DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dz08kps99
title: Floral resource strips enhance parasitoid abundance and diversity in apple orchards and promote agroecological advances in a South African biosphere reserve

description: Agricultural intensification drives insect declines, including those of
 parasitoids, through landscape simplification and extensive use of
 synthetic pesticides. Spatially heterogeneous agricultural landscapes are
 potentially important biodiversity reservoirs where non-crop habitats may
 support populations providing ecosystem services to farming. However,
 there is a need to find methods to support this transition to more
 sustainable farming and support the progressive concept of biosphere
 reserves. We focus here on the relationship between apple orchards and
 sclerophyllous natural fynbos vegetation in the megadiverse Kogelberg
 Biosphere Reserve, Cape Floristic Region, South Africa.  We
 established patches of floral resources within apple orchards, which are
 embedded in landscapes, equivalent to the transition zone of the KBR, with
 varying proportions of natural habitat in a 500 m radius around orchards.
 We assessed the role of these enhanced floral resources for supporting
 parasitoid abundance, species richness, and diversity inside orchards, and
 compared these metrics to those in ruderal vegetation around orchards and
 in nearby natural vegetation. Further, we assessed the effect of
 semi-natural vegetation in the surrounding landscape mosaic on parasitoids
 in orchards. Floral enhancement improved parasitoid abundance and
 influenced assemblage composition within apple orchards. However, non-crop
 ruderal habitat immediately adjacent to orchards supported greater
 abundance and richness of parasitoid species, while natural fynbos
 supported even richer parasitoid assemblages. Vegetation within orchards
 and landscape complexity enhanced parasitoid assemblages inside and
 surrounding the orchards. Our study shows that increasing floral resources
 within orchards improves local diversity of parasitoids within
 agroecosystems in the Biosphere Reserve. In doing so, this improves levels
 of biodiversity and increases parasitoid richness within the biosphere
 transition zone, supporting a shift from conventional production to a more
 biodiversity-friendly agroecological approach.
description: # Floral resource strips enhance parasitoid abundance and diversity in
 apple orchards and promote agroecological advances in a South African
 biosphere reserve Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.dz08kps99](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dz08kps99) ##
 Description of the data and file structure Associated data files for:
 Ratto et al (2025) Floral resource strips enhance parasitoid abundance and
 diversity in apple orchards and promote agroecological advances in a South
 African biosphere reserve Metadata for NE.csv file Column Entry Value Unit
 Explanatation Remark A Sample Numerical pan trap number B Round
 Categorical "First round (A), Second round (B)" C Habitat
 wrow-noncrop-nat wrow= workrow between tree lines; non-crop= non planted
 area surroding the orchard; nat = fynbos in the wider surrouding D
 Position 1-3-blank "1=close to egde, 3=40m into the orchard" (NA
 = not applicable as it does not apply to areas outside the orchards,
 i.e.non-crop and fynbos) E Flowers Simple-Diverse-Control "Simple =
 floral treatment plot planted with Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima);
 Diverse = floral treatment plot planted with a mixture of 11 different
 flower species, Control = no planting " (NA = not applicable as it
 does not apply to areas outside the orchards, i.e.non-crop and fynbos) F
 Farm Categorical Experimental Farm name G Orchard Categorical Experimental
 Orchard code multiple orchards belonged to the same farm H Landscape
 Low-Medium-High "% of nartural habitat within 1km of the orchard (low
 = &lt;20%, Medium = 30-40%, High = &gt;50%)" (NA = not applicable as
 it does not apply to areas outside the orchards, i.e.non-crop and fynbos)
 I Landscape3 Proportion Proportion of natural habitat within 1km of the
 orchard (NA = not applicable as it does not apply to areas outside the
 orchards, i.e.non-crop and fynbos) J FloralArea Numerical m2 total floral
 area of each planted plot, (NA = not applicable as it does not apply to
 areas outside the orchards, i.e.non-crop and fynbos) K SPRich Numerical
 Species richness L Ab Numerical species abundance M Shannon Numerical
 Shannon index N Simpson Numerical Simpson index Ratto et al (2025) Floral
 resource strips enhance parasitoid abundance and diversity in apple
 orchards and promote agroecological advances in a South African biosphere
 reserve Metadata for par_commspecies_env.xlsx; par_pestenemies_env.xlsx;
 par_common_work_env.xlsx Column Entry Value Unit Explanatation Remark A
 Sample Numerical pan trap number B Habitat Categorical "Workrow =
 data collected from pan traps positioned within the orchards (workrow),
 Non-crop area = data collected from pan traps positioned in the non-crop
 vegetation surrounding the orchards" C Position Categorical "1 =
 pan trap positioned close to the orchard's edge, 3 = pan trap
 positioned inside the orchard (circa 40m). This only applies for pan traps
 within the orchard" (NA = not applicable as it does not apply to
 areas outside the orchards, i.e.non-crop and fynbos) J FloralArea
 Numerical m2 total floral area of each planted plot. (NA = not applicable
 as it does not apply to areas outside the orchards, i.e.non-crop and
 fynbos) D Flower Simple-Diverse-Control "Simple = floral treatment
 plot planted with Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima); Diverse = floral
 treatment plot planted with a mixture of 11 different flower species,
 Control = no planting " (NA = not applicable as it does not apply to
 areas outside the orchards, i.e.non-crop and fynbos) E Farm Categorical
 Experimental Farm name G Land500 Proportion Proportion of natural habitat
 within 500m of the orchard (NA = not applicable as it does not apply to
 areas outside the orchards, i.e.non-crop and fynbos) H Land500cat
 Low-Medium-High "% of nartural habitat within 500m of the orchard
 (low = &lt;20%, Medium = 30-40%, High = &gt;50%)" (NA = not
 applicable as it does not apply to areas outside the orchards,
 i.e.non-crop and fynbos) Ratto et al (2025) Floral resource strips enhance
 parasitoid abundance and diversity in apple orchards and promote
 agroecological advances in a South African biosphere reserve Metadata for
 par_fam_pestenemies_Ordination.xlsx; par_sp_Ordination_commonspecies.xlsx;
 par_sp_common_work_Ordination..xlsx Each column nane represent a unique
 identified species