Ant community composition and functional traits in new grassland strips within agricultural landscapes.

ABSTRACT: Ongoing intensification and fragmentation of European agricultural landscapes dramatically reduce biodiversity and associated functions. Enhancing perennial noncrop areas holds great potential to support ecosystem services such as ant-mediated pest control.To study the potential of newly established grassland strips to enhance ant diversity and associated functions, we used hand collection data and predation experiments to investigate differences in (a) ant community composition and (b) biocontrol-related functional traits, and (c) natural pest control across habitats in cereal fields, old grasslands, and new grassland transects of three years of age.Ant species diversity was similar between new and old grasslands, but significantly higher in new grasslands than in surrounding cereal field

SUBMITTER: Scharnhorst VS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8216914 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature