https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue Search results en Pest and plant assessments were performed on a total of five field experiments in 2024 (n=2) and 2025 (n=3) in Scania southernmost Sweden. Each experiment had five treatments: sugar beet intercropped with spring Barley, sugar beet intercropped with Persian clover, sugar beet intercropped with white mustard and two controls: sugar beet sole cropping with band spraying of herbicide and sugar beet sole cropping with broad spraying of herbicide. We focused on inspect pest assessments on leaves and stems. Pest assessments on leaves consisted of counting the number of beet leafminer eggs, aphids and leaf injuries by thrips, flea beetles, pygmy mangold beetles or vertebrates in four randomly selected groups of five plants in each plot. In 2024, surveys were conducted between the 8th and the 30th of May, at three-four day intervals, while in 2025 they were conducted between the 15th of April and the 15th of May, at five-nine day intervals. Pest assessments on stems consisted of counting the number of injuries per plant, in 10 randomly selected plants, twice between the 13th and the 24th of May in 2024. Whereas in 2025, these were evaluated as the proportion of the stem injured in each plant, in 15 randomly selected plants, once between the 23rd and 28th of April. All leaf and stem pest assessments were performed while the crop was between BBCH growth stages 9 and 16, because, with the exception of aphids, this period corresponds to when pests inflict the most economically important crop injury. Plant assessments were performed at crop stage BBCH 15-16 (based on the standardized BBCH scale for plant phenological development). We measured sugar beet plant density and the aboveground biomass of service crops, weeds and sugar beet (the latter was measured only in 2025). These assessments were done in four 1 by 1 m quadrats in each plot. In 2025 however, a proportion of the assessments of biomass of service crop and weeds were only done in 50% or 25% of the quadrat. All data were aggregated across samples (plants) and survey rounds for each site and treatment for analysis. For further information, see methods in the manuscript "Service crops for protection against multiple insect pests in sugar beet during crop establishment" by Neus Rodriguez-Gasol, Göran Bergkvist & Ola Lundin. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:17:00 GMT https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2026-194 https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2026-194 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Neus Rodriguez-Gasol Göran Bergkvist Ola Lundin We studied the effects of different landscape parameters at three spatial scales on the densities of and damage caused by five major insect pests of sugar beet in 134 sugar beet fields monitored across five years in Denmark and Sweden. The landscape parameters investigated include the cover of cropland as measure of landscape simplification, the absolute inter-annual change in host crop cover (sugar beet), the landscape-level crop diversity in the previous year and the edge-density in the surrounding landscapes. The pests were monitored in a standardised monitoring scheme with one observation plot in each field and the respective values represent the maximum observed densities or damage at economically relevant development stages (see detailed description below). Pest densities and damage were recorded in five clusters of five plants selected at random within the observation plot avoiding plot edges and tractor tracks. Landscape parameters were extracted from the official land-use maps provided by the Danish Agricultural Agency (Landbrugsstyrelsen, 2024. Internet Markkort (IMK). Ministeriet for Fødevarer, Landbrug og Fiskeri, København) and the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket, 2024. Kartor och Geografiska informationssystem - Årslager skiftesdata. Jordbruksverket) at three buffer radii (500 m, 1000 m and 2000 m) around the centre of the observation plots. For further information, see methods in the publication Boetzl et al. (2026) Landscape-scale drivers of insect pest regulation in sugar beet. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. The data in the 'sugarbeet_pests_data.csv' file have information on the prevalence and damage caused by five major sugar beet pests (black bean aphid, pygmy mangold beetle, flea beetles, beet leafminers and thrips) at the respective economically relevant sugar beet growth stages recorded in 134 fields ('ID') in Denmark and Sweden as well as landscape parameters in the landscapes surrounding these fields at three spatial scales (500 m, 1000 m and 2000 m). 135 rows. 'NA' indicates missing values. SLU has led data analysis and publication of the scientific article. Nordic Beet Research has coordinated data collection. University of Copenhagen has contributed to data interpretation. Mon, 06 Oct 2025 14:32:57 GMT https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2025-255 https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2025-255 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Ola Lundin Fabian Boetzl We sampled pollinators, natural enemies, and herbivores using visual observations, yellow sticky traps, pitfall traps and tiller counts, as well as estimated predation and decomposition rates using sentinel prey cards and bait lamina strips in ten pairs of pollinator attractive perennial flower strips and control field margins, and their adjacent cereal fields in Skåne, Sweden in 2021. Field margins (flower strip vs spontaneous vegetation control) were characterized by estimating the percentage of plant cover and the total floral area (for each species we calculated the number of floral units x average floral area) in eight 0.6 x 0.6 m quadrats evenly distributed along a 100 m transect. Data was collected twice during the main growing period of the flower mixture. Pollinators (hoverflies, honey bees, bumblebees, solitary bees and butterflies) visiting flowers were surveyed for 10 minutes along a 100 m long and 1 m wide transect in each field margin type. Pollinators were surveyed twice during the main period of the flower mixture on the same days as the margin characterization was done. Leaf-dwelling natural enemies and herbivores were sampled using yellow sticky traps (20 cm x 12.6 cm). Four traps of each type were placed along the 100 m transect in the field margins and another four in the adjacent crop area, at 10 m from the margins, for a total of 16 traps per site. Traps were spaced 20 m apart within each transect and remained in the field for seven days. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Ground-dwelling natural enemies were sampled using pitfall traps made from polypropylene beakers (12 cm diameter) filled with 200 mL of soapy water. Four traps of each type were placed along the 100 m transect in the field margins and another four in the adjacent crop area, at 10 m from the margins, for a total of 16 traps per site. Traps were spaced 20 m apart within each transect and remained in the field for seven days. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. We counted and identified all arthropods found on four groups of five tillers located along each adjacent crop transect, spaced every 20 m, resulting in 80 crop tillers per site. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Sentinel aphid cards were set up in the field to estimate aphid predation rates. Four groups of two cards at ground level and two cards at vegetation level were set up along each adjacent crop transect, spaced every 20 m, resulting in 32 cards per site. Sentinel prey cards were exposed simultaneously during the first sampling interval of the tiller counts. After 24 hours of exposure, the sentinel prey cards were collected, and the remaining aphids were counted. Decomposition rates were estimated by setting up bait lamina strips filled with a standardized bait mixture. Four groups of five strips were placed along each 100 m transect, with groups spaced every 20 m, resulting in 80 strips per site. Within each group, strips were spaced 20 cm apart. The lamina strips were buried in the ground for 15 days, coinciding with the end of the surveys. After this exposure period, we recorded the number of pierced holes and calculated the decomposition rate by dividing the number of pierced holes by the total number of bait-filled holes. All data were aggregated across samples and survey rounds for each field margin habitat and the adjacent in-crop area. For further information, see methods in the manuscript Rodríguez-Gasol et al. ’Perennial flower strips increase pollinator and natural enemy abundance but show limited efficacy in pest control for adjacent crops’. Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:12:23 GMT https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2025-102 https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2025-102 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Neus Rodriguez-Gasol Maria Viketoft Elodie Chapurlat Johan A. Stenberg Mattias Jonsson Ola Lundin We sampled pollinators, natural enemies, and herbivores, and estimated predation rates using visual observations, yellow sticky traps, pitfall traps, tiller counts and sentinel prey cards in eight pairs of pollinator attractive annual flower strips and control field margins, and their adjacent cereal fields in Skåne, Sweden in 2021. Field margins (flower strip vs spontaneous vegetation control) were characterized by estimating the percentage of plant cover and the total floral area (for each species we calculated the number of floral units x average floral area) in eight 0.6 x 0.6 m squares evenly distributed along the 100 m transect. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Pollinators (hoverflies, honey bees, bumblebees, solitary bees, and butterflies) visiting flowers were surveyed for 10 minutes along a 100 m long and 1 m wide transect in each field margin type. Pollinators were surveyed twice during the main period of the flower mixture on the same days as the margin characterization was done. Leaf-dwelling natural enemies and herbivores were sampled using yellow sticky traps (20 cm x 12.6 cm). Four traps of each type were placed along the 100 m transect in the field margins and another four in the adjacent crop area, at 10 m from the margins, for a total of 16 traps per site. Traps were spaced 20 m apart within each transect and remained in the field for seven days. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Due to a large number of samples only three traps per transect were processed and identified. Ground-dwelling natural enemies were sampled using pitfall traps made from polypropylene beakers (12 cm diameter) filled with 200 mL of soapy water. Four traps of each type were placed along the 100 m transect in the field margins and another four in the adjacent crop area, at 10 m from the margins, for a total of 16 traps per site. Traps were spaced 20 m apart within each transect and remained in the field for seven days. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Due to a large number of samples only three traps per transect were processed and identified. We counted and identified all arthropods found on four groups of five tillers located along each adjacent crop transect, spaced every 20 m, resulting in 80 crop tillers per site. Data was collected twice during the main period of the flower mixture. Sentinel aphid cards were set up in the field to estimate aphid predation rates. Four groups of two cards at ground level and two cards at vegetation level were set up along each adjacent crop transect, spaced every 20 m, resulting in 32 cards per site. Sentinel prey cards were set up once, exposed simultaneously during the first sampling interval of the tiller counts. After 24 hours of exposure, the sentinel prey cards were collected, and the remaining aphids were counted. This survey was conducted only in four of the eight fields. All data were aggregated across samples and survey rounds for each field margin habitat and the adjacent on-crop area. Hushållningssällskapet provided support in identifying suitable study sites, facilitating contact with farmers, and reviewing and editing the final manuscript associated with the dataset For further information, see methods in the manuscript Rodríguez-Gasol et al. "Annual flower strips under the ‘All of Sweden blooms’ initiative - how do they perform for pollinators, natural enemies and herbivores?". Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:09:03 GMT https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2025-270 https://researchdata.se/en/catalogue/dataset/2025-270 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Neus Rodriguez-Gasol Ola Lundin Elodie Chapurlat Mattias Hammarstedt Mattias Jonsson Johan A. Stenberg Maria Viketoft