Evaluating how plant community composition influences natural enemy biodiversity and pest regulation services in temperate agroforestry systems

“这个学生项目的首要目标是与林地信托基金合作，为他们提供足够的证据，鼓励和优化农业用地上的综合树木利用。这就是所谓的农林业，即将树木种植纳入农业生产的农业系统。这些系统往往受益于授粉服务和生物多样性的增加，并且与传统的单作作物相比，可以实现更高的生产效率。修改这些系统的设计可以通过提高生物多样性栖息地的质量，使生物多样性衍生的生态系统服务进一步融入生产，从而进一步提高生产力。在这个项目中，学生将接受各种实地工作技术的培训，并将生成新的数据集，以便：1)调查植物群落组成与农林业提供的自然有害生物防治服务之间的联系；2)开发和测试新的管理实践，以提供更具生态功能的农林复合系统，并加强害虫防治服务。利用这些研究中产生的数据，结合我们已有的关于农林复合系统中碳、生物多样性、授粉和产量（作物和树木）的数据集，学生将获得定量方法的培训，以：3)模拟农林复合系统提供的害虫防治和授粉服务的经济价值；4)调查农林业提供的不同生态系统服务之间的权衡。”

"The overarching aim of this studentship is to work with the Woodland Trust to provide them with sufficient evidence to encourage and optimise integrated tree use on agricultural land. This is known as agroforestry, i.e. farming systems that incorporate the cultivation of trees into agricultural production. These systems often benefit from increased pollination services and biodiversity, and can achieve higher production efficiency, relative to conventional mono-cropping. Modifications to the design of these systems could enable further increases in productivity by enhancing the quality of habitats for biodiversity, enabling further integration of biodiversity derived ecosystem services into production.During this project the student will be trained in a variety of fieldwork techniques and will generate new data sets to:1) investigate the links between plant community composition and natural pest regulation services provided by agroforestry; and2) develop and test novel management practices to provide more eco-functional agroforestry systems with enhanced pest regulation servicesUsing the data generated in these studies in combination with our pre-existing data sets on carbon, biodiversity, pollination and yield (crop and tree) in agroforestry systems, the student will gain training in quantitative methods to:3) model the economic value of both pest regulation and pollination services provided by agroforestry systems; and4) investigate the trade-offs between the different ecosystem services provided by agroforestry."