Data from: High effectiveness of tailored flower strips in reducing pests and crop plant damage

Providing key resources to animals may enhance both their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. We examined the performance of annual flower strips targeted at the promotion of natural pest control in winter wheat. Flower strips were experimentally sown along 10 winter wheat fields across a gradient of landscape complexity (i.e. proportion non-crop area within 750 m around focal fields) and compared with 15 fields with wheat control strips. We found strong reductions in cereal leaf beetle (CLB) density (larvae: 40%; adults of the second generation: 53%) and plant damage caused by CLB (61%) in fields with flower strips compared with control fields. Natural enemies of CLB were strongly increased in flower strips and in part also in adjacent wheat fields. Flower strip effects on natural enemies, pests and crop damage were largely independent of landscape complexity (8–75% non-crop area). Our study demonstrates a high effectiveness of annual flower strips in promoting pest control, reducing CLB pest levels below the economic threshold. Hence, the studied flower strip offers a viable alternative to insecticides. This highlights the high potential of tailored agri-environment schemes to contribute to ecological intensification and may encourage more farmers to adopt such schemes.为动物提供关键资源，可提升其生物多样性及自身所提供的生态系统服务。我们针对旨在促进冬小麦田自然害虫防治的一年生花带开展了效能评估。实验在10个冬小麦田块沿线实验性播撒花带，这些田块的景观复杂度（即目标田块周边750米范围内非作物面积的占比）呈梯度变化，并与15个铺设小麦对照带的田块进行对照。研究发现，相较对照田块，布设花带的田块中，麦叶甲（cereal leaf beetle, CLB）的种群密度显著下降（幼虫减少40%；第二代成虫减少53%），麦叶甲造成的作物受害程度降低61%。麦叶甲的自然天敌种群在花带中显著增加，在相邻的小麦田块中也存在一定程度的提升。花带对自然天敌、害虫种群及作物受害程度的影响，基本不受景观复杂度（非作物面积占比8%至75%）的调控。本研究证实，一年生花带在促进害虫防治方面效能显著，可将麦叶甲的种群密度降至经济阈值以下。因此，本研究所采用的花带方案可作为杀虫剂的可行替代方案。这凸显了定制化农业环境计划在助力生态集约化方面的巨大潜力，或可激励更多农户采纳此类措施。