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Pollinator declines have prompted efforts to assess how land-use change affects insect pollinators and pollination services in agricultural landscapes. Yet many tools to measure insect pollination services require substantial landscape-scale data and technical expertise. In expert workshops, 3 straightforward methods (desk-based method, field survey, and empirical manipulation with exclusion experiments) for rapid insect pollination assessment at site scale were developed to provide an adaptable framework that is accessible to nonspecialist with limited resources. These methods were designed for TESSA (Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-Based Assessment) and allow comparative assessment of pollination services at a site of conservation interest and in its most plausible alternative state (e.g., converted to agricultural land). We applied the methods at a nature reserve in the United Kingdom to estimate the value of insect pollination services provided by the reserve. The economic value of pollination services provided by the reserve ranged from US$6163 to US$11,546/year. The conversion of the reserve to arable land would provide no insect pollination services and a net annual benefit from insect-pollinated crop production of approximately $1542/year (US$24∙haDiversidad y Conservación de Gasterópodos Subterráneos de Agua Dulce en los Estados Unidos y en México Resumen Las declinaciones de los polinizadores han impulsado los esfuerzos por evaluar cómo el cambio del uso de suelo afecta a los insectos polinizadores y los servicios de polinización en los paisajes agrícolas. Aun así, muchas de las herramientas para medir los servicios de los insectos polinizadores requieren datos sustanciales a escala de paisaje y el conocimiento de expertos. Desarrollamos tres métodos sencillos (método de gabinete, censo de campo y manipulación empírica con experimentos de exclusión) durante algunos talleres de expertos para la evaluación rápida de la polinización por insectos a escala de sitio con el objetivo de proporcionar un marco de trabajo adaptable y accesible para quienes no son especialistas y cuentan con recursos limitados. Estos métodos fueron diseñados para TESSA (Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-Based Assessment, en inglés) y permiten la evaluación comparativa de los servicios de polinización en los sitios de interés para la conservación y su estado alternativo más plausible (p. ej.: convertido a suelo agrícola). Aplicamos los métodos en una reserva natural del Reino Unido para estimar el valor de los servicios de polinización por insectos que proporciona la reserva. El valor económico de los servicios de polinización que proporciona la reserva varió desde US$6,163 a US$11,546 al año昆虫授粉服务的快速评估为决策提供依据 授粉者数量下降推动了评估土地利用变化如何影响农业景观中昆虫授粉者和授粉服务的研究工作。然而, 许多评估昆虫授粉服务的工具都需要大量景观尺度的数据和专业技术。我们通过专家研讨会开发了3种简单的方法(案头研究方法、野外调查和利用排除性实验的经验操作), 可用于快速评估研究站点的昆虫授粉情况, 为资源有限的非专业人员提供了一个适应性框架。我们的方法是为生态系统服务站点评估工具包(TESSA)设计的, 可以在具有保护意义的站点和其最合理的替代状态下(如转换为农业用地)对授粉服务进行比较评估。我们在英国一个自然保护区应用这些方法估计了该保护区提供的昆虫授粉服务的价值。结果显示, 保护区提供的授粉服务的经济价值从6,163美元/年到11,546美元/年不等。保护区如果转换为耕地, 则不能提供昆虫授粉服务, 而昆虫授粉作物的生产则可以提供的约1,542美元/年(24美元/公顷/年)的年净收益。我们的方法具有广泛的适用性, 可用于不同的昆虫授粉作物, 如油菜(Brassica napus)和蚕豆(Vicia faba)。以上方法都可以在低预算的情况下快速使用。需要资源较少但相对较不稳健的方法会得到更高的昆虫授粉年效益估计值。【翻译:胡怡思;审校:聂永刚】.

Agricultural intensification and associated loss of high‐quality habitats are key drivers of insect pollinator declines. With the aim of decreasing the environmental impact of agriculture, the 2014 EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) defined a set of habitat and landscape features (Ecological Focus Areas: EFAs) farmers could select from as a requirement to receive basic farm payments. To inform the post‐2020 CAP, we performed a European‐scale evaluation to determine how different EFA options vary in their potential to support insect pollinators under standard and pollinator‐friendly management, as well as the extent of farmer uptake.A structured Delphi elicitation process engaged 22 experts from 18 European countries to evaluate EFAs options. By considering life cycle requirements of key pollinating taxa (i.e. bumble bees, solitary bees and hoverflies), each option was evaluated for its potential to provide forage, bee nesting sites and hoverfly larval resources.EFA options varied substantially in the resources they were perceived to provide and their effectiveness varied geographically and temporally. For example, field margins provide relatively good forage throughout the season in Southern and Eastern Europe but lacked early‐season forage in Northern and Western Europe. Under standard management, no single EFA option achieved high scores across resource categories and a scarcity of late season forage was perceived.Experts identified substantial opportunities to improve habitat quality by adopting pollinator‐friendly management. Improving management alone was, however, unlikely to ensure that all pollinator resource requirements were met. Our analyses suggest that a combination of poor management, differences in the inherent pollinator habitat quality and uptake bias towards catch crops and nitrogen‐fixing crops severely limit the potential of EFAs to support pollinators in European agricultural landscapes. Policy Implications. To conserve pollinators and help protect pollination services, our expert elicitation highlights the need to create a variety of interconnected, well‐managed habitats that complement each other in the resources they offer. To achieve this the Common Agricultural Policy post‐2020 should take a holistic view to implementation that integrates the different delivery vehicles aimed at protecting biodiversity (e.g. enhanced conditionality, eco‐schemes and agri‐environment and climate measures). To improve habitat quality we recommend an effective monitoring framework with target‐orientated indicators and to facilitate the spatial targeting of options collaboration between land managers should be incentivised., To conserve pollinators and help protect pollination services, our expert elicitation highlights the need to create a variety of interconnected, well‐managed habitats that complement each other in the resources they offer. To achieve this the Common Agricultural Policy post‐2020 should take a holistic view to implementation that integrates the different delivery vehicles aimed at protecting biodiversity (e.g. enhanced conditionality, eco‐schemes and agri‐environment and climate measures). To improve habitat quality we recommend an effective monitoring framework with target‐orientated indicators and to facilitate the spatial targeting of options collaboration between land managers should be incentivised.

Insect-pollinated legumes are rich in plant-based proteins making them a vital constituent of sustainable healthy diets for people and livestock. Furthermore, they deliver or support a range of ecosystem services that underpin agricultural production and their prevalence in agricultural landscapes is likely to increase. Under typical implementation and management, the value of legumes to pollinators has, however, been questioned. Through exploring a range of legume crops, grown as monocultures and mixtures, this study aims to identify multifunctional legume cropping systems that optimise forage availability for a diversity of wild pollinators whilst delivering a wide range of agronomic and environmental benefits. This study innovatively explores legume mixtures concurrently with monocultures of the component species using replicated small-plot field trials established in two geographical locations. Observational plots assessed the richness and abundance of floral resources, and wild pollinators (i.e. bumblebees and hoverflies) throughout the peak flowering period. Densely flowering, highly profitable legumes (e.g. Trifolium incarnatum and Trifolium mixes) supported abundant and rich pollinator assemblages. The functional makeup of floral visitors was strongly influenced by flower structure and hoverflies, with their shorter proboscises, were largely constrained to legumes with shallower corolla and open weed species. Floral richness was not a key driver of pollinator assemblages; however, clear intra-specific differences were observed in flowering phenology. Combining functionally distinct legumes with respect to flower structure and phenology, will support a wider suite of pollinating insects and help stabilise the temporal availability of forage. For highly competitive legumes (e.g. Vicia faba and Vicia sativa), planting in discrete patches is recommended to reduce the risk of less competitive species failing in mixtures. Legumes can provide valuable forage for pollinators; however, they fail to meet all resource requirements. They should therefore be used in combination with agri-environmental measures targeted to promote early-season forage (e.g. hedgerows and farm woodlands), open flowers for hoverflies, saprophytic hoverfly larval resources (e.g. ditches and ponds) and nesting habitats (e.g. undisturbed field margins)., Graphical Abstract ga1, Highlights • Legumes play a central role in enhancing the sustainability of agricultural systems. • Densely flowering, resource rich legumes, support bumblebees and hoverflies. • Flowering phenology and accessibility of floral rewards influence visiting pollinators. • Targeted mixtures maintain a consistent supply of floral resources and support a wider suite of pollinators. • Legumes don’t provide all resources pollinators require and should be combined with other agri-environmental options.

Data availability statement: No data was used in this study. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/2688-8319.12032. Supporting Information: eso312032-sup-0001-SuppMat.docx (21.1 KB) available at: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1002%2F2688-8319.12032&file=eso312032-sup-0001-SuppMat.docx. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. Copyright © 2021 The Authors. 1. To be effective, the next generation of conservation practitioners and managers need to be critical thinkers with a deep understanding of how to make evidence-based decisions and of the value of evidence synthesis. 2. If, as educators, we do not make these priorities a core part of what we teach, we are failing to prepare our students to make an effective contribution to conservation practice. 3. To help overcome this problem we have created open access online teaching materials in multiple languages that are stored in Applied Ecology Resources. So far, 117 educators from 23 countries have acknowledged the importance of this and are already teaching or about to teach skills in appraising or using evidence in conservation decision-making. This includes 145 undergraduate, postgraduate or professional development courses. 4. We call for wider teaching of the tools and skills that facilitate evidence-based conservation and also suggest that providing online teaching materials in multiple languages could be beneficial for improving global understanding of other subject areas. Making informed conservation and ecosystem management choices is based upon a sound understanding of the relevant evidence. There is an increasing wealth of conservation science available, and access to this is becoming easier. But, are conservation practitioners being trained to utilize this information? In conservation, decision-making is often based upon past experience or expert knowledge, as opposed to the full body of scientific literature (e.g., Pullin, Knight, Stone, & Charman, 2004; Rafidimanantsoa, Poudyal, Ramamonjisoa, & Jones, 2018). The failure to include scientific evidence in decision-making has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of management, or even lead to detrimental actions being undertaken (Walsh, Dicks, & Sutherland, 2015). Evidence-based conservation (EBC) seeks to avoid this by providing tools to facilitate and inform decision-making. To do this, scientific evidence is collated and critically appraised for its quality and relevance, and integrated with other knowledge, experience, values and costs (Sutherland, Pullin, Dolman, & Knight, 2004). Wider adoption of EBC requires conservation professionals to be trained in its principles and taught how to use it to inform conservation decision-making. MAVA Foundation; Arcadia Fund.

Intensification of agriculture and associated loss of habitat heterogeneity is a key driver of global declines in insect pollinators. Pollinators utilise different habitats to meet resource requirements throughout their life-span and it is widely accepted that their conservation requires a landscape-scale approach. Information on the mechanisms driving insect pollinators at the landscape scale is, however, lacking. To fill this knowledge gap, this novel study explores how pollinators utilise different habitats within a landscape and how utilisation changes over the season. Floral resources and insect pollinators (i.e. bumblebee, butterflies and hoverflies) were monitored during peak pollinator activity periods on a wide range of agricultural and semi-natural habitats in an intensive grassland landscape. The availability of key foraging resources differed between semi-natural habitats and this was strongly linked to their utilisation by pollinators. Floral resources were most abundant and diverse in road verges, riparian buffer strips and open scrub. These were key habitats for butterflies, with road verges and buffer strips also being important for hoverflies and bumblebees. The relative value of semi-natural habitats in providing floral resources changed throughout the season. Pollinators appeared to respond to changes in key floral resources, dynamically using different semi-natural habitats to meet their requirements. Maintaining landscape heterogeneity and improving the quality of semi-natural habitats to ensure resource diversity and continuity is fundamental to pollinator conservation. Regionally targeting agri-environment spending could result in the simplification of agricultural landscapes with consequences on insect pollinators and biodiversity as a whole.

1.Sustainable intensification (SI) is a global challenge, aiming to increase food production whilst conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. This is contrary to the observed trend of agricultural intensification degrading environmental quality. We developed a framework integrating animal nutrition, crop yields, and biodiversity modelling to explore SI potential in multiple model dairy farming systems through varying crop composition to provide cattle feed rations. We then identified key drivers of biodiversity gain that may be applicable at a wider scale. 2.We developed multiple feed rations to meet the nutritional demands of a high-yielding, housed dairy herd. The land area required varied due to productivity and nutritional differences between crops, generating spare land. We used published biodiversity models to compare alpha- and beta-diversity of spiders and plants across 36 scenarios that used the spare land in different ways, for either biodiversity maximisation or additional production. 3.Alpha and beta-diversity for both taxa was greatest in scenarios that maximised spare land and utilised this for species-rich extensive grassland. However, commensurate biodiversity gains for plant alpha-diversity, and spider and plant beta-diversity (respectively 100%, 76% and 86% gain relative to that optimal scenario) were achievable when spare land was used for additional crop production. 4.Maximising compositional heterogeneity and adding complementary productive land uses to spared land were key to increasing production and beta-diversity, while adding species-rich productive land uses drove increasing production and alpha-diversity. 5.Synthesis and applications. This study indicates the potential for SI of dairy farming through manipulating feed rations to increase land-efficiency and spare land, which could then be used to enhance production and biodiversity. The optimum land composition depends on target goal(s) (e.g. maximising production and/or biodiversity). Greatest ‘win-wins’ were achieved through increasing land cover heterogeneity and selecting crops that complement each other in the species they support, highlighting the important role of heterogeneity in the crop matrix. Our study provides a framework that integrates production efficiency and biodiversity modelling to explore potential routes to achieve SI goals.

There is growing concern that the global decline of insect pollinators will adversely influence the stability of pollination in agricultural and terrestrial ecosystems. By enhancing habitat heterogeneity and ecological connectivity, riparian buffer strips have the potential to promote insect pollinators in intensively managed landscapes. Insect pollinators and flowering plants were investigated on a range of riparian margins, and their adjacent grassland fields, to determine the main physical and botanical attributes driving pollinator diversity. Irrespective of whether they were fenced or not, riparian margins had richer plant assemblages and supported more pollinators than grassland fields. While the erection of fences did not enhance the richness or diversity of flowers, fenced riparian buffer strips supported more even and diverse assemblages of bumblebees and a greater number of butterflies than unfenced riparian margins. More bumblebees and butterflies were recorded in wide buffer strips (i.e. over 5 m wide) than in unfenced margins or narrow buffer strips (i.e. ≤3.5 m wide) and butterfly assemblages in wide buffer strips were richer and more diverse. There was a strong positive relationship between floral resources and the abundance, richness and diversity of bumblebee and butterfly assemblages. Pollinators only foraged on a small number of the flower species present and impacts of fencing and buffer strip width could not solely be attributed to the area and/or species richness of flowers. Fenced riparian buffer strips, particularly when over 5 m wide, have the potential to provide resources for insect pollinators in intensively grazed systems. Management to enhance floristic diversity (to provide a more continuous supply of pollen and nectar) and tussock forming grasses (to provide shelter for pollinators and nesting locations for bumblebees) could further increase their value to insect pollinators. In grassland systems, restricted grazing is easier to implement than mowing. It is, however, important that grazing management does not unduly interfere with other ecosystem services derived from riparian buffer strips (e.g. diffuse pollution mitigation). Widespread fencing of watercourses at the catchment level could result in the simplification of these inherently dynamic and complex habitats. Buffer strips should therefore be strategically placed to optimise benefits such as ecological connectivity and diffuse pollution mitigation.

Riparian buffer strips provide a wide range of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes with benefits extending beyond those provided by non-riparian field margins. For example, in addition to enhancing the aesthetic value of the landscape and protecting biodiversity, riparian buffer strips also mitigate diffuse pollution and provide inputs to freshwater systems. Their multifunctional nature makes developing management prescriptions complex with the need to identify conflicts, interactions and synergies between the services offered. Here we explore how the placement, physical properties, management and vegetation structure influence the potential of riparian buffer strips to deliver a range of benefits. Under high nutrient loadings, buffer strips can become saturated and act as a source of pollutants, thus limiting their long-term effectiveness. Furthermore, in saturated buffer strips nitrification can increase greenhouse gas emissions. Buffers should not therefore be viewed as an end-of-pipe solution, but within a wider management framework that controls pollutants at the source. Furthermore, biomass removal (e.g. via mowing) can prevent nutrient saturation, increasing the longevity of buffer strips; such operations should, however, be carefully timed to reduce adverse impacts of disturbance on water quality and biodiversity. Wooded buffers can be less effective than grass buffers at intercepting sediments and sediment bound pollutants, but provide many benefits associated with mitigating the impacts of climate change (e.g. carbon capture and moderating aquatic temperatures). This highlights potential trade-offs between climate change and water quality objectives. Zoned buffers that combine strips of riparian woodland and grass, could therefore deliver benefits transcending these policy areas. With such buffers taking large areas of land out of production, they may not be financially sustainable, particularly in intensively managed catchments. In such catchments, to balance food production goals with other ecosystem services, vegetated and/or forested buffer strips, of variable width, should be selected based on objectives at the local or regional scale. Catchment scale initiatives that support a diversity of unbuffered watercourses, vegetated buffers and wooded buffers could help address conflicts between policy areas. Furthermore, with riparian ecosystems being naturally dynamic and diverse, restoring riverbank heterogeneity will also enhance biodiversity. Catchment management plans should take an integrative approach to spatially target the placement of buffer strips to where the greatest benefits can be derived. This review aims to inform environmental managers, regulators and practitioners on how the multifunctionality of riparian zones can be optimised through targeting management actions at the local and catchment scale.

Summary In Europe and North America, there is growing concern that biodiversity declines associated with agricultural intensification will adversely impact the functioning and sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. Enhancing habitat heterogeneity in agricultural landscapes promotes biodiversity and, whilst erecting fences adjacent to watercourses is widely advocated as a means of mitigating diffuse pollution, associated biodiversity benefits have been largely overlooked. A range of riparian margins and their adjacent grassland fields were investigated to determine the effects of riparian management on the diversity and functional structure of carabid assemblages. Carabid assemblages of fields and open margins (i.e. unfenced watercourses) were more diverse and species rich than those of fenced margins. The functional structure of carabid assemblages in fenced margins differed from grassland fields and open margins. This disparity was greater in wide margins (i.e. fences erected over 5·4 m from watercourses) than narrow margins (i.e. fences erected within 2·6 m of watercourses). Wide margins had the highest relative proportions of carabids which had pushing body forms, were flightless, very small in size and Collembola specialists. During early summer, wide margins also had the highest proportion of carabids that overwinter as adults. The taxonomic and functional structure of carabid assemblages was more sensitive for detecting impacts of agricultural management than measurements of diversity. It is likely that this also applies to other taxa, thus emphasising the need to consider a wide range of assemblage attributes when investigating agricultural impacts on biodiversity. Synthesis and applications. Fenced riparian margins, particularly those over 5·4 m wide, harbour carabids with poor dispersal ability which are vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. While lack of management benefits sedentary species, a wider range of taxa (e.g. pollinators, foraging birds and flowering plants) are enhanced by management to obtain a more open vegetation structure (e.g. restricted grazing or mowing). It is important that management practices are implemented at a sufficiently fine spatial scale to allow recolonisation of species with restricted dispersal from adjacent undisturbed habitats. Wide riparian margins have the potential to enhance taxonomic and functional diversity at the landscape scale. Management actions must, however, be carefully balanced to ensure that they promote a wide range of taxa without unduly interfering with the margin's ability to mitigate diffuse pollution.

1. Riparian field margins (i.e. fenced off areas adjacent to watercourses) are becoming widespread in the UK as a means of mitigating diffuse pollution in intensive grasslands. By providing additional habitats for wildlife, they can potentially enhance farmland biodiversity. This study examined a range of riparian margins to determine their impact on invertebrates. 2. Over a 4-year period, key invertebrates were monitored by pitfall traps at 69 riparian sites in south-west Scotland. Riparian margins were classified as open margins (i.e. no fence between the field and watercourse), narrow margins (fences erected within 2.6 m of the watercourse) and wide margins (fences erected over 5 m from the watercourse). Pitfall transects were established at each site in the margin and field. 3. Generalised Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) were used to model the influence of riparian management and vegetation height on invertebrate activity density. Riparian margins closed to livestock (i.e. wide and narrow margins) had the highest activity densities of Hemiptera, Opiliones, Symphyta larvae and Arionidae, and this could not solely be attributed to differences in vegetation height. For most invertebrate groups, activity density did not differ between wide and narrow margins. Only Linyphiidae, predatory coleopteran larvae and Lumbricidae had higher activity densities in the fields than adjacent riparian margins. 4. The erection of fences along watercourses creates habitat heterogeneity in intensively managed grasslands resulting in enhanced invertebrate populations and thus potentially more prey for foliage gleaning birds. Although margin width did not have a significant influence on invertebrate activity density, wider margins provide a greater area of semi-natural habitat.

The Scottish uplands consist of a variety of semi-natural habitats of high nature value that are typically managed by extensive livestock grazing. However, as a result of the decoupling of financial subsidies from production in the recent Common Agricultural Policy reform, sheep numbers in the uplands have significantly declined and there is concern that the conservation value of these habitats is at risk. A large-scale experiment that manipulated sheep grazing management provided an excellent opportunity to examine the influence of fine-scale habitat characteristics on invertebrate assemblages. A Geographical Information System was used to extract habitat data at four spatial scales ranging from 0.25 m to 5.0 m in ellipses around pitfall transects. Multivariate analyses were applied to determine the most appropriate spatial scale and the primary habitat characteristics influencing three categories of invertebrates (i.e., mobile arthropods, immobile invertebrates and carabid beetles). Sites that were grazed year-round, and thus more intensively, were associated with smaller mobile arthropods (e.g., money spiders), tipulid larvae and earthworms, while sites that were grazed during summer months only were associated with larger mobile arthropods (e.g., wolf spiders and Carabus beetles) and sawfly and lepidopteran larvae. Grazing regime and the area of fine and broad-leaved grasses were found to influence all three groups of invertebrates at a range of spatial scales, thus indicating the importance of these variables in predicting assemblage structure. The optimum spatial scale at which to collect associated habitat information was from within 0.25 m for immobile invertebrates, and from within 3 m for mobile arthropods and carabids. This supports the hypothesis that immobile invertebrates react to their surrounding habitat at a finer spatial scale than mobile invertebrates and draws into question the effectiveness of collecting habitat information from directly adjacent to the pitfall traps when studying mobile arthropods.

The use of riparian buffer strips as a means of reducing diffuse pollution in European grassland systems is becoming more common and consequently there is a need for comprehensive research on the influence of buffer strip management, placement and structure on biodiversity. Carabid assemblages were examined in a range of riparian zones in intensively managed grassland in Scotland. Carabids were monitored by pitfall trapping in riparian zones open to grazing, wide riparian buffer strips (>5 m wide), narrow boundary strips (

Grassland conservation headlands were established on intensively managed grassland fields on four farms in Scotland. Vegetation composition and structure, invertebrate activity density (as measured by pitfall trapping), ground beetle assemblage structure and bird utilisation in these grassland conservation headlands were compared with conventional headlands (i.e. areas of headland managed as per the rest of each field). Increased activity densities of Arionidae slugs, heteropteran bugs and homopteran bugs were recorded in the grassland conservation headlands when compared to the conventional headlands. Despite an increase in potential prey, very few birds were observed in the study fields, and the grassland conservation headlands were no richer in birds than the conventional headlands. The vegetation of the grassland conservation headlands was longer and denser than the conventional headland. Hence, while the activity density of potential prey was greater in the conservation headlands, accessibility to prey and foraging conditions for birds may have been poorer. While there was evidence that the ground beetle Nebria brevicollis utilised the grassland conservation headland as a summer aestivating site, the activity density of ground beetles in general was found to be lower in the conservation headlands than the conventional headlands. For grassland conservation headlands to reach their full potential, it is suggested that additional measures are taken to open the vegetation structure of such headlands.

Multivariate techniques were used to compare and contrast the effects of land cover and farming practice on ground beetle and spider assemblages of Scottish farmland. For both ground beetles and spiders, the ordination and fuzzy clustering of sites were related to land cover rather than geographical location or year of sampling. The same four types of land cover group were identified: that is, heather moorland, semi-natural grassland, intensive grassland and arable land. The robustness of these land cover groups was tested using previously unsampled sites and it was found that 79 and 86% of sites, for ground beetle and spider assemblages respectively, were allocated to the land cover group predicted from their actual land cover. Furthermore, procrustes rotational analysis found a strong relationship between ground beetle and spider assemblages in intensively managed sites, suggesting that the assemblage structure of one group could be used to predict that of the other. The observed relationship between spider and ground beetle assemblages does not necessarily indicate that both groups were responding to agricultural practices in the same way. Indeed, the highest number of beetle species occurred in intensively managed grassland and arable sites while the highest number of spider species occurred in semi-natural grassland and heather sites. When conducting ecological assessments, one might wish to collect information on a wide range of ecologically different taxa; however, financial constraints make this unfeasible. From the results it could be concluded that spiders should be chosen in preference to ground beetles when seeking to make predictions on how farming practices influence invertebrates. However, such a conclusion would be premature since not only were spiders more numerous in the traps, but they were also more time consuming to process. In addition, the strong relationship found between the spider and ground beetle assemblages further justifies carabids as a target group when monitoring the influence of farming practices on biodiversity.

Summary 1. There is continuing debate about the impact of agricultural practices on farmland wildlife. In particular, it has been postulated that a general decline in insect abundance linked with intensification of agriculture may have contributed to farmland bird decline. While some autecological studies have supported this hypothesis, larger-scale and longterm studies are needed. 2. Suction traps mounted on 12·2-m towers (Rothamsted-type) have been sampling aerial insects for nearly 40 years throughout the UK. Their catches are correlated over large spatial scales. We analysed insect catch data from a single suction trap run for 27 years in a rural location in Scotland, and showed that insect numbers have changed significantly over time, although non-linearly. The multivariate data set (numbers from the 12 common arthropod groups) was summarized using principal components analysis (PCA) to extract three components explaining 62% of the variation. 3. We also used PCA to describe agricultural change, using published agricultural data for eight measures of farming in Scotland. Arthropod abundance and principal component (PC) scores were significantly related to the agricultural PC scores as well to summary climatic measures. 4. Using Scottish data from the British Trust for Ornithology Common Birds Census, we extracted three PC to describe the time-dependent average densities of 15 common farmland birds in Scotland. Measures of bird density were significantly related to insect abundance and PC scores and, independently, to measures of agriculture and climate. 5. These data from a broad suite of species provide support for linked temporal change between farmland birds, invertebrate numbers and agricultural practice in Scotland. Although entirely correlative, the results are consistent with the view that agricultural change has influenced birds through changes in food quality or quantity. The work also shows how large-scale invertebrate sampling, in this case using suction traps, is useful for monitoring farmland biodiversity.

The recent United Kingdom ban on the disposal of sewage sludge at sea has led to the prediction that land application of sludge will become more widespread. The positive aspect of recycling nutrients may, however, be offset by the risk of contamination by heavy metals that are frequently present in sludge. The environmental impact of applying metal-rich sewage sludge to agricultural land was, therefore, assessed using Collembola. A combination of pitfall trapping and suction sampling was used to monitor epigeal/hemiedaphic Collembola on a small plot field trial in the west of Scotland. Four sludge treatments were investigated: cadmium-rich sludge, zinc-rich sludge, uncontaminated sludge and a no-sludge control. It was found that the abundance of Lepidocyrtus cyaneus Tullberg and Isotoma viridis Bourlet was significantly lower in plots receiving cadmium-rich sludge than those receiving uncontaminated sludge. Isotoma anglicana Lubbock was not influenced by the presence of metals in sludge and Isotomurus palustris (Muller) was actually favoured by the application of metal-rich sludge. Other aspects of collembolan ecology, and the efficiency of the two sampling methods, are also discussed.

This is a long-term study that investigates the dynamics of a population of Rattus norvegicus (Berk) inhabiting a sewerage system in London. Thirteen years (1986/7–1998/9) of data from sewer baiting records were analysed (a total of 35478 records). Manholes were baited with the anticoagulant Brodifacoum (0·005%) on a pinhead oatmeal bait base. Time series analysis was conducted on the data set to determine the underlying trend of the data and the population fluctuations about this trend. An exponential curve was found to give an accurate and realistic fit to the data and indicated that the rat population had decreased over the study period. Decomposition analysis indicated a 5-year cycle best described fluctuations around this trend.

As a result of the European Community Common Agricultural Policy reform in 2005 it is predicted that livestock grazing in the Scottish uplands will become less intensive. At each of two upland research centres, two large (>40ha) plots were established to investigate the relationship between grazing intensity in the Scottish uplands and biodiversity. One plot was grazed intensively by sheep while the otherwas grazed extensively. Ground beetleswere sampled by pitfall trapping to determine the influence of grazing pressure on the ecologicalmake-up of ground beetle assemblages. Grazing intensity did not significantly influence carabid diversity. However, grazing intensity, altitude and moisture did influence the carabid ecological assemblage structure at both locations. Large flightless Carabus species were more abundant in extensively managed plots than intensively managed plots at both locations. It is likely that these long-living, relatively immobile beetles were favoured by the greater stability of the vegetation structure in the extensively grazed plots. Monitoring the ecological assemblage structure provides a more sensitive approach than diversity indices when comparing the impact of grazing and agricultural management but is also robust enough to allow direct comparisons between different geographical locations.