
Henrik Smith
Professor

Landscape heterogeneity and farming practice alter the species composition and taxonomic breadth of pollinator communities
Author
Summary, in English
Effects of landscape heterogeneity and farming practice on species composition are less well known than those on species richness, in spite of the fact that community composition can be at least as important for ecosystem services, such as pollination. Here, we assessed the effect of organic farming and landscape heterogeneity on pollinator communities, focusing on multivariate patterns in species composition and the taxonomic breadth of communities. By relating our results to patterns observed for species richness we show that: (1) species richness generally declines with decreasing landscape heterogeneity, but taxonomic breadth only declines with landscape heterogeneity on conventionally managed farms. We further highlight the importance to provide results of species composition analyses as (2) primarily hoverfly species benefited from organic farming, but three bee species from different families were favoured by conventionally managed farms and (3) two hoverfly species with aphidophagous larvae showed contrasting responses to landscape heterogeneity. These results advance the understanding of how landscape heterogeneity and farming practices alter insect communities and further suggest that diversity patterns need to be analysed beyond species richness to fully uncover consequences of agricultural intensification.
Department/s
- Biodiversity
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science
Publishing year
2013
Language
English
Pages
540-546
Publication/Series
Basic and Applied Ecology
Volume
14
Issue
7
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Elsevier
Topic
- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
- Ecology
Keywords
- Pollinators
- Landscape context
- Landscape ecology
- Agricultural
- intensification
- Agri-environment schemes
Status
Published
Project
- Effects of Farming Practice on Pollinators and Pollination across Space and Time
Research group
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1618-0089