Plant diversity boosts natural pest control in farms, while forests and grasslands follow different rules

Plant diversity has long been regarded as key to stable and resilient ecosystems.

However, until now, little has been understood about why it has different effects in agricultural areas than in grasslands or forests.

An international research group, in which the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) played a leading role, has now investigated this question for the first time on a global scale. ...