Optimisation of flowering fields for plant and insect diversity (BlüDiv)
Flowering fields are a popular scheme for ecological reassessment of agricultural land. Many studies report about their ecological use compared to other agricultural structures. However, little is known about the comparison between different arrangement methods. The project BlüDiv is comparing different arrangement methods of flowering fields with focus on the optimization of plant and insect diversity.
In two regions of Bavaria (Upper Bavaria and Upper Palatinate) on ten agricultural fields, five different arrangement methods and two mowing frequencies (no mowing / mowing once a year) are established. The studied arrangement methods are (i) a new seed mixture (considering ecological criteria) consisting of seeds with regional provenance, (ii) a commercially available seed mixture (KULAP), (iii) transfer of mowing material from a close by species rich grassland, (iv) a perennial fallow and (v) an extensively used crop with half seed density. Furthermore, a randomized-stratified experiment, with the same method variations, is carried out on the experimental station Roggenstein of the TUM to estimate neighbouring effects. Within these two experiments, the diversity of plants and insects is recorded and quantitatively, statistically evaluated. These results will help to compare and optimize flowering fields on a conservational basis.
Responsible team member: Franziska Mück
In Kooperation mit: Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt (LfU)