Plants and beetles in a barley agricultural landscape

This repository includes the data of the article "Complex live fences support plant and beetle diversity in a barley agricultural landscape", that we will submit to Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. ABSTRACT: Along with natural vegetation remnants, live fences in agricultural landscapes are elements that delimit crop fields and conserve biodiversity. In this study, we assessed plant and beetle diversity and composition in remnant shrubland fragments, barley crops, and complex and simple live fences in an agricultural landscape in Central Mexico. We recorded 54 plant species from 24 families, and 168 morphospecies from 26 beetle families. We found that habitat complexity of live fences and shrubland remnants supported higher cumulative richness of plants and beetles than crops and simple live fences, and species composition varied across landscape elements. Moreover, our results show that intensive barley crops lead to biotic homogenization, whereas live fences and shrubland remnants conserve high plant and beetle beta diversity. Soil hardness is the main environmental variable influencing plant and beetle communities. This study highlights the importance of live fences’ complexity in maintaining biodiversity in agricultural landscapes; therefore, we recommend their inclusion as key elements in incentives for agricultural management policies and in territorial planning at different governance levels.
Key words: habitat complexity, vegetation remnants, Coleoptera, biotic homogenization, vegetated strips, vegetated field margins

本仓库包含即将提交至《农业、生态系统与环境（Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment）》的论文《复合型活篱笆助力大麦农田景观中的植物与甲虫多样性（Complex live fences support plant and beetle diversity in a barley agricultural landscape）》的相关数据。
摘要：农田景观中的活篱笆（live fences）与自然植被残存斑块（vegetation remnants）一样，均为划定农田边界并保育生物多样性的景观要素。本研究针对墨西哥中部某农田景观中的残存灌丛斑块、大麦农田、复合型与简易型活篱笆，开展了植物与甲虫多样性及群落组成的调查评估。本次调查共记录到24科54种植物，以及26科168个形态种（morphospecies）。研究结果显示，活篱笆与灌丛残存斑块的生境复杂度（habitat complexity）高于农田与简易型活篱笆，其植物与甲虫的累积物种丰富度更高，且不同景观要素间的物种组成存在显著差异。此外，本研究发现集约化大麦农田会引发生物同质化（biotic homogenization），而活篱笆与灌丛残存斑块则能维持较高的植物与甲虫β多样性（beta diversity）。土壤硬度是影响植物与甲虫群落的主要环境变量。本研究强调了活篱笆复杂度对维持农田景观生物多样性的重要意义，因此建议将其作为不同治理层级下农业管理政策激励与国土空间规划的核心要素纳入考量。
关键词：生境复杂度（habitat complexity）、植被残存斑块（vegetation remnants）、鞘翅目（Coleoptera）、生物同质化（biotic homogenization）、植被带（vegetated strips）、农田植被边缘带（vegetated field margins）