The landscape context of cereal aphid-parasitoid interactions

Analyses at multiple spatial scales may show how important ecosystem services such as biological control are determined by processes acting on the landscape scale. We examined cereal aphid-parasitoid interactions in wheat fields in agricultural landscapes differing in structural complexity (32-100% arable land). Complex landscapes were associated with increased aphid mortality resulting from parasitism, but also with higher aphid colonization, thereby counterbalancing possible biological control by parasitoids and lastly resulting in similar aphid densities across landscapes. Thus, undisturbed perennial habitats appeared to enhance both pests and natural enemies. Analyses at multiple spatial scales (landscape sectors of 0.5-6 km diameter) showed that correlations between parasitism and percentage of arable land were significant at scales of 0.5-2 km, whereas aphid densities responded to percentage of arable land at scales of 1-6 km diameter. Hence, the higher trophic level populations appeared to be determined by smaller landscape sectors owing to dispersal limitation, showing the 'functional spatial scale' for species-specific landscape management.     

Crop–noncrop spillover: arable fields affect trophic interactions on wild plants in surrounding habitats

Ecosystem processes in agricultural landscapes are often triggered by resource availability in crop and noncrop habitats. We investigated how oilseed rape (OSR; Brassica napus, Brassicaceae) affects noncrop plants in managed systems and semi-natural habitat, using trophic interactions among wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis, Brassicaceae), rape pollen beetles (Meligethes aeneus, Nitidulidae) and their parasitoids (Tersilochus heterocerus, Ichneumonidae). We exposed wild mustard as phytometer plants in two cropland habitat types (wheat field, field margin) and three noncrop habitat types (fallow, grassland, wood margin) across eight landscapes along a gradient from simple to complex (quantified as % arable land). Both landscape and local factors affected the abundance of rape pollen beetles and parasitoids. Rape pollen beetle infestation and parasitism rates on these plants were lower in noncrop habitats and higher in wheat fields and field margins, whereas beetles and parasitoids responded differently to landscape scale parameters. We found the hypothesized spillover from OSR crop onto wild plants in surrounding habitats only for parasitoids, but not for pollen beetles. Parasitism rates were not related to landscape simplification, but benefited from increasing proportions of OSR. In contrast, rape pollen beetles benefited from simple landscape structures, presumably due to multi-annual population build-ups resulting from long-term OSR planting (as part of the crop rotation). In conclusion, we showed that spillover from cropland affects parasitism rates on related wild plants outside cropland, which has not been shown so far, but can be expected to be a widespread effect shaping noncrop food webs.     

Landscape effects on the complex of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bactrocera oleae</Emphasis> parasitoids and implications for conservation biological control

We studied the parasitoid complex of Bactrocera oleae Rossi (Diptera: Tephritidae) in order to analyse the parasitism response to landscape structure at different spatial extents. Olive fruits were sampled and incubated in the laboratory for insect emergence, thus allowing the calculation of parasitoid emergence rates. A landscape analysis was performed in five concentric buffers, ranging from 0.5 to 2 km diameter around the sampling points. Woodland was chosen as focal class. The percentage of landscape and the splitting index, a measure of fragmentation, were used to quantify landscape composition and configuration, respectively. Significant effects of landscape on parasitism rates were detected. In particular, the percent parasitoid emergence was negatively affected by the splitting index of woodland at a spatial extent ranging from 1 to 2 km. These findings suggest that landscape characteristics are likely to affect parasitoids in well-structured agroecosystems as well. In particular, connectivity at a large scale may favour B. oleae parasitoids more than the abundance of woodland. Potential implications for conservation biological control are discussed.     

Reshaping our understanding of species’ roles in landscape‐scale networks

In network ecology, landscape‐scale processes are often overlooked, yet there is increasing evidence that species and interactions spill over between habitats, calling for further study of interhabitat dependencies. Here, we investigate how species connect a mosaic of habitats based on the spatial variation of their mutualistic and antagonistic interactions using two multilayer networks, combining pollination, herbivory and parasitism in the UK and New Zealand. Developing novel methods of network analysis for landscape‐scale ecological networks, we discovered that few plant and pollinator species acted as connectors or hubs, both within and among habitats, whereas herbivores and parasitoids typically have more peripheral network roles. Insect species’ roles depend on factors other than just the abundance of taxa in the lower trophic level, exemplified by larger Hymenoptera connecting networks of different habitats and insects relying on different resources across different habitats. Our findings provide a broader perspective for landscape‐scale management and ecological community conservation.     

Influence of Landscape Diversity and Composition on the Parasitism of Cotton Bollworm Eggs in Maize

We deployed >50,000 Helicoverpa armigera eggs in maize fields to assess the rate of parasitism by Trichogramma chilonis across 33 sites during a three-year span (2012–2014) in northern China. Subsequently, we used a partial least squares (PLS) regression approach to assess the relationship of landscape diversity with composition and parasitism potential. The parasitism rate of H. armigera eggs by T. chilonis ranged from 0–25.8%, with a mean value of 5.6%. Landscape diversity greatly enhanced parasitism at all four different spatial scales (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 km radius). Both the proportion of arable area and the total planting area of two major crops (cotton and maize) had a negative correlation to the parasitism rate at each scale, whereas parasitism was positively correlated to the proportion of host crops of H. armigera other than cotton and maize at the 0.5 to 2.0 km radius scales as well as to that of non-crop habitat at the 0.5 and 1.0 km radius scales. The study indicated that maintaining landscape diversity provided an important biocontrol service by limiting H. armigera through the egg parasitoid T. chilonis, whereas rapid agricultural intensification would greatly reduce the presence and parasitism of T. chilonis in China.     

Landscape complexity differentially benefits generalized fourth,over specialized third,trophic level natural enemies

The differential loss of higher trophic levels in the face of natural habitat loss can result in the disruption of important trophic interactions, such as biological control. Natural enemies of herbivorous pests in cropping systems often benefit from the presence of natural habitats in surrounding landscapes, as they provide key resources such as alternative hosts. However, any benefits from a biological control perspective may be dampened if this also enhances enemies at the fourth trophic level. Remarkably, studies of the influence of landscape structure on diversity and interactions of fourth trophic‐level natural enemies are largely lacking. We carried out a large‐scale sampling study to investigate the effects of landscape complexity (i.e. the proportion of non‐crop habitat in the landscapes surrounding focal study areas) on the parasitoid communities of aphids in wheat and on an abundant extra‐field plant, stinging nettle. Primary parasitoid communities (3rd trophic level) attacking the cereal aphid, Sitobion avenae, had little overlap with the communities attacking the nettle aphid, Microlophium carnosum, while secondary parasitoids (4th trophic level) showed high levels of species overlap across these two aphids (25 vs 73% shared species respectively), resulting in significantly higher linkage density and lower specialization for secondary than primary parasitoid webs. In wheat, parasitoid diversity was not related to landscape complexity for either primary or secondary parasitoids. Rates of primary parasitism were generally low, while secondary parasitism rates were high (37–94%) and increased significantly with increasing landscape complexity, although this pattern was driven by a single secondary parasitoid species. Overall, our results demonstrate that extra‐field habitats and landscape complexity can differentially benefit fourth, over third, trophic level natural enemies, and thereby, could dampen biological control. Our results further suggest that fourth trophic‐level enemies may play an important, yet understudied, role in linking insect population dynamics across habitat types.     

麦蚜和寄生蜂对农业景观格局的响应及其关键景观因子分析

大量研究表明多样性的农业景观格局能够影响蚜虫及寄生蜂的分布。本文利用并设计了两种尺度的麦田农业景观格局,依据麦蚜种群发生特点,分为迁入期、增长期与高峰期三个时期,论述了不同尺度下农业景观元素对麦蚜及寄生蜂系统的影响,通过逐步回归筛选了不同时期麦蚜及寄生蜂分布的关键景观元素,最后通过CANOCO软件模拟了麦蚜及寄生蜂的分布排序格局。结果表明不同景观因子对麦蚜及寄生蜂种群影响不同,迁入期两种尺度下裸地最有利于两种有翅蚜的迁飞入田,塑料大棚对有翅蚜种群的入田有抑制作用。增长期草地与林地生境对麦蚜种群增长率促进最大,塑料大棚同样抑制了麦蚜的种群增长率;但塑料大棚、草地与林地对蚜茧蜂的种群增长率有促进作用,非麦类作物生境对蚜茧蜂种群增长率抑制作用最大;草地与林地有利于重寄生蜂的种群增长率;高峰期裸地比例大的农业景观下麦蚜的最大种群密度较大,草地与林地对蚜茧蜂与重寄生蜂的最大种群密度均有促进作用。两种尺度下的研究结果一致。不同麦物种的对不同景观元素反应与形态学与生活史特征有关,而且景观结构中特定的植物种类、非作物植物的密度与物候期都可能影响寄生蜂群落的多样性与功能。     

Effects of landscape structure and habitat type on a plant-herbivore-parasitoid community

The effects of local habitat and large-scale landscape factors on species diversity and species interactions were studied using the insect community in stems of the creeping thistle Cirsium arvense . Thistle abundance was higher in fallows than in crop fields and field margins, with fallows providing 67% of thistle abundance within 15 study areas on a landscape scale. Species richness of the herbivores was positively related with thistle abundance, parasitoid species richness was influenced by habitat type and was positively correlated with herbivore species richness. The abundance of herbivores and parasitoids was affected by local factors such as habitat type and host abundance, but also by landscape factors such as the percentage of non-crop area and the isolation of habitats. The infestation rate caused by the agromyzid Melanagromyza aeneoventris was positively related to percent non-crop area, whereas the parasitism rate of this fly increased with increasing habitat diversity on the landscape scale. For these two interactions and for total herbivore abundance, a scale-dependency of the landscape effects was found. The results emphasize that biological diversity and ecological functions within a plant-insect community are not only affected by local habitat factors but also by large-scale landscape characteristics. Hence, to improve future agri-environmental schemes for biodiversity conservation and biological control large-scale landscape effects and their scale-dependency should be considered.     

农业景观格局与麦蚜密度对其初寄生蜂与重寄生蜂种群及寄生率的影响

农业景观格局与过程能够强烈影响寄生蜂对寄主的寻找及寄生作用,寄主密度亦是影响寄生蜂分布的重要因素,然而农业景观的格局和寄主密度对寄生蜂寄生率的相互影响是一项值得研究的工作.在简单与复杂2种麦田农业景观结构下,调查了麦蚜的分布格局与2种寄主密度下麦蚜的初寄生率与重寄生率,分析了景观结构对麦蚜密度的影响、景观格局与麦蚜密度对寄生蜂寄生率与重寄生率的影响及交互作用.结果表明:景观结构的复杂性对麦蚜分布和寄生蜂初寄生率与重寄生率的影响均不明显,但寄主密度与景观结构的复杂性对寄生蜂的影响存在着明显的交互作用,寄主密度与寄生率呈正相关,寄主密度较低时烟蚜茧蜂为优势种,寄主密度较高时燕麦蚜茧蜂为优势种.麦蚜初寄生蜂与重寄生蜂对寄主密度的反应与其形态学、体型大小以及生活史特征相关,初寄生蜂与重寄生蜂的群落组成显著影响其对麦蚜的寄生率,而与景观结构的复杂性关系不大.     

Intraspecific variation in herbivore‐induced plant volatiles influences the spatial range of plant–parasitoid interactions

Chemical information influences the behaviour of many animals, thus affecting species interactions. Many animals forage for resources that are heterogeneously distributed in space and time, and have evolved foraging behaviour that utilizes information related to these resources. Herbivore‐induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), emitted by plants upon herbivore attack, provide information on herbivory to various animal species, including parasitoids. Little is known about the spatial scale at which plants attract parasitoids via HIPVs under field conditions and how intraspecific variation in HIPV emission affects this spatial scale. Here, we investigated the spatial scale of parasitoid attraction to two cabbage accessions that differ in relative preference of the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata when plants were damaged by Pieris brassicae caterpillars. Parasitoids were released in a field experiment with plants at distances of up to 60 m from the release site using intervals between plants of 10 or 20 m to assess parasitism rates over time and distance. Additionally, we observed host‐location behaviour of parasitoids in detail in a semi‐field tent experiment with plant spacing up to 8 m. Plant accession strongly affected successful host location in field set‐ups with 10 or 20 m intervals between plants. In the semi‐field set‐up, plant finding success by parasitoids decreased with increasing plant spacing, differed between plant accessions, and was higher for host‐infested plants than for uninfested plants. We demonstrate that parasitoids can be attracted to herbivore‐infested plants over large distances (10 m or 20 m) in the field, and that stronger plant attractiveness via HIPVs increases this distance (up to at least 20 m). Our study indicates that variation in plant traits can affect attraction distance, movement patterns of parasitoids, and ultimately spatial patterns of plant–insect interactions. It is therefore important to consider plant‐trait variation in HIPVs when studying animal foraging behaviour and multi‐trophic interactions in a spatial context.     

Food web structure and biocontrol in a four-trophic level system across a landscape complexity gradient

Decline in landscape complexity owing to agricultural intensification may affect biodiversity, food web complexity and associated ecological processes such as biological control, but such relationships are poorly understood. Here, we analysed food webs of cereal aphids, their primary parasitoids and hyperparasitoids in 18 agricultural landscapes differing in structural complexity (42-93% arable land). Despite little variation in the richness of each trophic group, we found considerable changes in trophic link properties across the landscape complexity gradient. Unexpectedly, aphid-parasitoid food webs exhibited a lower complexity (lower linkage density, interaction diversity and generality) in structurally complex landscapes, which was related to the dominance of one aphid species in complex landscapes. Nevertheless, primary parasitism, as well as hyperparasitism, was higher in complex landscapes, with primary parasitism reaching levels for potentially successful biological control. In conclusion, landscape complexity appeared to foster higher parasitism rates, but simpler food webs, thereby casting doubt on the general importance of food web complexity for ecosystem functioning.     

Limited benefits of non-crop vegetation on spiders in Australian vineyards: regional or crop differences?

In crops, invertebrate natural enemies such as spiders have been documented as responding to non-crop vegetation at the local and landscape scales, particularly in northern Europe. Much of this information is based on data from arable or annual crops and it is possible that spider numbers in more persistent perennial systems including vineyards may be less dependent on non-crop vegetation. To test the relationship between spider abundance and non-crop vegetation within the context of Australian vineyards, we sampled spiders in 54 vineyards with adjacent non-crop vegetation, from three different regions. Landscape composition in the area surrounding each of the 54 sites was characterized at 11 spatial scales from 95?m to 3?km radius and spiders were sampled monthly using canopy sticky traps and ground pitfall traps. There were only weak relationships between pasture or woody vegetation and the abundance of spiders in vineyards at all spatial scales. At the local scale, abundance of most spider families tended to be greater in vineyards with adjacent pasture. At the landscape scale there were inconsistent patterns. We discuss possible reasons for these apparent contrasting patterns between perennial and annual crops and European compared to Australian agroecosystems.     

Spatial scale of benefits from adjacent woody vegetation on natural enemies within vineyards

Abundance of predators in crops can be increased by augmenting the adjacent non-crop vegetation, with associated environmental benefits from reduced chemical inputs and landscape conservation. Fine-scale spatial analysis is required to assess the extent to which non-crop benefits extend into farmed areas. We used explicit spatial mapping to investigate benefits of woody vegetation in two vineyards. The abundance of canopy-dwelling predators and predation/parasitism rates was measured at two vineyards with woody vegetation on one margin. Grids were sampled monthly across two summer growing seasons and stability of spatial patterns determined for consecutive months for each season and between seasons. At these two locations small parasitoids and several species of ladybird beetles from the vine canopy exhibited spatial patterning, with regions of high and low abundance and activity, aggregated in rows near to woody vegetation. Aggregations varied in temporal stability, with some persisting throughout the season. When predation and parasitism of sentinel eggs of a moth pest were non-randomly distributed, levels were higher in vine rows closer to the woody vegetation and significantly associated with a known egg parasitoid and ladybird beetles. This study demonstrated predators and parasitoids had non random and stable distributions at two vineyards. Increased abundance of both Coccinellidae and parasitoids was seen over similar distances: extending approximately 40 m from the vegetated edge. Increase in parasitism and predation extended a similar distance in from the vegetation. These results suggest management of vineyards where non-crop vegetation can be used to increase numbers and impact of beneficials, with recommendations for planting woody vegetation a minimum of 50 m from vineyard edges.     

不同农业景观结构对麦蚜种群动态的影响

研究表明农业景观结构的复杂性与害虫种群发生强度关系密切,然而在不同农业景观结构下研究麦蚜的发生、种群及寄生蜂的变化还不多。设计了不同的麦田景观结构,调查研究了不同麦田景观结构对麦蚜种群的影响。在简单与复杂两种农业景观结构下,分析了不同种类麦蚜的入田时间、入田量、种群增长率、种群密度及寄生性天敌的多样性与寄生率。结果表明:景观结构对不同种类麦蚜影响不同,但复杂农业景观下麦蚜迁飞入田时间都要晚于简单农业景观(连片种植)下的入田时间,复杂农业景观下有翅蚜的迁入量显著低于简单景观下有翅蚜的迁入量,并且复杂农业景观下麦蚜种群增长速率高于简单农业景观下的增长速率。不同种类麦蚜对景观结构的不同反应可能与形态学与生活史特征有关,两种不同农业景观结构下寄生性天敌的多样性与寄生率无显著差异。复杂景观结构下的麦蚜有翅蚜低的迁入量、高的增长速率可能与生境高度破碎化有关,其中与温室大棚塑料白色反光有的很大的影响。生境破碎化影响了麦蚜对寄主植物寻找以及天敌对猎物的寻找效应。     

Host–parasitoid dynamics in a fragmented landscape: Holly trees,holly leaf miners and their parasitoids

Many species inhabit fragmented landscapes, where units of resource have a patchy spatial distribution. While numerous studies have investigated how the incidence and dynamics of individual species are affected by the spatial configuration and landscape context of habitat patches, fewer studies have investigated the dynamics of multiple interacting resource and consumer species in patchy landscapes. We describe a model system for investigating host–parasitoid dynamics in a patchy landscape: a network of 166 holly trees, a specialised herbivore of holly (the leaf miner, Phytomyza ilicis (Curtis, 1948)), and its suite of parasitoids. We documented patch occupancy by P. ilicis, its density within patches, and levels of parasitism over a 6-year period, and manipulated patch occupancy by creating artificially vacant habitat patches. Essentially all patches were occupied by the herbivore in each year, suggesting that metapopulation dynamics are unlikely to occur in this system. The main determinants of densities for P. ilicis and its parasitoids were resource availability (patch size and host density, respectively). While P. ilicis is apparently not restricted by the spatial distribution of resources, densities of its parasitoids showed a weaker positive relationship with host density in more isolated patches. In patches where local extinctions were generated experimentally, P. ilicis densities and levels of parasitism recovered to pre-manipulation levels within a single generation. Furthermore, patch isolation did not significantly affect re-colonisation by hosts or parasitoids. Analysing the data at a variety of spatial scales indicates that the balance between local demography and dispersal may vary depending on the scale at which patches are defined. Taken together, our results suggest that the host and its parasitoids have dispersal abilities that exceed typical inter-patch distances. Patch dynamics are thus largely governed by dispersal rather than within-patch demography, although the role of demography is higher in larger patches.     

Effect of woody vegetation at the landscape scale on the abundance of natural enemies in Australian vineyards

Undisturbed vegetation within agricultural areas, especially woody vegetation, has been documented to enhance natural invertebrate enemies within adjacent crops, particularly in northern Europe. To test this idea within the context of Australian vineyards, we considered 44 landscapes from two regions, and sampled invertebrates in vineyards central to each landscape five times at monthly intervals using canopy sticky traps. Landscape composition was characterized at 11 spatial scales from 95 m to 3 km radius. We found only weak relationships between woody vegetation and the abundance of invertebrate groups including coccinellids at any spatial scale, regardless of whether the contribution of each scale was considered independently or together using a multiple regression approach. The only consistent pattern was that several families of parasitoids were influenced by woody vegetation at the landscape scale; the abundance of Eulophidae increased with woody vegetation in the landscape, while two families of smaller parasitoids, Trichogrammatidae and Mymaridae, were negatively affected by woody vegetation. We discuss possible reasons for these apparent contrasting patterns between Australian and European studies.     

Enhancing rape pollen beetle parasitism within sown flower fields along a landscape complexity gradient

• 1 Sown flower habitats not only are employed in agri‐environment schemes in the European Union to enhance pollinators and birds, such as partridges, but also are hypothesized to contribute to the biological control of pests such as the rape pollen beetle Meligethes aeneus Fabr. by improving habitat and resource availability for its specialized parasitoids.
• 2 In the present study, we selected 20 sown flower fields that included one of the pollen beetles' host plants Sinapis alba L., each centred in a landscape of varying complexity, to test the influence of the surrounding landscape structure on parasitism rate and herbivory by M. aeneus. Additionally, plant cover of S. alba plants within the sown flower fields and numbers of S. alba flowers were also included in the analyses.
• 3 Landscapes with high proportions of semi‐natural habitats supported higher parasitism rates, and sown flower fields with dense S. alba plant cover hosted more parasitoids and suffered from less herbivory.
• 4 We conclude that sown flower fields are not only important for pollinators and birds, but also are long‐term undisturbed, unploughed, insecticide‐free habitats with rich food (nectar/pollen) and host resources for parasitoids, contributing to the build‐up and maintenance of large parasitoid populations, which are important biocontrol agents of rape pollen beetles.

     

Landscape structure and agricultural intensification are weak predictors of host range and parasitism rate of cereal aphids

Proportions of specialist and generalist primary parasitoids have been described by the resource breadth and the trade-off hypothesis. These alternative hypotheses predict either decreased or increased, respectively, parasitism rate of shared aphid species by specialist parasitoids. We tested both hypotheses and the confounding effects of landscape structure and agricultural intensification (AI) using extensive samplings of aphids and their parasitoids in Polish agricultural landscapes. Abundances, species composition of aphids, primary parasitoids, and parasitism rate of aphids by specialists and generalist parasitoids were analysed. Contrary to our expectations we found equally decreased parasitism rates by both types of primary parasitoids at higher aphid densities and thus proportion of specialists to generalists did not change with increasing host density. In line with the resource breadth hypothesis, specialist parasitoids had always lower abundances and parasitism rates than generalist parasitoids. Landscape diversity and agricultural intensification did not influence the host-parasitoid population dynamics. We speculate that these contrasting results could be caused by the additional density effects of secondary parasitoids. We conclude that simplistic two-trophic-level population models are not able to fully describe the complex dynamics of trophic networks. We also argue that agricultural intensification has lower effects on abundance and effectiveness of parasitoids than predicted by respective predator–prey models and empirical studies performed in controlled and artificial conditions.     

Drought and Root Herbivory Interact to Alter the Response of Above-Ground Parasitoids to Aphid Infested Plants and Associated Plant Volatile Signals

Multitrophic interactions are likely to be altered by climate change but there is little empirical evidence relating the responses of herbivores and parasitoids to abiotic factors. Here we investigated the effects of drought on an above/below-ground system comprising a generalist and a specialist aphid species (foliar herbivores), their parasitoids, and a dipteran species (root herbivore).We tested the hypotheses that: (1) high levels of drought stress and below-ground herbivory interact to reduce the performance of parasitoids developing in aphids; (2) drought stress and root herbivory change the profile of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) emitted by the host plant; (3) parasitoids avoid ovipositing in aphids feeding on plants under drought stress and root herbivory. We examined the effect of drought, with and without root herbivory, on the olfactory response of parasitoids (preference), plant volatile emissions, parasitism success (performance), and the effect of drought on root herbivory. Under drought, percentage parasitism of aphids was reduced by about 40–55% compared with well watered plants. There was a significant interaction between drought and root herbivory on the efficacy of the two parasitoid species, drought stress partially reversing the negative effect of root herbivory on percent parasitism. In the absence of drought, root herbivory significantly reduced the performance (e.g. fecundity) of both parasitoid species developing in foliar herbivores. Plant emissions of VOCs were reduced by drought and root herbivores, and in olfactometer experiments parasitoids preferred the odour from well-watered plants compared with other treatments. The present work demonstrates that drought stress can change the outcome of interactions between herbivores feeding above- and below-ground and their parasitoids, mediated by changes in the chemical signals from plants to parasitoids. This provides a new insight into how the structure of terrestrial communities may be affected by drought.     

Local diversity of arable weeds increases with landscape complexity

Patterns of plant diversity are often related to local site conditions and to competitive interactions, but landscape context may also be important for local plant species richness. This is shown here by analysing the relationship between landscape complexity and local species richness of arable weeds in wheat fields. The fields were located in 18 landscapes characterised by a gradient in landscape complexity from structurally complex to structurally simple (39–94% arable land). We quantified local site conditions, field management intensity and landscape characteristics, and used principle component analyses to ordinate the environmental variables. The percentage of arable land was negatively correlated with perimeter–area ratio, habitat-type diversity and topographical heterogeneity, but landscape characteristics did not correlate with local site conditions and field management intensity. The number of plant species was mainly related to landscape characteristics and to a lesser extent to field management intensity (nitrogen fertilisation), whereas local soil characteristics did not contribute to the explanation of arable weed richness. In a geographic scale analysis using circular landscape sectors ranging from 1 km up to 5 km diameter, the predictive power of landscape complexity for local plant species richness was strongest at 2 km indicating a scale-dependent relationship between landscape context and plant species richness. Our results support the hypothesis that local plant species richness in arable fields is greatly influenced by processes operating at the landscape scale. Seed rain from ruderal source habitats and disturbed edges may be the most important underlying process.