Management of non-crop vegetation to maximize ecological benefits
Background
Field margins designed to enhance the performance of pest natural enimies can enhance the biological control efficacy.
Non-crop vegetation in agricultural landscapes can provide a range of important ecological services, including conservation of native flora/fauna as well as agronomical services such as the enhancement of biological pest control and pollinators. Our studies have shown that field margins currently used for bird conservation may be unsuitable for supporting biological pest control.
However, by making small adjustments in the vegetative composition of these field margins conservation and pest-control benefits can be combined. We aim at identifying specific landscape-element traits that are vital in supporting target ecological groups, in order to tailor landscape to optimize multiple ecological services.