in the landscape. Methods: We categorised... (More)

Context: Agri-environment schemes support land management interventions that benefit biodiversity, environmental objectives, and other public goods. Process-based model simulations suggest the English scheme, as implemented in 2016, increased wild bee pollination services to pollinator-dependent crops and non-crop areas in a geographically heterogeneous manner. Objectives: We investigated which interventions drove the scheme-wide predicted pollination service increase to oilseed rape, field beans and non-cropped areas. We determined whether the relative contribution of each intervention was related to floral and/or nesting resource quality of the intervention, area of uptake, or placement in the landscape. Methods: We categorised interventions into functional groups and used linear regression to determine the relationship between predicted visitation rate increase and each category’s area within a 10 km grid tile. We compared the magnitude of the regression coefficients to measures of resource quality, area of uptake nationally, and placement to infer the factors underpinning this relationship. Results: Hedgerow/woodland edge management had the largest positive effect on pollination service change, due to high resource quality. Fallow areas were also strong drivers, despite lower resource quality, implying effective placement. Floral margins had limited benefit due to later resource phenology. Interventions had stronger effects where there was less pre-existing semi-natural habitat. Conclusions: Future schemes could support greater and more resilient pollination service in arable landscapes by promoting hedgerow/woodland edge management and fallow interventions. Including early-flowering species and increasing uptake would improve the effect of floral margins. Spatial targeting of interventions should consider landscape context and pairing complimentary interventions to maximise whole-scheme effectiveness.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agri-environment schemes, Bees, Interventions, Pollination services, Semi-natural habitat
in
Landscape Ecology
volume
38
issue
1
pages
21 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85142714382
ISSN
0921-2973
DOI
10.1007/s10980-022-01559-w
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ad9dbd9d-dcaa-4ea9-a73f-e3ff5ae7f7cf
date added to LUP
2023-01-24 14:50:32
date last changed
2024-05-16 07:01:06
@article{ad9dbd9d-dcaa-4ea9-a73f-e3ff5ae7f7cf,
  abstract     = {{<p>Context: Agri-environment schemes support land management interventions that benefit biodiversity, environmental objectives, and other public goods. Process-based model simulations suggest the English scheme, as implemented in 2016, increased wild bee pollination services to pollinator-dependent crops and non-crop areas in a geographically heterogeneous manner. Objectives: We investigated which interventions drove the scheme-wide predicted pollination service increase to oilseed rape, field beans and non-cropped areas. We determined whether the relative contribution of each intervention was related to floral and/or nesting resource quality of the intervention, area of uptake, or placement in the landscape. Methods: We categorised interventions into functional groups and used linear regression to determine the relationship between predicted visitation rate increase and each category’s area within a 10 km grid tile. We compared the magnitude of the regression coefficients to measures of resource quality, area of uptake nationally, and placement to infer the factors underpinning this relationship. Results: Hedgerow/woodland edge management had the largest positive effect on pollination service change, due to high resource quality. Fallow areas were also strong drivers, despite lower resource quality, implying effective placement. Floral margins had limited benefit due to later resource phenology. Interventions had stronger effects where there was less pre-existing semi-natural habitat. Conclusions: Future schemes could support greater and more resilient pollination service in arable landscapes by promoting hedgerow/woodland edge management and fallow interventions. Including early-flowering species and increasing uptake would improve the effect of floral margins. Spatial targeting of interventions should consider landscape context and pairing complimentary interventions to maximise whole-scheme effectiveness.</p>}},
  author       = {{Image, Mike and Gardner, Emma and Clough, Yann and Kunin, William E. and Potts, Simon G. and Smith, Henrik G. and Stone, Graham N. and Westbury, Duncan B. and Breeze, Tom D.}},
  issn         = {{0921-2973}},
  keywords     = {{Agri-environment schemes; Bees; Interventions; Pollination services; Semi-natural habitat}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{271--291}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Landscape Ecology}},
  title        = {{Which interventions contribute most to the net effect of England’s agri-environment schemes on pollination services?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01559-w}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10980-022-01559-w}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}