Local and landscape scale drivers of ecosystem services: Pollination, biological control and yield

At the landscape scale, the percent of natural and semi-natural areas can drive the abundance and diversity of beneficial insects such as pollinators and natural enemies. Local scale habitat diversity also plays a role in structuring beneficial insect communities. The intermediate landscape hypothesis predicts that diversification of habitats at the local scale will have the greatest impact on beneficial insects in landscapes with intermediate amounts of natural area. Despite these clear predictions, few studies have empirically evaluated the hypothesis. Very few studies have measured multiple beneficial insect groups simultaneously and assessed their combined effect on yield. To address this gap, pollinator communities, pests, natural enemies and yield were sampled on 18 farms along a gradient in landscape complexity in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. On each farm we established two experimental plots of strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa var. “Jewel”, one with an adjacent native perennial wildflower strip and the other as a control. Both landscape complexity and local habitat management (wildflower strip) were important in structuring insect communities. Interesting interactions were found between pollinators and the primary pest in the system. These results highlight the importance of landscape context in mediating the effectiveness of local habitat enhancements.