Flower resource and land management drives hoverfly communities and bee abundance in semi-natural and agricultural grasslands

1. Pollination is a key ecosystem service, and appropriate management, particularly in agricultural systems, is essential to maintain a diversity of pollinator guilds. However, management recommendations frequently focus on maintaining plant communities, with the assumption that associated invertebrate populations will be sustained. 2. We tested whether plant community, flower resources and soil moisture would influence hoverfly (Syrphidae) abundance and species richness in floristically-rich semi-natural and floristically-impoverished agricultural grassland communities in Wales (U.K.), and compared these to two Hymenoptera genera, Bombus and Lasioglossum. Interactions between environmental variables were tested using generalised linear modelling, and hoverfly community composition examined using canonical correspondence analysis. 3. There was no difference in hoverfly abundance, species richness, or bee abundance, between grassland types. There was a positive association between ho...