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1. Organic farming in Europe has been shown to enhance biodiversity locally, but potential interactions with the surrounding landscape and the potential effects on ecosystem services are less well known. 2. In cereal fields on 153 farms in five European regions, we examined how the species richness and abundance of wild plants, ground beetles and breeding birds, and the biological control potential of the area, were affected by organic and conventional farming, and how these effects were modified by landscape complexity (percentage of arable crops within 1000 m of the study plots). Information on biodiversity was gathered from vegetation plots, pitfall traps and by bird territory mapping. The biological control potential was measured as the percentage of glued, live aphids removed from plastic labels exposed in cereal fields for 24 h. 3. Predation on aphids was highest in organic fields in complex landscapes, and declined with increasing landscape homogeneity. The biological control potential in conventional fields was not affected by landscape complexity, and in homogenous landscapes it was higher in conventional fields than in organic fields, as indicated by an interaction between farming practice and landscape complexity. 4. A simplification of the landscape, from 20% to 100% arable land, reduced plant species richness by about 16% and cover by 14% in organic fields, and 33% and 5·5% in conventional fields. For birds, landscape simplification reduced species richness and abundance by 34% and 32% in organic fields and by 45·5% and 39% in conventional fields. Ground beetles were more abundant in simple landscapes, but were unaffected by farming practice. 5. Synthesis and applications. This Europe-wide study shows that organic farming enhanced the biodiversity of plants and birds in all landscapes, but only improved the potential for biological control in heterogeneous landscapes. These mixed results stress the importance of taking both local management and regional landscape complexity into consideration when developing future agri-environment schemes, and suggest that local-regional interactions may affect other ecosystem services and functions. This study also shows that it is not enough to design and monitor agri-environment schemes on the basis of biodiversity, but that ecosystem services should be considered too.

1. Environmental changes may not always result in rapid changes in species distributions, abundances or diversity. In order to estimate the effects of, for example, land-use changes caused by agri-environment schemes (AES) on biodiversity and ecosystem services, information on the time-lag between the application of the scheme and the responses of organisms is essential. 2. We examined the effects of time since transition (TST) to organic farming on plant species richness and butterfly species richness and abundance. Surveys were conducted in cereal fields and adjacent field margins on 60 farms, 20 conventional and 40 organic, in two regions in Sweden. The organic farms were transferred from conventional management between 1 and 25 years before the survey took place. The farms were selected along a gradient of landscape complexity, indicated by the proportion of arable land, so that farms with similar TST were represented in all landscape types. Organism responses were assessed using model averaging. 3. Plant and butterfly species richness was c. 20% higher on organic farms and butterfly abundance was about 60% higher, compared with conventional farms. Time since transition affected butterfly abundance gradually over the 25-year period, resulting in a 100% increase. In contrast, no TST effect on plant or butterfly species richness was found, indicating that the main effect took place immediately after the transition to organic farming. 4. Increasing landscape complexity had a positive effect on butterfly species richness, but not on butterfly abundance or plant species richness. There was no indication that the speed of response to organic farming was affected by landscape complexity. 5. Synthesis and applications. The effect of organic farming on diversity was rapid for plant and butterfly species richness, whereas butterfly abundance increased gradually with time since transition. If time-lags in responses to AESs turn out to be common, long-term effects would need to be included in management recommendations and policy to capture the full potential of such schemes.

1. Agricultural intensification and expansion are regarded as major causes of worldwide declines in biodiversity during the last century. Agri-environment schemes (AES) have been introduced in many countries as an attempt to counteract the negative effects of intensive agriculture by providing financial incentives for farmers to adopt environmentally-sensitive agricultural practices. 2. We surveyed 18 pairs of AES and conventionally-managed farms in central Scotland (United Kingdom) to evaluate the effects of specific AES management prescriptions (field margins, hedgerows, species-rich grasslands and water margins) on farmland moths. We also measured the influence of the surrounding landscape on moth populations at three spatial scales (250 m, 500 m and 1 km radii from each trapping site) to assess at which scale management was most important for the conservation of farmland moths. 3. In general, percentage cover of rough grassland and scrub within 250 m of the trapping site was the most important landscape predictor for both micro- and macromoth abundance and macromoth species richness, although negative effects of urbanization were found at wider scales (within 1 km), particularly for macromoth species richness. 4. The abundance and species richness of micromoths was significantly higher within field margins and species-rich grasslands under AES management in comparison to their conventional counterparts, whereas AES water margins increased micromoth abundance, but not species richness. AES species-rich grasslands and water margins were associated with an increased macromoth abundance and species richness, and macromoths considered 'widespread but rapidly declining' also gained some benefits from these two AES prescriptions. In contrast, hedgerows under AES management enhanced neither micromoth nor macromoth populations. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our findings indicate that increasing the percentage cover of semi-natural environment at a local scale (e.g. within 250 m) benefits both micro- and macromoth populations, and that the implementation of simple AES management prescriptions applied to relatively small areas can increase the species richness and abundance of moth populations in agricultural environments.

1. Sown flower strips are increasingly implemented within agri-environment schemes (AES) to increase functional biodiversity and ecosystem services such as pollination or natural pest control, but their effectiveness in achieving these goals remains poorly studied. 2. We tested the performance of experimentally sown annual flower strips specifically designed to promote natural enemies of aphids and their pest control services (tailored flower strips) in adjacent potato crops (n = 8) compared with control fields (n = 10). Flower strips consisted of 11 plant species providing abundant floral and extra-floral resources. 3. The abundance of key natural enemies of aphids (hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds) and hoverfly species richness was greatly enhanced in tailored flower strips compared with potato control strips. This resulted in an average increase in the number of eggs deposited by hoverflies and lacewings by 127% and 48%, respectively, and a reduction in the number of aphids by 75% in adjacent potato crops. 4. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that tailored flower strips can be an effective agrienvironmental measure to enhance natural enemies and aphid control in nearby crops. Indeed, tailored flower strips may help to reduce insecticide input in potato production as they significantly decrease the probability that action thresholds are reached. Promoting natural enemy abundance and diversity, as observed for hoverflies, may increase the stability of pest control and provide additional benefits to agro-ecosystems in terms of natural enemy conservation. We thus recommend establishing tailored flower strips as a promising management option to reconcile the objectives of ecological intensification and biodiversity conservation.

1. Enhancing key floral resources is essential to effectively mitigate the loss of pollinator diversity and associated provisioning of pollination functions in agro-ecosystems. However, effective floral provisioning measures may diverge among different pollinator conservation targets, such as the conservation of rare species or the promotion of economically important crop pollinators. We examined to what extent such diverging conservation goals could be reconciled. 2. We analysed plant-bee visitation networks of 64 herbaceous semi-natural habitats representing a gradient of plant species richness to identify key resource plants of the three distinct conservation target groups: rare bees (of conservation concern), dominant wild croppollinating bees and managed crop-pollinating bees (i.e. honeybees). 3. Considering overall flower visitation, rare bees tended to visit nested subsets of plant species that were also visited by crop pollinators (46% and 77% nestedness in the dissimilarity between rare bees and wild crop pollinators or managed honeybees respectively). However, the set of preferred plant species, henceforth 'key plant species' (i.e. those species disproportionately more visited than expected according to their floral abundance) was considerably more distinct and less nested among bee target groups. 4. Flower visits of all bee target groups increased with plant species richness at a similar rate. Importantly, our analyses revealed that an exponential increase in the flower abundance of the identified key plant species and complementarity in the bee visitation pattern across plant species — rather than total flower abundance — were the major drivers of these relationships. 5. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that the multiple goals of preserving high bee diversity, conserving rare species and sustaining crop pollinators can be reconciled if key plant species of different target groups are simultaneously available. This availability is facilitated by a high floral resource complementarity in the plant community. The list of identified key resource plant species we provide here can help practitioners such as land managers and conservationists to better design and evaluate pollinator conservation and restoration measures according to their goals. Our findings highlight the importance of identifying and promoting such plant species for pollinator conservation in agricultural landscapes.

A large proportion of European biodiversity today depends on habitat provided by low-intensity farming practices, yet this resource is declining as European agriculture intensifies. Within the European Union, particularly the central and eastern new member states have retained relatively large areas of species-rich farmland, but despite increased investment in nature conservation here in recent years, farmland biodiversity trends appear to be worsening. Although the high biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland has long been reported, the amount of research in the international literature focused on farmland biodiversity in this region remains comparatively tiny, and measures within the EU Common Agricultural Policy are relatively poorly adapted to support it. In this opinion study, we argue that, 10years after the accession of the first eastern EU new member states, the continued under-representation of the low-intensity farmland in Central and Eastern Europe in the international literature and EU policy is impeding the development of sound, evidence-based conservation interventions. The biodiversity benefits for Europe of existing low-intensity farmland, particularly in the central and eastern states, should be harnessed before they are lost. Instead of waiting for species-rich farmland to further decline, targeted research and monitoring to create locally appropriate conservation strategies for these habitats is needed now.

1. Like many farmland birds, the largest European population of the black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa, in The Netherlands, has been declining for decades despite conservation measures including agri-environment schemes (AES). In a new experimental AES aiming to reverse this decline, collectives of farmers implemented spatially coordinated site-level habitat management ('mosaic management') including delayed and staggered mowing of fields, refuge strips and active nest protection. 2. We evaluated the effectiveness of mosaic management by measuring godwit breeding success in six experimental sites and paired controls. Productivity was higher in mosaics than in controls due to fewer agricultural nest losses. Chick fledging success was poor in both treatments. Productivity compensated for adult mortality in only one AES site. 3. Although creating chick habitat was a major management goal, the availability of tall grass during the fledging period did not differ between treatments, mainly because rainfall delayed mowing in all sites and study years. However, chick survival increased with the availability of tall grass among sites. Higher chick survival will thus enhance the positive effect of mosaic management in drier years, but sensitivity to weather represents a weakness of the AES design. 4. Available estimates of productivity in Dutch godwits suggest a strong reduction over the past 20 years and implicate chick survival as the main driver of their decline. Earlier mowing of grassland is the main causal mechanism, but changes in vegetation structure and composition, and increased predation may also have contributed. 5. Synthesis and applications. Demographic rates like breeding success are useful parameters for evaluating effects of management. Mosaic management increases the productivity of black-tailed godwits, but does not ensure long-term population viability for this flagship species of wet grassland bird communities. More stringent management prescriptions need to improve both the area and the quality (vegetation structure) of grassland mown late. Management efforts should be concentrated in areas with favourable pre-conditions in order to improve overall effectiveness.

Agri-environment schemes (AESs), ecological focus areas (EFAs), and organic farming are the main tools of the common agricultural policy (CAP) to counteract the dramatic decline of farmland biodiversity in Europe. However, their effectiveness is repeatedly doubted because it seems to vary when measured at the field-versus-landscape level and to depend on the regional environmental and land-use context. Understanding the heterogeneity of their effectiveness is thus crucial to developing management recommendations that maximize their efficacy. Using ensemble species distribution models and spatially explicit field-level information on crops grown, farming practice (organic/conventional), and applied AES/EFA from the Integrated Administration and Control System, we investigated the contributions of five groups of measures (buffer areas, cover crops, extensive grassland management, fallow land, and organic farming) to habitat suitability for 15 farmland bird species in the Mulde River Basin, Germany. We used a multiscale approach to identify the scale of effect of the selected measures. Using simulated land-use scenarios, we further examined how breeding habitat suitability would change if the measures were completely removed and if their adoption by farmers increased to meet conservation-informed targets. Buffer areas, fallow land, and extensive grassland were beneficial measures for most species, but cover crops and organic farming had contrasting effects across species. While different measures acted at different spatial scales, our results highlight the importance of land-use management at the landscape level—at which most measures had the strongest effect. We found that the current level of adoption of the measures delivers only modest gains in breeding habitat suitability. However, habitat suitability improved for the majority of species when the implementation of the measures was increased, suggesting that they could be effective conservation tools if higher adoption levels were reached. The heterogeneity of responses across species and spatial scales indicated that a mix of different measures, applied widely across the agricultural landscape, would likely maximize the benefits for biodiversity. This can only be achieved if the measures in the future CAP will be cooperatively designed in a regionally targeted way to improve their attractiveness for farmers and widen their uptake.

Mitigating the detrimental impacts of intensive farming on biodiversity requires the implementation of cost‐effective conservation actions. Targeted agri‐environment schemes (AESs) to enhance populations of threatened species inhabiting farmland have been proposed for this purpose, yet their effectiveness for nocturnal wildlife remains unknown. We assessed whether hedgerow management prescribed by targeted AESs to improve habitat conditions for the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) in England may positively influence the species, the entire bat assemblage and the insect prey of bats. We specifically investigated the responses of bats (occurrence, activity and species richness) and insects (biomass, abundance and diversity) to time since last trimming (from 1 up to 10 years). We explored the mechanisms underlying the effects of AES via changes in trimming regime on bats. Moreover, we investigated the effects of landscape context on bats as we expected that highly mobile species would benefit further from landscape‐scale management. Bat species richness significantly increased with time since last trimming. Three bat taxa of major conservation concern in Western Europe substantially benefited from the targeted prescription, namely R. ferrumequinum, Rhinolophus hipposideros and Plecotus spp. Insect family richness and dipteran abundance were also significantly greater at hedgerows that were untrimmed for at least 3 years. The activity of more common bat species (i.e. pipistrelle bats) was not influenced by time since last trimming. Changes in trimming regime strongly affected hedgerow height which directly and indirectly (by increasing prey abundance) influenced bat occurrence, activity and species richness along hedgerows. The activity of highly mobile bat species was mainly associated with a range of landscape attributes. The amount of semi‐natural grassland within 0.5 km of the sampling sites positively influenced R. ferrumequinum while the presence of urban areas negatively affected light‐sensitive bat species. Synthesis and applications. The implementation of targeted agri‐environment schemes can include effective measures to enhance bats and their insect prey in farmland. Although we highlight the success of current prescriptions on hedgerow management, we suggest that their effectiveness can easily be optimized by encouraging farmers to keep hedgerows untrimmed for longer periods (>3 up to 10 years). We also highlight that a multi‐scale management approach is required to successfully promote bats in farmland. The implementation of targeted agri‐environment schemes can include effective measures to enhance bats and their insect prey in farmland. Although we highlight the success of current prescriptions on hedgerow management, we suggest that their effectiveness can easily be optimized by encouraging farmers to keep hedgerows untrimmed for longer periods (>3 up to 10 years). We also highlight that a multi‐scale management approach is required to successfully promote bats in farmland.

The expansion of intensive agricultural practices is a major threat to biodiversity and to the delivery of ecosystem services on which humans depend. Local‐scale conservation management strategies, such as agri‐environment schemes to preserve biodiversity, have been widely adopted to reduce the negative impacts of agricultural intensification. However, it is likely that the effectiveness of these local‐scale management actions depend on the structure and composition of the surrounding landscape. We experimentally tested the utility of floral resource strips to improve local‐scale biological control of crop pests, when placed within a gradient of moderately simple through to highly complex landscapes. We found that experimental provision of floral resources enhanced parasitism rates of two globally important crop pests in moderately simple landscapes but not in highly complex ones, and this translated into reduced pest abundances and increased crop yield. Synthesis and applications. Our results lend experimental support for the ‘intermediate landscape complexity hypothesis’, which predicts that local conservation management will be most effective in moderately simple agricultural landscapes, and less effective in either very simple landscapes where there is no capacity for response, or in highly complex landscapes where response potential is already saturated. This knowledge will allow more targeted and cost‐effective implementation of conservation biological control programs based on an improved understanding of landscape‐dependent processes, which will reduce the negative impacts of agricultural intensification.