Do flower mixtures with high functional diversity enhance aphid predators in wildflower strips?

Among semi-natural elements in agricultural landscapes, wildflower strips sown at field margins or within fields represent potential habitats for the natural enemies of insect pests. As insects are sensitive to a variety of flower traits, we hypothesised that mixtures with high functional diversity attract and support a higher abundance and species richness of aphid flower visiting predators compared to mixtures with low functional diversity. During a field experiment, repeated over two years (2014 and 2015) in Gembloux (Belgium), aphid predators (i.e., lacewings, ladybeetles and hoverflies) were pan-trapped in five sown flower mixtures (including a control mixture, with three replicates of each mixture) of low to high functional diversity based on seven traits (i.e., flower colour, ultra-violet reflectance and pattern, blooming start and duration, height and flower class, primarily based on corolla morphology). In both years, flower species in the sown mixtures (i.e., sown and spontaneous flowers) were listed, and the realised functional diversity of each plot was calculated. Over the two years, an increase in functional diversity did not result in an increase in the abundance and richness of aphid predators. Moreover, ladybeetles, representing the majority of trapped predators, were more abundant in mixtures with very low or intermediary functional diversity at sowing, especially in 2014. We hypothesise that certain flower species, which were abundant in certain mixtures (and not in those exhibiting the highest functional diversity), attracted predators and were sufficiently represented to support them. Our results present novel information that could be used to the development of flower mixtures that provide effective ecosystem services, such as pest control.