תוצאות חיפוש: מאמר

Land sharing strategies in agricultural landscapes need to allow for organisms to move between natural areas and different crops within an agro-ecological landscape in order to reduce extinction probability and the negative effects of small isolated populations. In this study, it was tested whether legume or wheat fields differed in their effects on reptiles’ movement patterns.

Habitat loss reduces species diversity, but the effect of habitat fragmentation on number of species is less clear because fragmentation generally accompanies loss of habitat. They compared four methods that aim to decouple the effects of fragmentation from the effects of habitat loss.

There is compelling evidence that more diverse ecosystems deliver greater benefits to people, and these ecosystem services have become a key argument for biodiversity conservation. However, it is unclear how much biodiversity is needed to deliver ecosystem services in a cost-effective way. Here they show that, while the contribution of wild bees to crop production is significant, service delivery is restricted to a limited subset of all known bee species. 

We studied the diet of 20 Barn Owl (Tyto alba) pairs breeding in three habitats (alfalfa fields, date plantations, and villages) in the same agricultural region in the Jordan Valley, Israel.

Insect pollination is essential for almond production, and most growers rely exclusively on honeybees for pollination. However, the number of honeybee hives has declined drastically over the last few decades and their efficiency in pollinating almond might be limited. Wild bee communities inhabiting the habitats surrounding almond orchards may provide significant pollination services to almond, but this has yet to be studied. 

It was tested how natural and semi-natural habitats surrounding almond orchards in Israel influence: pest control services by parasitoids, pest predation dis-services by the Almond wasp, and seed predation dis-services by granivorous birds.

Complementarity between species in the use of flower resources can enhance the pollination services of diverse pollinator communities. To test for complementarity, they studied fine-scale patterns of flower visitation and contribution to seed set of the three locally dominant bee species, visiting confection, sunflower in central Israel.

Loss and fragmentation of foraging habitats, and extreme seasonality in the flowering phenology of wild plants, limit honeybee populations in Israel. This problem can be alleviated by the planting of bee forage plants in forests, parks, and along roadsides. To provide recommendations for such planting, they combined a literature survey and qualitative evaluations of experts to compile a list of 266 local wild plant species that have high food potential for bees.

We develop an empirical framework for evaluating the profitability of the use of barn owls to control rodent populations by locating nesting boxes in agricultural areas. Barn owls’ behavior is incorporated into the analysis by estimated functions that relate agricultural production to the birds’ spatial patterns of hunting and nesting choices. The model was developed based on agricultural and zoological data collected in a kibbutz in northern Israel.