A multi-taxa modeling approach to evaluate the importance of non-crop habitat proximity in ecosystem services distribution: a case study in the Czech Republic

Background/Question/Methods

Non-crop habitats, such as field boundaries, offer shelter and food sources to various beneficial organisms, from which they can spread and colonise crops during favourable seasons. Most studies use a single taxa approach to evaluate the distribution of beneficial arthropods. Here we adopted multi-taxa and direct measurement of ecosystem services (ESs) to establish the relationship between distance from field edges, agro-communities, and ESs.Eight arthropod taxa and three ESs were investigated using vegetation sweeping, pitfall and pan traps, dummy caterpillars, seed cards, and teabag techniques. Generalised linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs) synthesized the response of arthropods’ abundance, diversity, and ecosystem services to the distance from field boundaries.

Results/Conclusions

Preliminary results revealed that ESs increased locally in common with arthropod diversity and abundance. Distance from field boundaries appeared not to impact the surveyed arthropods and ecosystem services observed, while only a few habitat specialists were confined to field boundaries. This study provides the first insights into a multi-taxa approach to determine ecosystem service distribution. The modeling approach developed and tested here should now be further applied to the derivation of plausible multi-taxa modeling for evaluating ecosystem services provision. The creation of a well-established evaluation methodology for ESs could represent a crucial tool for ensuring their long-term stability in sustainable crop productions.