This readme file was generated on 2025-10-02 by Neus Rodríguez-Gasol and provides a list and description of each file included in the dataset.


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DATASET GENERAL INFORMATION
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Metadata for the dataset including the 6 datafiles: "SZA_Vegetation.csv", "SZA_Pollinators.csv", "SZA_YST.csv", "SZA_Pitfall.csv","SZA_Tillercounts.csv" & "SZA_Aphidcards.csv".

DOI for the dataset: https://doi.org/10.5878/kxwv-ty62

Dataset creators: Rodriguez-Gasol, N., Lundin, O., Chapurlat, E., Hammarstedt, M., Jonsson, M., Stenberg, J. A., & Viketoft, M. 

Dataset name: "Data for: Annual flower strips under the ‘All of Sweden blooms’ initiative - how do they perform for pollinators, natural enemies and herbivores?"

Responsible organisation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Related documentation: 
1)"Annual_flower_strips.R": R scripts for data analysis and figure creation
2)"Annual_flower_strips_SessionInformation.txt": File documenting the full R session environment for reproducibility
3) "Rodriguez-Gasol_Figure_1.png": Graphical visualization generated in R as part of the statistical analysis workflow
4) "Rodriguez-Gasol_Figure_2.png": Graphical visualization generated in R as part of the statistical analysis workflow
5) "Rodriguez-Gasol_Figure_3.png": Graphical visualization generated in R as part of the statistical analysis workflow
6) "Rodriguez-Gasol_Figure_4.png": Graphical visualization generated in R as part of the statistical analysis workflow
7) "Rodriguez-Gasol_Figure_5.png": Graphical visualization generated in R as part of the statistical analysis workflow

Data related to the manuscript "Annual flower strips under the ‘All of Sweden blooms’ initiative - how do they perform for pollinators, natural enemies and herbivores?"


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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND METHODS
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We sampled pollinators, natural enemies, and herbivores, and estimated predation rates and using visual observations, yellow sticky traps, pitfall traps, tiller Counts and sentinel prey cards in eight pairs of pollinator attractive annual flower strips and control field margins, and their adjacent cereal fields in Skåne, Sweden in 2021. 

Field margins (flower strip vs spontaneous vegetation control) were characterized by estimating the percentage of plant cover and the total floral area (for each species we calculated the number of floral units x average floral area) in eight 0.6 x 0.6 m squares evenly distributed along the 100 m transect. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture.

Pollinators (hoverflies, honey bees, bumblebees, solitary bees and butterflies) visiting flowers were surveyed for 10 minutes along a 100 m long and 1 m wide transect in each field margin type. Pollinators were surveyed twice during the main period of the flower mixture on the same days as the margin characterization was done.

Leaf-dwelling natural enemies and herbivores were sampled using yellow sticky traps (20 cm x 12.6 cm). Four traps of each type were placed along the 100 m transect in the field margins and another four in the adjacent crop area, at 10 m from the margins, for a total of 16 traps per site. Traps were spaced 20 m apart within each transect and remained in the field for seven days. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Due to a large number of samples only three traps per transect were processed and identified.

Ground-dwelling natural enemies were sampled using pitfall traps made from polypropylene beakers (12 cm diameter) filled with 200 mL of soapy water. Four traps of each type were placed along the 100 m transect in the field margins and another four in the adjacent crop area, at 10 m from the margins, for a total of 16 traps per site. Traps were spaced 20 m apart within each transect and remained in the field for seven days. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Due to a large number of samples only three traps per transect were processed and identified.

We counted and identified all arthropods found on four groups of five tillers located along each adjacent crop transect, spaced every 20 m, resulting in 80 crop tillers per site. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. 

Sentinel aphid cards were set up in the field to estimate aphid predation rates. Four groups of two cards at ground level and two cards at vegetation level were set up along each adjacent crop transect, spaced every 20 m, resulting in 32 cards per site. Sentinel prey cards were set up once, exposed simultaneously during the first sampling interval of the tiller counts. After 24 hours of exposure, the sentinel prey cards were collected, and the remaining aphids were counted. This survey was conducted only in four of the eight fields.

All data were aggregated across samples and survey rounds for each field margin habitat and the adjacent on-crop area.

For further information, see methods in the manuscript Rodríguez-Gasol et al. "Annual flower strips under the ‘All of Sweden blooms’ initiative - how do they perform for pollinators, natural enemies and herbivores?".


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FILE OVERVIEW
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This dataset contains six (6) individual files containing information on: 
(1) proportion of vegetation cover and total floral area (SZA_Vegetation.csv; 6 columns, 256 rows)
(2) pollinator observations (SZA_Pollinators.csv; 8 columns, 32 rows)
(3) abundances of diverse natural enemy and herbivore groups captured in yellow sticky traps (SZA_YST.csv;  30 columns, 192 rows)
(4) abundances of diverse natural enemy groups captured in pitfall traps (SZA_Pitfall.csv; 8 columns, 192 rows)
(5) abundances of diverse natural enemy and herbivore groups observed in the crop tillers (SZA_Tillercounts.csv; 18 columns, 128 rows)
(6) aphid predation rates on sentinel prey cards (SZA_Aphidcards.csv; 8 columns, 128 rows)

The prefix `SZA_` denotes *samzone annual* data.

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(1) SZA_Vegetation.csv

Field:			ID of the surveyed field (factor, 8 levels)

Strip_type:		Strip type treatment (factor, 2 levels: 'Flower_strip' vs. 'Control')

Survey:			Survey number (factor, 2 levels: '1' vs. '2')

Replicate:		Sampling replicate (factor, 8 levels)

Perc_cover:		Percentage plant cover in a 0.6m x 0.6m square

Sum_Floralarea:		Total floral area (sum) of all the species in bloom in a 0.6m x 0.6m square 


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(2) SZA_Pollinators.csv

Field:			ID of the surveyed field (factor, 8 levels)

Strip_type:		Strip type treatment (factor, 2 levels: 'Flower_strip' vs. 'Control')

Survey:			Survey number (factor, 2 levels: '1' vs. '2')

Hoverfly:		Total number of hoverflies observed

Honey_bee:		Total number of honey bees observed

Bumblebee:		Total number of bumblebees observed

Solitary_bee:		Total number of solitary bees observed

Butterfly:		Total number of butterflies observed


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(3) SZA_YST.csv

Field:			ID of the surveyed field (factor, 8 levels)

Strip_type:		Strip type treatment (factor, 2 levels: 'Flower_strip' vs. 'Control')

Location:		Location of the trap (factor, 2 levels: 'Margin' vs. 'Crop')

Survey:			Survey number (factor, 2 levels: '1' vs. '2')

Station:		Fixed sampling points along the 100 m survey transect, located at 40 m, 60 m, and 80 m. These represent sampling replicates (factor, 3 levels)

Spiders:		Total number of spiders collected

Predatory_beetles:	Total number of predatory beetles collected

Cantharidae:		Total number of cantharidae collected

Carabidae:		Total number of carabidae collected
	
Coccinellidae:		Total number of coccinellidae collected

Staphylinidae:		Total number of staphylinidae collected

Predatory_heteroptera:	Total number of predatory heteroptera collected

Anthocoridae:		Total number of anthocoridae collected

Nabidae:		Total number of nabidae collected

Non-Lygaeidae_Miridae	Total number of non-Lygaeidae miridae collected

Neuroptera:		Total number of neuroptera collected

Aeoplothripidae:	Total number of predatory thrips (Aeolotrhipidae) collected
	
Syrphidae:		Total number of syrphidae collected

Parasitic_wasps:	Total number of parasitic wasps collected
	
Apionidae:		Total number of apionidae collected

Curculionidae:		Total number of curculionidae collected

Nitidulidae:		Total number of nitidulidae collected

Chrysomelidae:		Total number of chrysomelidae collected

Aphids:			Total number of aphids collected

Cicadellidae:		Total number of cicadellidae collected
	
Delphacidae:		Total number of delphacidae collected
	
Lygus:			Total number of lygaeidae collected

Psylloidea:		Total number of psylloidea collected
	
Lepidoptera:		Total number of lepidoptera collected

Thysanoptera:		Total number of pest thrips (thysanoptera) collected


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(4) SZA_Pitfall.csv

Field:			ID of the surveyed field (factor, 8 levels)

Strip_type:		Strip type treatment (factor, 2 levels: 'Flower_strip' vs. 'Control')

Location:		Location of the trap (factor, 2 levels: 'Margin' vs. 'Crop')

Station:		Fixed sampling points along the 100 m survey transect, located at 40 m, 60 m, and 80 m. These represent sampling replicates (factor, 3 levels)

Survey:			Survey number (factor, 2 levels: '1' vs. '2')

Ground_Spiders:		Total number of ground spiders collected

Staphylinidae:		Total number of staphylinidae collected

Carabidae:		Total number of carabidae collected

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(5) SZA_Tillercounts.csv

Field:			ID of the surveyed field (factor, 8 levels)

Strip_type:		Strip type treatment (factor, 2 levels: 'Flower_strip' vs. 'Control')

Survey:			Survey number (factor, 2 levels: '1' vs. '2')

Station:		Fixed sampling points along the 100 m survey transect, located at 20 m, 40 m, 60 m, and 80 m. These represent sampling replicates (factor, 4 levels)

Oulema:			Total number of Oulema observed

Aphids:			Total number of aphids observed

Thrips_total:		Total number of pest thrips observed
	
Parasitic_wasps:	Total number of parasitic wasps observed

Coccinellidae:		Total number of coccinellidae observed
	
Syrphidae:		Total number of syrphidae observed
	
Staphylinidae:		Total number of staphylinidae observed
	
Heteroptera_Miridae:	Total number of miridae observed
	
Spiders:		Total number of spiders observed

Chrysopidae:		Total number of chrysopidae observed
	
Aeolothripidae:		Total number of predatory thrips (aeolothripidae) observed
	
Pests:			Total number of pests observed
	
Predators:		Total number of predators observed
	
NE:			Total number of natural enemies observed


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(6) SZA_Aphidcards.csv

Card_type:		Card type (factor, 2 levels: 'Ground' vs. 'Leaf')

Field:			ID of the surveyed field (factor, 4 levels)

Strip_type:		Strip type treatment (factor, 2 levels: 'Flower_strip' vs. 'Control')

Station:		Fixed sampling points along the 100 m survey transect, located at 20 m, 40 m, 60 m, and 80 m. These represent sampling replicates (factor, 4 levels)

Replicate:		Replicate within each station (factor, 2 levels: '1' vs. '2')

Aphids_set_up:		Total number of aphids set up in the sentinel prey card

Aphids_left:		Total number of aphids remaining in the sentinel prey card after 24h exposure

Aphids_eaten:		Total number of aphids eaten in the sentinel prey card after 24h exposure



