Set-aside promotes insect and plant diversity in a Central European country

The area of non-cropped habitats has been decreasing in Europe largely due to land conversion into cropland and energy crops. In Hungary, special agri-environment schemes in Environmentally Sensitive Areas require the establishment of sown set-aside fields especially for endangered bird species. We tested if these set-aside fields are beneficial for plants and insects of agricultural landscapes. We compared the herbaceous flora, grasshopper (Orthoptera), bee (Apidae) and butterfly (Rhopalocera) fauna of five field types (1, 2 and 3 year-old set-aside, winter cereal fields and semi-natural grasslands). Species richness, abundance and species composition of insects were tested against field type and plant species richness. The wheat fields were the poorest habitats for all taxa. The species richness and abundance of the studied insects were usually higher in set-aside than in cereal fields with no significant difference between set-aside of different age. We found the highest number of orthopteran species and butterfly individuals in semi-natural grasslands. At community level, field type and plant species richness had a significant effect on orthopteran assemblages. Butterfly assemblages were significantly affected by field type. Bee assemblages were not significantly related to the above variables. We can conclude that set-aside fields provide important habitat patches for plants and insects, in some cases with similar value to semi-natural grasslands. Our results emphasise the importance of set-aside within the Hungarian agri-environment scheme. Establishment of set-aside management in other Central European countries will likely to be of a similar value as the Hungarian set-aside fields.

[1]  D. Kleijn,et al.  Conservation headlands for rare arable weeds: the effects of fertilizer application and light penetration on plant growth. , 1997 .

[2]  T. Tscharntke,et al.  Trap-nesting bees and wasps colonizing set-aside fields: succession and body size, management by cutting and sowing , 1994, Oecologia.

[3]  G. Szovenyi.  Qualification of grassland habitats based on their Orthoptera assemblages in the Köszeg Mountains (W-Hungary) , 2002 .

[4]  Beatriz Arroyo,et al.  A review of the abundance and diversity of invertebrate and plant foods of granivorous birds in northern europe in relation to agricultural change , 1999 .

[5]  D. Kleijn,et al.  Effects of Set‐Aside Land on Farmland Biodiversity: Comments on Van Buskirk and Willi , 2005 .

[6]  A. Báldi,et al.  Factors affecting the structure of bee assemblages in extensively and intensively grazed grasslands in Hungary , 2009 .

[7]  T. Schmitt,et al.  Changes of traditional agrarian landscapes and their conservation implications: a case study of butterflies in Romania , 2007 .

[8]  Brian D. Ripley,et al.  Modern Applied Statistics with S Fourth edition , 2002 .

[9]  A. Báldi,et al.  Local and landscape effects on bee communities of Hungarian winter cereal fields , 2011 .

[10]  D. Tilman,et al.  The effects of long-term nitrogen loading on grassland insect communities , 2000, Oecologia.

[11]  D. Bailey,et al.  How landscape structure, land-use intensity and habitat diversity affect components of total arthropod diversity in agricultural landscapes , 2007 .

[12]  R. F. Chapman,et al.  Biology of Grasshoppers , 1990 .

[13]  M. Obrist,et al.  Biodiversity evaluation in agricultural landscapes: above-ground insects , 1999 .

[14]  H. R. Arnold,et al.  Managing set-aside land for wildlife , 1993 .

[15]  Carsten F. Dormann,et al.  Set-aside management: How do succession, sowing patterns and landscape context affect biodiversity? , 2011 .

[16]  D. Goulson,et al.  Decline and conservation of bumble bees. , 2008, Annual review of entomology.

[17]  T. Hyvönen,et al.  Weed species diversity and community composition in cropping practices at two intensity levels – a six-year experiment , 2002, Plant Ecology.

[18]  D. Tilman,et al.  Dynamics of plant and arthropod diversity during old field succession , 1999 .

[19]  T. Hyvönen,et al.  Pollinator insects benefit from rotational fallows , 2011 .

[20]  G. Taylor,et al.  Identifying potential environmental impacts of large-scale deployment of dedicated bioenergy crops in the UK , 2009 .

[21]  S. Corbet.  Insects, plants and succession: advantages of long-term set-aside , 1995 .

[22]  S. Aviron,et al.  Complementation/supplementation of resources for butterflies in agricultural landscapes , 2004 .

[23]  C. Johansen.  Pesticides and Pollinators , 1977 .

[24]  D. Kleijn,et al.  Effects of local and landscape scale and cattle grazing intensity on Orthoptera assemblages of the Hungarian Great Plain , 2007 .

[25]  David Kleijn,et al.  Effect of conservation management on bees and insect-pollinated grassland plant communities in three European countries , 2010 .

[26]  T. Tscharntke,et al.  Early succession of butterfly and plant communities on set-aside fields , 1997, Oecologia.

[27]  N. Sotherton.  Land use changes and the decline of farmland wildlife: An appraisal of the set-aside approach , 1998 .

[28]  A. P. Schaffers,et al.  Parallel Declines in Pollinators and Insect-Pollinated Plants in Britain and the Netherlands , 2006, Science.

[29]  Petr Pyšek,et al.  European map of alien plant invasions based on the quantitative assessment across habitats , 2009 .

[30]  Neal M. Williams,et al.  Crop pollination from native bees at risk from agricultural intensification , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[31]  K. M. O'Neill,et al.  Patterns of vegetation and grasshopper community composition , 1990, Oecologia.

[32]  T. Tscharntke,et al.  How does landscape context contribute to effects of habitat fragmentation on diversity and population density of butterflies? , 2003 .

[33]  T. Tscharntke,et al.  Succession of bee communities on fallows , 2001 .

[34]  Y. Willi,et al.  Enhancement of Farmland Biodiversity within Set‐Aside Land , 2004 .

[35]  A. Báldi,et al.  Management effects on carabid beetles and spiders in Central Hungarian grasslands and cereal fields , 2008 .

[36]  William N. Venables,et al.  Modern Applied Statistics with S , 2010 .