Farmers' attitudes towards biodiversity shape the effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly management practices for wild bees, but not plants and spiders

@article{scheper2026farmers,
  title = {{Farmers' attitudes towards biodiversity shape the effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly management practices for wild bees, but not plants and spiders}},
  author = {Jeroen Scheper and David Kleijn and Fabian Klebl and Anneli Adler and András Báldi and Ignasi Bartomeus and Vincent Bretagnolle and J P Reinier de Vries and Sabrina Gaba and Maura Ganz and José M Herrera and Felix Herzog and Amelia S C Hood and Philippe Jeanneret and Maria Kernecker and Klara Leander Oh and Francisco P Molina and Vasco S Mendes and Csaba Molnár and Erik Öckinger and Álvaro Pérez-Gómez and Simon G Potts and Vanesa Rivera and Gyula Szabó and José van Paassen and Flóra Vajna and Elena Velado-Alonso and Kati Häfner},
  journal = {Biological Conservation},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1016/j.biocon.2026.112049},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05732063v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Farmers' attitudes towards biodiversity shape the effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly management practices for wild bees, but not plants and spiders
AU  - Jeroen Scheper
AU  - David Kleijn
AU  - Fabian Klebl
AU  - Anneli Adler
AU  - András Báldi
AU  - Ignasi Bartomeus
AU  - Vincent Bretagnolle
AU  - J P Reinier de Vries
AU  - Sabrina Gaba
AU  - Maura Ganz
AU  - José M Herrera
AU  - Felix Herzog
AU  - Amelia S C Hood
AU  - Philippe Jeanneret
AU  - Maria Kernecker
AU  - Klara Leander Oh
AU  - Francisco P Molina
AU  - Vasco S Mendes
AU  - Csaba Molnár
AU  - Erik Öckinger
AU  - Álvaro Pérez-Gómez
AU  - Simon G Potts
AU  - Vanesa Rivera
AU  - Gyula Szabó
AU  - José van Paassen
AU  - Flóra Vajna
AU  - Elena Velado-Alonso
AU  - Kati Häfner
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/02
JO  - Biological Conservation
DO  - 10.1016/j.biocon.2026.112049
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05732063v1
AB  - Biodiversity continues to decline in European agricultural landscapes despite policies that promote biodiversityfriendly farming. While the ecological drivers of the effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly practices are wellstudied, less is known about how farmers' attitudes influence biodiversity outcomes. We examined, in eight European countries, whether positive farmer attitudes towards biodiversity are related to higher on-field biodiversity levels and effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly practices. We combined farmer attitude surveys with field inventories of wild plants, bees and spiders in biodiversity-friendly managed and control fields. We found that, in control fields, none of the examined taxa were associated with farmers' biodiversity attitudes. However, in biodiversity-friendly managed fields, both wild bee abundance and species richness increased with a more positive attitude, resulting in a positive relation between farmers' attitude and the effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly management. This relationship was mainly driven by farmers' perceived necessity of considering biodiversity in their farm management, rather than by general biodiversity attitudes. For wild plants and spiders, no relationship between attitude and effectiveness was observed, possibly because these taxa are less conspicuous and less positively perceived. We additionally found that farmers' attitude was positively related to the diversity of biodiversity-friendly practices implemented on farms. Our results suggest that, while agronomical and economic motivations predominate in conventionally managed fields, farmers' biodiversity attitudes can play a role in both the uptake and the effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly practices, although the latter is taxon-dependent. To improve the effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly practices, our findings stress the importance of addressing the social and motivational drivers of farmers.
SN  - 0006-3207
ER  -