TY - GEN A1 - Tschumi, Matthias A1 - Ekroos, Johan A1 - Hjort, Cecilia A1 - Smith, Henrik G. A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus T1 - Predation‐mediated ecosystem services and disservices in agricultural landscapes T2 - Ecological Applications Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1799 SN - 1939-5582 VL - 28 IS - 8 SP - 2109 EP - 2118 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Tschumi, Matthias A1 - Ekroos, Johan A1 - Hjort, Cecilia A1 - Smith, Henrik G. A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus T1 - Rodents, not birds, dominate predation-related ecosystem services and disservices in vertebrate communities of agricultural landscapes T2 - Oecologia N2 - To understand the relationship between conservation measures and agricultural yields, we need to know the contributions of organisms to both ecosystem services and disservices. We studied the activity and contribution of birds and mammals to intermediate ecosystem services (predation of weed seeds or invertebrate pests) and disservices (predation of crop seeds or beneficial invertebrates) in southern Sweden between June and November 2016. We measured seed and invertebrate predation rates using trays placed in front of 32 wildlife cameras in 16 cereal fields with a local habitat contrast (8 fields adjacent to another crop field and 8 fields adjacent to a semi-natural grassland) and along a landscape heterogeneity gradient (amount of semi-natural grassland). Both activity and predation were dominated by small mammals (mainly rodents), yet only a few species contributed to predation services and disservices according to camera records. Small mammal activity and predation varied considerably over time. Small mammal activity was significantly higher at trays with crop seeds or beneficial invertebrate prey compared to trays with pest prey, and crop seed predation by small mammals was significantly higher than weed seed predation. In contrast, bird activity and predation did not differ significantly between resource types, but varied over time depending on the habitat contrast. Predation of animal prey by birds was highest after cereal harvest, independent of habitat contrast. Our study highlights that birds and in particular rodents provide important intermediate ecosystem services, but also disservices, which fluctuate strongly in intensity over time. KW - Biological control; Predators; Semi-natural grasslands; Weed control; Wildlife cameras Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4242-z SN - 0029-8549 SN - 1432-1939 VL - 188 IS - 3 SP - 863 EP - 873 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Tschumi, Matthias A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Blasiusson, Sandra A1 - Jörgensen, Martin A1 - Smith, Henrik G. A1 - Ekroos, Johan T1 - Woody elements benefit bird diversity to a larger extent thansemi-natural grasslands in cereal-dominated landscapes T2 - Basic and Applied Ecology N2 - Increasing landscape complexity can mitigate negative effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity by offeringresources complementary to those provided in arablefields. In particular, grazed semi-natural grasslands and woody elementssupport farmland birds, but little is known about their relative effects on bird diversity and community composition. In addition,the relative importance of local habitat versus landscape composition remains unclear. We investigated how the presence ofsemi-natural grasslands, the number of woody elements and the composition of the wider agricultural landscape affect bird spe-cies richness, true diversity (exponential Shannon diversity) and species composition. Bird communities were surveyed fourtimes on 16 paired transects of 250 m each with 8 transects placed between a cropfield and a semi-natural grassland and 8transects between two cropfields with no semi-natural grasslands in the vicinity. The number of woody elements around trans-ects was selected as an important predictor in all models, having a positive effect on species richness and true diversity, whilethe local presence of semi-natural grasslands was not selected in the best models. However, species richness and true diversityincreased with increasing cover of ley and semi-natural grasslands, whereas species composition was modified by the coverageof winter wheat at the landscape scale. Furthermore, bird species richness, true diversity and species composition differedbetween sampling dates. As bird diversity benefited from woody elements, rather than from the local presence of semi-naturalgrasslands as such, it is important to maintain woody structures in farmland. However, the positive effect of grassland at thelandscape scale highlights the importance of habitat variability at multiple scales. Because species richness and true diversitywere affected by different landscape components compared to species composition, a mosaic of land-use types is needed toachieve multiple conservation goals across agricultural landscapes. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.03.005 SN - 1439-1791 VL - 46 SP - 15 EP - 23 ER -