Abstract
Agriculture can have substantial negative impacts on the environment. The establishment and management
of vegetated strips adjacent to farmed fields (including various field margins, buffer strips and hedgerows)
are commonly advocated mitigation measures for these negative environmental impacts. However, it may be difficult
to obtain reliable evidence on the effects of implementation and management of vegetated strips, even though a
substantial body of evidence exists. We describe a systematic map of research relating to vegetated strips in boreotemperate
farming systems to answer the question: What evidence exists regarding the effects of field margins on
nutrients, pollutants, socioeconomics, biodiversity, and soil retention in boreo-temperate systems?
Methods: We searched 13 bibliographic databases, 1 search engine and 37 websites of stakeholder organisations
using a predefined and tested search string focusing on a comprehensive list of English language vegetated strip
synonyms...