1. Dry calcareous grassland remnants play a key role in conserving European pollinators. In agricultural landscapes, agri-environmental schemes (AES; e.g., extensively managed meadows) and other semi-natural habitats (SNH; e.g., forests) can provide complementary resources. However, it remains unclear (i) how local factors (patch size and floral resource quality), landscape context (AES and SNH cover) and their interactions affect different pollinator groups, including rare species; (ii) which foraging plants are key to promote pollinators; and (iii) how local management (grazing vs. mowing) influences floral quality.
2. We surveyed wild bees, butterflies, hoverflies, and their interactions with flowering plants across 27 protected dry calcareous grasslands in Switzerland, spanning independent gradients of patch size, floral resource quality, and surrounding AES meadow and woody SNH cover.
3. Locally, patch quality (floral cover and species richness) was more important than patch size in promoting species richness of all pollinator groups and density of butterflies and wild bees. At the landscape-scale, woody SNH promoted wild bee density in focal calcareous grasslands, while butterfly richness decreased with increasing AES meadow cover, independent of local factors (no significant interactions).
4. Among 171 recorded flowering plant species, 58 were identified as key forage plants (i.e., species with disproportionately high pollinator visitor frequency or richness relative to flower cover), including 11 supporting rare pollinators. Key plants varied across pollinator group and season. While local management type did not affect flower cover, grazed sites supported, on average, 32% greater floral species richness than mown sites. Abundance weighted turnover of flowering species was greater among mown and grazed calcareous grasslands than among sites of the same management.
5. Synthesis and applications. Pollinator conservation in calcareous grasslands should prioritize enhancing local patch quality while promoting landscape heterogeneity, including woody SNH. To improve forage quality, our analytical approach supports targeted grassland management in selecting key forage plants, promoting complementary and diverse floral assemblages that support multiple pollinator taxa, including rare species, throughout the season. Extensive grazing can promote floral species richness, including key forage plants, whereas combining mowing and grazing across different patches of calcareous grassland better promotes beta diversity of floral resources.