2 Methods

2.1 Study area

All field experiments were performed within the framework of the research project “REGRASS” (Re-establishing grassland-strips to promote biodiversity and ecosystem services ) that was located near the villages Elsbach (48°15’08.3”N 16°02’56.9”E) and Ollern (48°16’02.5”N 16°05’07.9”E) in the area of Sieghartskirchen, Lower Austria (mean annual air temperature: 12.4 °C, mean annual precipitation: 628 mm; Kreuth 2019). The region is characterised by small-scale but intensively managed agricultural land, along the foothills of the Wienerwald forests. Within the study region (Elsbach, Ollern) five crop fields were selected, adjacent to extensively managed, semi-natural pasture (old grasslands; OG). In each of which three different transects directly adjacent to the old grasslands were established (see Fig. 1): newly established grasslands (NG), a transect within cereal fields ten meters next (CN) to new grasslands and within cereal fields in far (CF) distance of >80 meters to new grasslands. Each transect contained six sampling plots at a regular distance of 35 meters, making up 15 transects comprising 90 sampling plots in total. The first sampling plot of each transect was located in the old grasslands. Grassland ant species, as well as biocontrol potential were investigated over a period of two months between 8th of April to 7th of June 2019.