At what spatial scale do high-quality habitats enhance the diversity of forbs and pollinators in intensively farmed landscapes?

Over the last decades, biodiversity in agricultural landscapes has declined drastically. Initiatives to enhance biodiversity, such as agri-environment schemes, often have little effect, especially in intensively farmed landscapes. The effectiveness of conservation management may be improved by scheme implementation near high-quality habitats that can act as a source of species. We evaluated up to what distance high-quality habitats (nature reserves and artificially created flower-rich patches) affect the diversity of forbs and pollinators in intensively farmed landscapes of the Netherlands.

At what spatial scale does natural selection operate? Using multiscale frameworks to calibrate the effects of environmental factors across landscape continuums