The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of
agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a
comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral
plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is
lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on
pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in
adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand. Flower strips,
but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by
16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more
variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of
variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined
exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower
strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more
effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimize floral
plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and
ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.