NaPA - Nature-friendly agriculture

Arthopod monitoring in agricultural landscapes

The NaPA (nature-positive agriculture) project is investigating the effects of flower strips on arthropod diversity in agricultural landscapes. As a nationwide cooperation between the Centre for Biodiversity Monitoring (ZBM) and 20 organic and conventional farmers, the project works at the interface between scientific research and agricultural practice in order to quantify the effects of sustainable farming methods.

Arthropods are collected at several points up to 100 metres away from flower strips and normal field margins without flower strips. We use several trapping methods to capture flying, surface-active and subterranean arthropods. The active participation of cooperating farmers enables regular collections throughout the growing season.

The collected arthropods are identified using molecular and morphological methods to determine the impact of the flower strips on biodiversity throughout the year, over years and under different management strategies. In addition, we are testing non-traditional biodiversity monitoring methods, including automated sensors, under real-world conditions to measure their effectiveness and scalability compared to established methods.