Diversity of flower-visiting bees in cereal fields: effects of farming system, landscape composition and regional context

1. Agri-environment schemes promote organic farming in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of agricultural intensification on farmland biodiversity and ecosystem services such as pollination. Farming system, landscape context and regional differences may all influence biodiversity, but their relative impact and possible interactions have been little explored. 2. The study was performed in three regions (150 km apart, 400-500 km(2) per region) differing in land use intensity. Within each region, seven pairs of conventionally and organically cultivated wheat fields (mean size 4 ha, 42 study fields) were selected to encompass a gradient from heterogeneous to homogeneous landscapes within a 1-km radius around each field. 3. Farming system had the greatest influence on biodiversity. Higher bee diversity, flower cover and diversity of flowering plants were recorded in organic compared with conventional fields. Bee diversity was related both to flower cover and diversity of flowering plants, suggesting plant-mediated effects of the farming system. 4. Differences in bee diversity between organic and conventional fields increased with the proportion of arable crops in the surrounding landscape, indicating that processes at the landscape level modified the effectiveness of organic farming in promoting biodiversity. Similar patterns for flower cover and diversity of flowering plants suggested that landscape effects on bee diversity were mainly resource-mediated. After statistically removing the variance explained by flower parameters, residual bee diversity increased with increasing landscape heterogeneity. 5. Bee diversity differed between the three regions, but the effects of farming systems and landscape context were independent of regional differences. 6. Synthesis and applications. Bee diversity in wheat fields was mainly influenced by farming system, but an understanding of local bee diversity needs to incorporate both landscape and regional perspectives. The consistency of the results in three regions provides a reliable basis for management decisions. Agri-environment schemes that promote organic farming in homogeneous landscapes where there are few remaining flower-rich habitats could have the highest relative impact. However, while organic farming could help to sustain pollination services by generalist bees in agricultural landscapes, other measures are required to conserve more specialized bee species in semi-natural habitats.