The role of flowering plant diversity and time since establishment of flower strips
Crop pollination services, but not pest control services, tended to increase with flowering plant species richness of the adjacent flower strip (52% predicted increase in crop pollination from 1 to 25 plant species in adjacent flower strip; Fig. 3a; Table 1). Crop pollination services also tended to increase with time since establishment of the adjacent flower strip, but showed a positive saturating relationship (Fig. 3b; Table 1). Pollination services increased by 27% in two year old strips compared with the youngest plantings (roughly 3 months old), while the additional predicted increase from two to four years or older strips was approximately 5% on average (Fig. 3b; only few strips were older than four years, see Fig. 3b and explanations in figure caption). Pest control services in crops adjacent to flower strips did not increase with flower strip age (Table 1).