These are the data sets associated with our publication "Semi-natural wildflower-strip field borders provide winter refuge for pest natural enemies: a case study on organic farms." For this project, we compared the communities of overwintering arthropod natural enemies in organic cultivated fields and wildflower-strip field borders at five different sites in central Illinois.
Abstract:
Strips of wildflowers along field borders are frequently used in midwestern U.S. sustainable agriculture. These properties help diversify otherwise monocultural landscapes and provision them with ecosystem services, including biological control. Predatory and parasitic arthropods (i.e., natural enemies) often flourish in these habitats and will move into crops to help control pests. However, the capacity of wildflower strips for providing overwintering refuge for these arthropods is poorly understood. In this study, we used soil emergence tents to characterize natural enemy communities overwintering in cultivated organic crop fields and adjacent wildflower strip field borders. We found a greater abundance and species richness, and a unique community composition, of predatory and parasitic arthropods in wildflower strips compared to arable crop fields. These results demonstrate that semi-natural habitats such as wildflower strips can be important for maintaining natural enemies in agricultural landscapes.