Create beetle banks on farmland

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

60%
Certainty

20%
Harms

0%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Beetle banks are raised strips which run through a field, typically planted with grasses. They primarily serve as an overwintering habitat for beetles, which provide pest control in the spring. By dividing the field, beetle banks reduce the distance that predators have to travel to reach the centre of the crop, a potential problem if overwintering habitat occurs only at the field edge. Beetle banks may also harbour other wildlife, such as small mammals.

Study locations

Key messages

One study evaluated the effects on mammals of creating beetle banks on farmland. This study was in the UK.

KEY COMMUNITY RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

POPULATION RESPONSE (1 STUDY)

Abundance (1 study): One replicated study in the UK found that beetle banks had higher densities of harvest mouse nests than did field margins.

BEHAVIOUR (0 STUDIES)

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A site comparison study in 1998 on an arable farm in Leicestershire, UK (Bence et al. 2003) found that beetle banks had higher densities of harvest mouse Micromys minutus nests than did field margins. The density of harvest mouse nests in beetle banks (117/ha) was higher than in field margins (14/ha). Beetle banks, created in 1992–1994, were 2–2.5 m wide, positioned down field centres and sown with tussock-forming grasses. They were cut during the first year but not thereafter. Field margins were ≥1 m wide, comprised perennial grasses and herbs and were mostly uncut. Harvest mouse nests were surveyed in September–November 1998 along 1,800 m length of beetle banks and 9,800 m length of field margins.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Bence S.L., Stander K. & Griffiths M. (2003) Habitat characteristics of harvest mouse nests on arable farmland. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 99, 179-186.

Please cite as:

Littlewood, N.A., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K., Martin, P.A., Lockhart, S.L., Schoonover, R.F., Wilman, E., Bladon, A.J., Sainsbury, K.A., Pimm S. and Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Terrestrial Mammal Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions for terrestrial mammals excluding bats and primates. Synopses of Conservation Evidence Series. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

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