The aim of the present review is to analyse the complex relationships between orchard systems, i.e. orchard design and practices, and functional biodiversity with a focus on plant, arthropod and bird communities. Our work is based on a thorough investigation of the ISIWeb of Knowledge database from 1992 to January 2008, and on former articles cited in this literature, complemented by recently accepted articles. Orchards were considered to be agricultural surface areas dedicated to fruit production, which excluded several types of agroforestry or pastoral systems planted with fruit trees. Only pome and stone fruit productions in temperate areas were studied. Lastly, biodiversity was defined according to Noss (1990) and comprised compositional, structural and functional biodiversity on different scales. We develop two main points: (i) the contribution of orchard systems to plant and animal diversity against
adverse effects of orchard practices on biodiversity, and (ii) the benefits for the orchard pest management of biological control through the conservation of habitats.