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<font size=2>Woodcock, B. A., et al. (2014). "National patterns of
functional diversity and redundancy in predatory ground beetles and bees
associated with key UK arable crops." <u>Journal of Applied
Ecology</u> <b>51</b>(1): 142-151.<br>
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Invertebrates supporting natural pest control and pollination ecosystem
services are crucial to world-wide crop production. Understanding
national patterns in the spatial structure of natural pest control and
pollination can be used to promote effective crop management and
contribute to long-term food security. <br>
<dd>* We mapped the species richness and functional diversity of ground
beetles and bees to provide surrogate measures of natural pest control
and pollination for Great Britain. Functional diversity represents the
value and range of morphological and behavioural traits that support
ecosystem services. We modelled the rate at which functional diversity
collapsed in response to species extinctions to provide an index of
functional redundancy. <br>
<dd>* Deficits in functional diversity for both pest control and
pollination were found in areas of high arable crop production. Ground
beetle functional redundancy was positively correlated with the landscape
cover of semi-natural habitats where extinctions were ordered by body
size and dispersal ability. For bees, functional redundancy showed a weak
positive correlation with semi-natural habitat cover where species
extinctions were ordered by feeding specialization. <br>
<dd>* Synthesis and applications. Increasingly, evidence suggests that
functionally diverse assemblages of ground beetles and bees may be a key
element to strategies that aim to support pollination and natural pest
control in crops. If deficits in both functional diversity and redundancy
in areas of high crop production are to be reversed, then targeted
implementation of agri-environment schemes that establish semi-natural
habitat may provide a policy mechanism for supporting these ecosystem
services.<br><br>
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