Seasonal effects of land cover and intensity of farming practices on α and β diversity of grassland arthropod communities

The intensification of agriculture has led to a decline in farmland biodiversity, particularly affecting predatory arthropods in grasslands, which are essential for regulating crop pests. While local management and landscape heterogeneity are known to influence arthropod communities, the role of intensity of farming practices at the landscape scale remains underexplored.

This study examines the effects of local farming practices, landscape heterogeneity and landscape‐scale farming practices on grassland arthropod diversity, with the aim of quantifying their contribution to α and β arthropod diversity.

We sampled ground‐dwelling arthropods belonging to four taxonomic groups (spiders, carabid beetles, rove beetles and chilopods) in 18 grasslands located in Moselle (France) using pitfall traps in spring and autumn 2021.

Local parameters (i.e., NDVI and farming practices in sampled grasslands) and landscape parameters (e.g., land cover heterogeneity and farming practice intensity within a 500‐m radius) were characterized. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified three environmental gradients: the landscape intensity axis, the land cover axis and the local intensity axis.

Generalized linear models and variance partitioning revealed that the land cover axis predominantly influenced α diversity in spring, while local management intensity was the primary driver in autumn.

The landscape intensity axis significantly shaped β diversity by driving balanced variation in abundance. However, substantial unexplained variance in β diversity indicates potential contributions from stochastic processes or unconsidered parameters (e.g., soil and climate conditions)

These findings underscore the need to integrate both land cover and farming practice intensity in conservation strategies to enhance arthropod diversity in agricultural landscapes.