Relationship between local management practices and landscape complexity on ecosystem services: A review

Conventional agricultural practices are one of the main drivers of landscape simplification and biodiversity loss. These practices have negative consequences on ecosystem services, including biological pest control and pollination. Ecosystem services are influenced by local management practices, surrounding landscapes, and their interactions. Studies have shown local management practices, like floral strips and organic farming, can enhance ecosystem services. Landscape complexity surrounding the farm is also important. The intermediate landscape complexity hypothesis states that local management practices are most effective at enhancing ecosystem services in intermediate (neither fully agricultural nor natural) landscapes. However, studies have produced inconsistent results, with some local practices being most effective in intermediate landscapes, others in complex landscapes, and others still showing no differences.

The objective of this review is to synthesize studies on the impacts of local management and landscape complexity on ecosystem services. We recorded whether local practices, landscape gradients, and their interaction had a positive, negative, or non-significant effect on arthropod biodiversity and ecosystem services. Our results showed that local and landscape factors as well as their interaction had mostly non-significant effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. For both the local and landscape scales, management has positive effects more often than negative ones, implying that increasing complexity is generally advantageous. By implementing practices that support arthropods and ecosystem services, agroecosystems can improve pollination and biological pest control, resulting in benefits such as reduced pesticide use and greater biodiversity.