Incorporating legumes into cropping systems is often proposed as a strategy to maintain agricultural productivity while providing other ecosystem services. However, current research often focuses on certain legume species, thereby omitting common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and overlooking critical aspects such as biodiversity. To address these knowledge gaps, this research aims to quantify provisioning and regulating ecosystem services in Swiss common bean production, emphasising its impact on functional diversity. Therefore, the abundance and diversity of pests, natural enemies, pollinators, decomposers and weeds are examined. Two bush bean varieties are compared with either spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) or maize (Zea mays L.) in three on-farm experiments, each comprising four or five replicates with dimensions of each strip ranging between [2.5 - 6 m x 130 - 170 m]. The arthropods are quantified by conducting transect walks thrice during the vegetation period, as well as by deploying pitfall traps and pan traps twice during the bean flowering period. These arthropods will be classified by ecological function, to analyse the functional diversity in the cropping system. The experiments will be repeated in 2025 and additional arthropod sampling will be conducted on larger on-farm fields. This enables the interpretation of insect diversity from the narrow strips by translating it to commercial common bean practices with larger fields.
