Does Landscape Structure Affect the Presence of Woodland Specialist Pollinators in Farmland? Implications for Agri-Environment Scheme Design
Date
2022-03-16
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Royal Irish Academy
Abstract
natural or semi-natural habitats to nest and/or forage. Landscape structure has been shown to influence
pollinator communities and understanding how landscape structure affects farmland pollinators
can improve Agri-Environment Schemes (AES). This study explored how landscape metrics affect
the presence of pollinators associated with woody vegetation in farmland in the Republic of Ireland.
Two study regions were selected, and pollinators were collected using pan traps placed in farm linear
features. Hoverfly and bee species were selected based on their body size and association with woody
vegetation. Relevant landscape structure metrics were extracted from around each trap and used to
develop explanatory models for the abundance of pollinators. The total abundance of target species
was relatively low but correlated with three explanatory variables: the connectivity of the linear feature
to woodlands; the distance from the trap to the closest woodland; and edge density. Hoverfly and
bee abundance data, when analysed separately, showed significant differences within regions. Results
seem to indicate that incentivising the connectivity of farm linear features to surrounding woodland
patches and increasing optimal habitat availability in agricultural landscapes could benefit woodland
specialists. This information is helpful to improving AES design.
Description
Publication history: Accepted - 19 October 2021; Published - 16 March 2022.
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Ruas, S., Kelly, R., Ahmed, K.S.D., Maher, S., O’Hora, E., Volpato, A., Ó hUallacháin, D., Gormally, M.J., Stout, J.C. and Moran, J. (2022) 'Does landscape structure affect the presence of woodland specialist pollinators in farmland? Implications for Agri-Environment Scheme design', Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy .