Biodiversity – Beetle Banks: Returns for Insects

Beetle Banks are poured earth walls that are laid out on the edge of fields or within large strokes and sown with several years of grass and bloom mixtures. Optimally, the walls are flanked by flower strips on both sides. They offer Spiders, beetles, thousand feet, Wild bees, sidewalks and many other insects shelter, habitat and food. Some of them, such as beetles and slip wasps, eradicate pests on the field. Birds, brown hare, rabbits, foxes and other small animals find nesting and hiding places, including young partridges and pheasants, which are dependent on animal protein in their development. After successful wintering, many of the micro system hike back into the field, where they reduce pests. Running in parallel to the slope, can Also protect the earth walls from erosion and brake the draining water.

The idea of ​​the Beetle Banks, also called insect walls in German, was created in England in the 1990s, where farmers and conservationists were looking for paths to increase biodiversity on the fields. In Germany, the first pilot projects started in Rhineland-Palatinate in October 2017 and in spring 2019 in Brandenburg. In order to offer insects and field birds shelter and habitat, earth walls with grass and herbs were created on arable land.

Insect walls contribute to distributing benefits faster in the field.

Agricultural herbs bloom at different times: From summer to autumn, the field-scratch thistle offers nectar for moths, for example for the lignite brawular head button, the Hauhechel-Bläuling and the large ox eye. It is also a forage plant for nocturnal butterfly species, as well as for the caterpillars of the day -active thistle fold. The horn clover feeds the caterpillars of a number of butterfly. The Blow-flowering grain flower provides food for bees and butterflies, as well as the arable widow flower. The ordinary dost (oregano) attracts the thistle butterfly and the large ox eye in late summer, which nectar drink from its flowers. In grasses that form Horsten, insects find protection in winter, for example in the blunders, in the woolly honey grass, in the German pasture grass and in the white bouquet grass.

As part of her master’s thesis in the Department of Ecological Agricultural Sciences at the University of Kassel, Pauline Reichardt examined four winter wheat spaces in two locations in Brandenburg and Bavaria, each bordering on insect walls and as control areas to conventional field breeds.

Compared to conventional field beams, Beetle Banks has a higher-frequency diversity of nine species-with a similar composition of the respective species communities. In all years of examination, there were constant diversity values ​​compared to the communities that occur on conventional field bushes with types of field. However, there were overlaps at the locations examined when it comes to composition the communities of running beetles and the number of individuals. Overall, the Beetle Banks did not differ fundamentally from conventional field beams. In spring, the mixed dashers and carnivores among insects showed up on Beetle Banks.

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Beetle Banks offer habitats for up to a thousand insects and spiders per square meter, such as the British Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust jar. Many of them hike back into the field after wintering, where they destroy pests. If the walls are created as dividing lines in large strokes, they contribute to distributing benefits faster in the field than if they have to immigrate from the fields. Because of its location with a wind -abandoned and a wind -facing side, a particularly cheap microclimate develops, which promotes the increased settlement of insects. The growth should be mowed and driven off annually, whereby up to half of the vegetation should remain so that animals can withdraw in winter, according to the recommendation. In principle, it is to be avoided to spend fertilizer, pesticides and growth regulators.