Environmental and management factors drive biological communities and ecosystem services in agroecosystems along an urban-natural gradient

Urban Farm DB summary

This study investigated the environmental and management factors influencing bird communities, pollinating insects, and two ecosystem services — pollination and nature-based recreation — along an urban-natural gradient dominated by agricultural areas (vineyards, apple orchards, and grasslands) in northern Italy. Flower-visiting insects were mainly affected by management and environmental-climatic variables, with flowers at field margins and within vineyard and apple-orchard inter-rows best predicting pollinator and flower-visiting-insect abundance; sward height and grassland cover promoted insect abundance, while vineyards and apple orchards had a negative effect on it. Bird communities were mainly shaped by land-use/land-cover and management variables, with landscape heterogeneity and linear elements having a major positive effect; apple orchards negatively affected the richness and abundance of most bird species, and vineyards negatively affected overall bird abundance, while hedgerows had a positive effect on richness. Nature-based recreation was greater in areas with low or intermediate vineyard or urban cover, with apple orchards and intensively managed grasslands having negative effects and waterways a positive effect. The study concludes that apple orchards and large vineyards are largely unsuitable for biodiversity and ecosystem services.