Study area and research design
The study area of KOOPERATIV is the district of Northeim in Lower Saxony, Germany. A landscape experiment based on 37 study landscapes (1 km² in size each) was established. Landscapes differ in terms of their structural richness (i.e. the proportion of semi-natural habitats such as hedges, fallow land or flowering areas). In 31 of these 37 landscapes, perennial flowering areas with a total amount of approx. 250 hectares were established by the 41 involved farms in the project. The remaining six landscapes represent control landscapes without project measures. In addition to the structural richness, the proportion of flowering areas in the 31 landscapes also varies (from 3.5 to 13.5 hectares). This design allows the determination of the optimal configuration of flowering areas at the landscape level which is required to promote biodiversity and ecosystem services most effectively (see WP 3).
The 41 participating farms vary in terms of their size (<20 hectares to >1,000 hectares) and operational orientation, which allows the considerations of different operational structures in the analysis of the economic consequences (see WP 4). In addition, some flowering areas are created jointly by several farms and with the support of other rural stakeholders, which requires cooperative governance (see WP 2).

Perennial flowering areas
The perennial flowering areas are part of the Lower Saxony agri-environmental scheme BF2 - Perennial flowering and conservation strips with single sowing. This scheme is characterised by a five-year term and a regionally certified seed mixture of 33 wild species (see here for seed composition). Each KOOPERATIV flowering area is over 0.3 hectares in size and at least 20 metres wide, providing undisturbed refuge, feeding and hibernation areas for a variety of wildlife species in agricultural landscapes.
All flowering areas were planted in the autumn sowing period of 2022 or the spring period of 2023. The following map provides an overview of the location of the flowering areas in the district of Northeim (red rectangles represent flowering areas and blue hexagons represent study landscapes):


The flowering areas are marked with field signs so that they can be visited on site. The field signs were provided with the kind support of the municipalities in the district of Northeim.