Rodents, not birds, dominate predation-related ecosystem services and disservices in vertebrate communities of agricultural landscapes.

ABSTRACT: To understand the relationship between conservation measures and agricultural yields, we need to know the contributions of organisms to both ecosystem services and disservices. We studied the activity and contribution of birds and mammals to intermediate ecosystem services (predation of weed seeds or invertebrate pests) and disservices (predation of crop seeds or beneficial invertebrates) in southern Sweden between June and November 2016. We measured seed and invertebrate predation rates using trays placed in front of 32 wildlife cameras in 16 cereal fields with a local habitat contrast (8 fields adjacent to another crop field and 8 fields adjacent to a semi-natural grassland) and along a landscape heterogeneity gradient (amount of semi-natural grassland). Both activity and predation were

SUBMITTER: Tschumi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6208704 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature