DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dbrv15f7p
title: Taxon-specific response of natural enemies to different flower strip mixtures

description: Flower strips are a prominent agri-environmental scheme with the central
 objective of promoting biodiversity and maintaining associated ecosystem
 services. The promotion of natural enemies by increasing resource
 availability through flower strips is a promising approach for integrated
 pest management. In a three-year field study, two annual and two perennial
 flower strip mixtures, as well as a grass mixture, were tested regarding
 their attractiveness for natural enemies at three different study sites in
 Germany. Natural enemies were sampled annually in nine sampling rounds at
 a ten-day rhythm using sweep netting and pitfall traps. To assess
 available floral resources, we estimated the species-specific flower cover
 and classified species into flower types. Flower strip mixtures differed
 in their attractiveness to natural enemies. Treatment effects on arthropod
 activity density were most pronounced in the 2nd and 3rd years. Overall,
 perennials were more attractive than annual flower strip mixtures for most
 natural enemies, however, the response to flower strip mixtures varied
 significantly among taxa. For example, perennial flower strips showed a
 two- to fourfold increase of plant-dwelling spider and parasitoid wasp
 activity density as well as higher numbers of juvenile stages of predatory
 bugs and rove beetles compared to annual flower strips. In contrast,
 annual flower strip mixtures showed the highest attractiveness for ground
 beetles. Moreover, different natural enemy taxa were associated with
 varying flower strip characteristics such as flower type proportion,
 herbivore availability, and plant species richness. Synthesis and
 applications We found taxon-specific responses of natural enemies to
 different flower strips, which provide guidance for the floral composition
 of flower strips in order to maximize their effectiveness for natural pest
 control. We suggest the use of perennial mixtures with a high proportion
 of flower heads (Asteraceae) and disk flowers (esp. Apiaceae, Rubiaceae,
 Brassicaceae) in particular, but also flag blossoms (Fabaceae) as these
 flower types were positively associated with several natural enemy groups.
 However, since we found mixed responses to flower types, specific flower
 strip composition will ultimately depend on its objective.
description: # Taxon-specific response of natural enemies to different flower strip
 mixtures [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dbrv15f7p
 ](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dbrv15f7p) In this study we examined the
 attractiveness of different flower strip mixtures (treatments; Column D)
 for natural enemies (Column F-W) and how specific flower strip mixture
 characteristics (e.g. flower types; Column X-AG) are associated with the
 abundance of each natural enemy group. We sampled natural enemies over
 three years (Column A) between 2020-2022 (Column B) in three locations
 (Column C). Different treatments were arranged in a randomized plot design
 with each treatment replicated three to four times (48 plots across
 locations; Column E). ## Description of the data and file structure This
 table includes all raw data used in the publication of Blümel *et al.*
 (2024). Each row contains the natural enemy numeric count data (Column
 F-W) and the numeric flower strip mixture characteristics data (proportion
 of eight flower types, total flower cover, and plant species richness;
 Column X-AG) of each plot (Column E) in the respective sampling year
 (Column A and B). Each plot of the respective sampling year can be
 identified by a unique description that comprises location, treatment,
 year, and replicate number (e.g. Lippetal_annual1_2020_1). NA = not
 available (see Material and Methods in Blümel *et al.* (2024) for detailed
 information).