Management of Grassland-like Wildflower Strips Sown on Nutrient-rich Arable Soils: The Role of Grass Density and Mowing Regime.

Wildflower strips (WS) are proposed in many European countries as a strategy to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services in arable fields. To create and maintain WS on nutrient-rich cultivated soils reveals challenging. Flowered species may be outcompeted by grasses due to high phosphorus content in soil.

Flower Strips in Wheat Intercropping System: Effect on Pollinator Abundance and Diversity in Belgium.

The decline of pollinators in agricultural areas has been observed for some decades, this being partly due to landscape simplification in intensive agrosystems. Diversifying agricultural landscapes by sowing flower strips within fields could reduce these adverse effects on biodiversity. In this context, the study presented here aimed at assessing and comparing the abundance and diversity of bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) and hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) found and visiting flowers in three types of flower strips in Belgium: (i) a mixture of 11 wild flowers, (ii) a monofloral strip of (Asteraceae) and (iii) a monofloral strip of (Brassicaceae), where the last two are considered to be intercrops since they are valuable on the market, all sown within a field of winter wheat ( L.