Pollinator-promoting wildflower fields attract farmland birds and rodents, depending on spatial configuration and landscape context

To mitigate the decline of pollinators in farmlands, a widely used approach is to establish wildflower fields. Their effects beyond pollinators, however, require further investigation in Central-Eastern Europe, even regarding popular taxa such as birds, and potential pest species such as rodents. We established wildflower plantings in two spatial configurations (one field or three strips with the same area per plot) in both homogeneous and heterogeneous agricultural landscapes in Central Hungary. We found that fields increase bird species number, individual number and Shannon-diversity in homogeneous agricultural landscapes, but not in heterogeneous landscapes, which in general are more diverse regardless of wildflower plantings. Also, wildflower fields promote rodents compared to arable fields. Thus, wildflower fields may have a wide range of biodiversity benefits beyond pollinators depending on field area and landscape context. These results provide evidence from Central-Eastern Europe to support the implementation of the European Union's Nature Restoration Regulation.