Journal of Applied Ecology

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14675pmid: N/A

Vandendriessche, Jari; De Frenne, Pieter; Eeraerts, Maxime

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14840pmid: N/A

Research Highlight discussing: Boinot, S., Alignier, A., Aviron, S., Bertrand, C., Cheviron, N., Comment, G., Jeavons, E., Le Lann, C., Mondy, S., Mougin, C., Précigout, P.‐A., Ricono, C., Robert, C., Saias, G., Vandenkoornhuyse, P., & Mony, C. (2024). Organic farming and semi‐natural habitats for multifunctional agriculture: A case study in hedgerow landscapes of Brittany. Journal of Applied Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2664.14825. Agricultural expansion and intensification are key drivers of biodiversity loss. In search of more sustainable ways to produce food and conserve biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, the benefit of multiple local‐ and landscape‐scale measures, and their interaction, has received a lot of attention. Yet to date few studies take on a holistic view and simultaneously evaluate multiple functions and benefits provided by these measures. In their multifunctionality assessment, Boinot et al. (2024) show that adoption of organic management as local‐scale measure in winter cereals have positive effects on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and economic performance, in spite of the significantly reduced food production. More hedgerow density resulted in some benefits, but clear interactions between organic management and hedgerow density in the wider landscape were rare and depended on the evaluated spatial scale. We argue that more taxa, functions and focus crops should be included in future studies. In addition, assessing a broader gradient in hedgerow density, and including other types of semi‐natural habitat such as road verges, small forest patches and semi‐natural grasslands, can lead to identification of more clear synergies between local‐ and landscape‐scale measures. In sum, the study of Boinot et al. (2024) provides a compelling example of assessing how local and landscape‐scale measures mediate multiple benefits.

Lima, Kyle A.; Wheeler, Jesse S.; Hazen Connery, Judith; Miller‐Rushing, Abraham J.; Fisichelli, Nicholas A.

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14835pmid: N/A

Invasive plants threaten natural areas, yet Acadia National Park, Maine, USA has been successful in managing invasive plant populations for over three decades. However, rapid environmental change and increasing pressure from encroaching invasive plants may adversely affect the success of ongoing management. This article presents an overview of invasive plant management in Acadia National Park, highlighting lessons learned in over 30 years of active management. Acadia provides a valuable case study for other protected areas, sharing many features with protected areas globally. We offer recommendations for protected area managers in the face of rapid environmental change. Deliberate and continuous management actions by park resource staff starting in the late 1980s and expanding in the mid‐2000s have resulted in extremely low incidence of invasion within Acadia. This success has resulted from effort centred around a science‐based and adaptive approach to management, early detection, and rapid response. Strong partnerships have ensured the continuation of this work. Park staff continue to reduce invasive species populations to <1% cover, monitor managed areas to track treatment success, and re‐treat upon reinvasion. However, total eradication is rare and continued management of new and re‐invasions is expensive and challenging. Maintaining effective invasive plant management is likely to become more difficult as climate change interacts with other stressors in protected areas. Synthesis and applications: Responding to these changes requires articulating desired and realistic future conditions for resources in protected areas, then using actions such as invasive plant removal and native plant revegetation to achieve goals. Long‐term management through a flexible experimental approach is critical to successful invasive plant management. Both Western and Indigenous science are needed to inform responses to the multiple and interacting global change stressors, and management is needed to advance scientific understanding of ecosystem and species responses to change.

Straw, Edward A.; Stanley, Dara A.

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14834pmid: N/A

Bees and pesticides is a topic which attracts a considerable amount of research and media attention. It is also an applied topic, with experimental results informing policy. Policy decisions have‐real world consequences for food production and need to be made using the best available evidence. This article aims to be an entry point for the increasing number of researchers now studying the topic, who may not have worked with pesticides beforehand. We have assumed a general knowledge of bee ecology, but no knowledge of pesticides. We build up the knowledge base throughout the article, introducing concepts one‐by‐one and building on those concepts to tackle the more complex ideas later in the article. Synthesis and applications. Our article is a starting point for those entering bee and pesticide research, and can help introduce the complex concepts and terminology of the field. We point to some further reading and resources throughout and offer some advice on best practice within the field. We hope this will ultimately help new researchers to quickly design high‐quality experiments, which can better inform pesticide policy and usage.

Smit, I. P. J.; Fernández, R. J.; Menvielle, M. F.; Roux, D. J.; Singh, N.; Mabuza, S.; Mthombeni, B. M.; Macgregor, N. A.; Fritz, H.; Gandiwa, E.; Foxcroft, L. C.; Cook, C. N.

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14814pmid: N/A

Research in protected areas (PAs) is often dominated by scientists from outside the conservation agencies managing them. This can potentially lead to misalignment with local needs, insensitivity to the local context and a lack of investment in and use of local expertise. These issues often arise when international researchers work in another country without local engagement (known as ‘parachute science’). Despite PAs being key end users of actionable science, there is limited understanding of the prevalence and impact of parachute science in these areas. Here, we investigate parachute versus collaborative research in two national parks in the Global South (Kruger National Park, South Africa; Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina) and one park from a developed economy (Kakadu National Park, Australia). To explore the prevalence, risks, benefits and complexities of research practices, we analyse the patterns of authorship, funding and acknowledgement in a random sample of peer‐reviewed papers from research conducted in these parks. Our findings show a higher incidence of potential parachute science in Kruger National Park (18% of papers with only out‐of‐country authors) compared to Nahuel Huapi (4%) and Kakadu (2%) national parks. However, the occurrence of internationally collaborative research (national and international authors) was double in Global South parks (35%–38%) than in the Australian park (18%). The study illustrates the potential benefits of international collaboration for PAs, including increased research productivity, expanded funding sources and possibly higher impact and visibility of published studies. PAs in developed countries may have fewer opportunities to obtain those benefits. Most papers, even those with in‐country authors, lacked authors affiliated with the agency managing the PA and often failed to even acknowledge these agencies. This suggests the potential for a different form of parachute science (which we term ‘park parachuting’) in which lack of local involvement may hamper integration of research with management. Synthesis and applications: Establishing conditions that foster collaboration between national and international researchers, and between PA agency staff and external researchers (regardless of their nationality), would enable parks to better serve as catalysts for research collaboration. This collaborative approach can facilitate access to additional funding, enhance research capacity, increase research productivity and amplify research impact.

Walker, Emily; Wooliver, Rachel; Russo, Laura; Jagadamma, Sindhu

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14826pmid: N/A

Agricultural intensification is driving declines in pollinator diversity and the degradation of pollination services worldwide. Organic management, which prohibits the use of synthetic inputs, has considerable potential for combatting these declines by enhancing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, the efficacy of organic farming for promoting pollinator diversity has recently been questioned. We conducted a meta‐analysis to determine the effect of organic management on pollinator species richness and abundance. We compiled 42 studies across four continents and calculated a Hedges' g effect size for each of 76 species richness and 57 abundance observations. We then estimated average effect sizes overall and across five moderators. Species richness and abundance of pollinating insects tended to be higher in organic farms than conventional ones, with average effect sizes of 0.68 and 0.74, respectively. Landscape context, crop type, pollinator group, sampling location, and sampling method were factors impacting the response of pollinator diversity/abundance to organic farming. We found benefits for pollinator diversity from organic farming in all landscape types, with the strongest response in simple compared with more complex landscapes. Pollinator diversity benefited the most in habitats within organic cereal systems and the least in organic pastures. Among pollinator groups, bumblebee diversity benefitted the most, while moths and hoverflies showed positive but non‐significant responses. Higher pollinator diversity/abundance was detected in organic farms at various sampling locations. Transect sampling showed the greatest diversity gains among sampling methods. Synthesis and applications. Our results affirm that organic farming has positive effects for pollinator species richness and abundance, but benefits are variable and not guaranteed. We recommend that future studies adopt a standard sampling protocol and cover a larger geographic range to understand the global potential of organic farming to promote pollinator biodiversity. Efforts to increase pollinator abundance and diversity through organic farming should focus on organic systems involving cereal phases, especially within simple landscapes, for the most positive outcomes. However, due to high variability in pollinator responses alongside the challenges to achieve economic profitability from organic farming, crafting organic farming systems to specific farm‐scale opportunities and needs may be necessary.

Boinot, Sébastien; Alignier, Audrey; Aviron, Stéphanie; Bertrand, Colette; Cheviron, Nathalie; Comment, Gwendoline; Jeavons, Emma; Le Lann, Cécile; Mondy, Samuel; Mougin, Christian; Précigout, Pierre‐Antoine; Ricono, Claire; Robert, Corinne; Saias, Grégoire; Vandenkoornhuyse, Philippe; Mony, Cendrine

Kirsch, Felix; Hass, Annika; Alfert, Thomas; Westphal, Catrin

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14820pmid: N/A

Abandoned and even active limestone quarries (excavation sites) can represent important secondary habitats for many species, including wild bees, associated with dry grasslands, which are threatened biodiversity hotspots in Europe. However, is not well understood how interactions between local habitat and landscape characteristics influence the value of limestone quarries for wild bees and how this could guide conservation schemes. We studied how wild bee communities in limestone quarries are affected by landscape variables (connectivity to neighbouring dry grasslands, landscape diversity), local quarry characteristics (area, age, woody vegetation cover, flowering plant species) and their interactions. We surveyed bee communities during 208 transects in 19 quarries in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. In total, we recorded 114 bee species (2360 individuals), including 35 endangered species. High flowering plant species richness positively affected bee abundance and richness. Large quarry area was important for determining the presence of endangered bee species. High levels of woody vegetation cover had a negative effect on bee abundance and richness. Bee abundance and richness can increase with quarry age, but only at sites with moderate woody vegetation cover. We found potentially positive interactions between quarry age and landscape diversity and/or habitat connectivity to neighbouring dry grasslands. In particular, high habitat connectivity ensured stable richness of endangered species in old quarries. Synthesis and applications. Observed negative effects of high woody vegetation cover on bee communities highlight the importance of local management to reduce shrub encroachment and reset successional processes in limestone quarries. Local management is particularly important in old quarries of great ecological value, where the adverse impact of high woody vegetation cover on wild bees appears to be most severe. Large and old quarries with high connectivity to neighbouring dry grasslands are especially valuable for endangered bee species. Therefore, landscape‐scale restoration and conservation of dry grasslands is the most promising approach to promote endangered bee species through enhanced habitat connectivity.

Brockerhoff, Eckehard G.; Sopow, Stephanie L.; Bader, Martin K.‐F.

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14819pmid: N/A

Clear‐fell harvesting of non‐native plantation forests in the southern hemisphere creates large amounts of woody debris that is used for breeding by non‐native bark beetles and wood borers. Limited competition and a shortage of natural enemies allow some invasive pine bark beetles and wood borers to become highly abundant and cause phytosanitary issues. Replicated transects (550–750 m long) of funnel traps baited with alpha‐pinene and ethanol spanning even‐aged Pinus radiata stands were established in New Zealand's largest plantation forest and monitored from pre‐harvest until up to 5 years post‐harvesting to test the effects of harvesting residue resource pulses on the spatio‐temporal population dynamics of Hylurgus ligniperda, Hylastes ater and Arhopalus ferus. Generalised additive mixed model analyses of trap captures of >687,000 H. ligniperda, >7600 H. ater and >5000 A. ferus individuals showed greatly elevated populations for the first 2–3 years post‐harvest. Subsequently, populations returned to very low levels once the resource pulse was exhausted. Spatial patterns of captures reflecting beetle dispersal from breeding material showed a curvilinear decline along the breeding resource gradient by up to 95% from the interior of a recently harvested stand into an adjacent, previously harvested stand with exploited resources. Synthesis and applications. The results show that forest management characterised by ongoing harvesting of neighbouring stands facilitates the build‐up of large populations of bark beetles and wood borers of phytosanitary concern. This is due to recurrent resource pulses caused by the supply of substantial amounts of breeding material from tree felling. Our findings can inform forest planning aimed at avoiding such harvesting patterns, by assisting with the development and implementation of strategies for the management of beetle populations across the landscape. Most beetles dispersed <400 m beyond the source stand edge, although some beetles are likely to have dispersed further. Keeping a distance of 1–2 km between recently felled stands and those scheduled for felling would be expected to reduce rapid population growth. This knowledge can also be used to reduce seedling attack, minimise infestation of logs, and ultimately, mitigate pathway and biosecurity risks, with important implications for forest product exports and quarantine measures.

Hendel, Anna‐Lena; Douma, Jacob C.; Klingenfuß, Sara; Pereira, João M. C.; Ruppert, Laura; Spînu, Andreea P.; Frey, Julian; Denter, Martin; Liu, Xiang; Storch, Ilse; Klein, Alexandra M.; Braunisch, Veronika

doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.14822pmid: N/A

Timber‐oriented forest management profoundly alters forest structure and composition, with complex effects on associated biodiversity. However, while species' responses to forest management and resulting structural characteristics have been the subject of numerous studies, direct and indirect effects that cascade through trophic levels are rarely disentangled. As insectivorous bats are particularly sensitive to changes in forest structure, that shape their available flight space, we investigated how forest structure, composition and management also indirectly modify their habitats, for example, by affecting important insect prey groups. We used structural equation models (SEMs) to test bat responses to forest composition, structure (forest heterogeneity, old‐growth attributes) and management intensity, quantifying direct and indirect prey‐mediated effects. For that, three bat guilds—short‐ (SRE), mid‐ (MRE) and long‐range echolocating (LRE) bats—and their prey insects (moths and ground beetles) were analysed from 64 sites in the Black Forest, Germany. We found guild‐specific effects on bats: While the structural heterogeneity of forests directly influenced the activity of bat guilds, the main influence of forest management, composition and structure was mediated through their prey‐groups. SRE activity responded to moths and LRE activity was associated with ground beetles, with positive effects of the insect groups' abundance, but negative effects of the same group's species richness. In addition, the SEM approach revealed a negative top‐down relationship between MRE activities and moths, suggesting predation or avoidance behaviour of moths. While forest management directly or indirectly increased prey insect abundance, it negatively affected the availability of roosting structures for bats. Synthesis and applications. The results highlight the indirect and positive effects of forest management on bats and support the important role of bats in insect regulation within continuous cover forests. Although forest management created small gaps that improved foraging habitats for most bats, it compromised the roosting functionality for bats. The ‘close‐to‐nature forestry’ currently prevalent in Europe mainly promotes continuous‐cover forests in mid‐successional stages. Expanding the forest management portfolio towards open and old‐growth forests would increase roosting opportunities and provide complementary foraging habitats for different bat species, while promoting high biodiversity in managed forest landscapes.