Strips of land planted with flowers between fields are the most popular environmental measure in agriculture.
Strips of land planted with flowers between fields are the most popular environmental measure in agriculture. They attract pollinators such as butterflies and wild bees, look beautiful and can be achieved quickly. However, the goal of creating and maintaining a structurally diverse and therefore particularly species-rich landscape will not be achieved if flower strips are the only measure taken. Researchers at the University of Göttingen have described how agricultural landscapes need to be designed to accommodate many species and to ensure other social and ecological functions such as providing nature for human recreation and climate protection. The perspective article was published in the journal Biological Conservation.
The expansion of agriculture across the landscape is the main cause of global species decline. To increase biodiversity in such landscapes, habitats that provide additional resources must be separate from cultivated areas. Strips filled with flowers that live for just a growing season are common in the European Union. However, they only support a limited range of plant and animal species.
Read more at: University of Gottingen
Cultivated landscape structured at a small-scale, featuring rows of trees, grass strips and fallow strips along the fence posts. (Photo Credit: Arne Wenzel)
