arthropods; cherry trees; habitat fragmentation; landscape ecology; pest control; pollination; Prunus avium; spatial ecology
Schüepp C. Herzog F. Entling M. (2014), Disentangling multiple drivers of pollination in a landscape-scale experiment, in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B , 281, 20132667.
Coudrain V., Schüepp C., Herzog F., Albrecht M., Entling M. (2014), Habitat amount modulates the effect of patch isolation on host-parasitoid interactions., in
Frontiers in Environmental Science , 2(27), 1-8.
Schüepp C., Uzmann D., Herzog F., Entling M. (2014), Habitat isolation affects plant-herbivore-enemy interactions on cherry trees, in
Biological Control , 71, 56-64.
Herzog F. Schüepp C. (2013), Are land sparing and land sharing real alternatives for European agricultural landscapes?, in
Rethinking Agricultural Systems in the UK. Aspects of Applied Biology 121, 109 - 116, Warwick.
Coudrain V. Herzog F. Entling M.H. (2013), Effects of habitat fragmentation on abundance, larval food and parasitism of a spider-hunting wasp, in
PLOS One , 8, e59286.
Garibaldi LA Steffan-Dewenter I Winfree R Aizen M A Bommarco R Cunningham S A Kremen C Carval (2013), Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey bee abundance, in
Science , 339, 1608-1611.
Herrmann J.D. Kormann U. Schüepp C. Stocker Y. Herzog F. Entling M.H. (2012), Effects of habitat isolation and predation pressure on an arboreal food-web, in
Community Ecology, 13, 82-87.
Bucher R & Entling MH (2011), Contrasting effects of habitat fragmentation, population density, and prey availability on body condition of two orb-weaving spiders, in
Bucher R & Entling MH , 65, 680-685.
Schuepp C. Herrmann J.D. Herzog F. Schmidt-Entling M.H. (2011), Differential effects of habitat isolation and landscape composition on wasps, bees, and their enemies, in
Oecologia , 165, 111-117.
Stutz S. Schmidt-Entling M.H. (2011), The landscape context of aphid-ant-predator interactions on cherry trees, in
Biological Control , 57, 37-43.
Bucher R. Herrmann J.D. Schüepp C. Herzog F. Schmidt-Entling M.H. (2010), Arthropod Colonisation of Trees in Fragmented Landscapes Depends on Species Traits, in
Open Ecoloy Journal , 3, 111-117.
Bailey D. Schmidt-Entling M.H. Eberhard P. Herrmann J.D. Hofer G. Kormann U. Herzog F. (2010), Effects of habitat amount and isolation on biodiversity in fragmented traditional orchards, in
Journal of Applied Ecology , 47, 1003-1013.
Herrmann J.D. Bailey D. Hofer G. Herzog F. Schmidt-Entling M.H. (2010), Spiders associated with the meadow and tree canopies or orchards respond differently to habitat fragmentation, in
Landscape Ecology , 25, 1375-1384.
Mühlner S. Kormann U. Schmidt-Entling M. H. Herzog F. Bailey D. (2010), Structural versus functional habitat connectivity measures to explain bird diversity in fragmented orchards, in
Journal of Landscape Ecology , 3, 52-63.
The loss and fragmentation of semi-natural habitats are a major threat to biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, with potential negative consequences for the biological control of pest insects and pollination of crop plants. As habitat loss and fragmentation usually occur together, most existing studies have examined only their combined effect. While habitat loss usually has large, consistently negative effects on biodiversity, the effect of fragmentation per se is little known. Habitat isolation, expressed as the distance to neighbouring habitat patches, is one aspect of habitat fragmentation that is expected to reduce biodiversity. Habitat loss can be expressed as the change of landscape composition, i.e. the reduction of the share of a landscape covered by suitable habitat. The proposed study differentiates between the effect of habitat isolation and landscape composition on biodiversity, pollination and pest control. In the first field season of the FRAGMENT project in 2007, we studied biodiversity in existing late-successional apple orchards. The results suggested that variation in management and patch size have partly blurred effects of habitat isolation and landscape composition. Therefore, we planted groups of young cherry trees as standardised habitat patches in 2008, which will be the study sites for the proposed project phase. The trees and the surrounding ground vegetation are managed in a standardised manner until the end of 2012. Thirty groups of seven trees were established along a gradient of landscape composition. The percentage of woody habitats ranges from 3.6 to 74.2% within 500 m radius around the sites. Independent of this gradient in landscape composition, the study sites have three levels of habitat isolation: Ten of the sites are located at the edge of dense and tall-growing forest to represent no isolation from native habitat (Fig. 1a). Another 10 sites are connected to small-sized woody habitats such as hedgerows or single trees (Fig. 1b). The remaining 10 sites are isolated from any woody habitat by at least 100 m distance (Fig. 1c). Diversity, density and parasitism of arthropods will be recorded and analysed with respect to habitat isolation and landscape composition. In addition, experiments will be conducted in the field to quantify the influence of predators and parasitoids on black cherry aphids (Homoptera: Aphididae). Further, we will study flower visitation and pollination success of the cherry trees. The two ecosystem services aphid control and pollination will be analysed with respect to habitat isolation and landscape composition. As the planted cherry trees will be followed over five years, we will be able to test the influence of habitat age on effects of habitat isolation and landscape composition.