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Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

Karp, Daniel S. ; Smith, Henrik G. LU and Zou, Yi (2018) In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115(33). p.7863-7870
Abstract
The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition.... (More)
The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies. © 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agroecology, Biodiversity, Biological control, Ecosystem services, Natural enemies, agricultural worker, article, biodiversity, biology, crop pest, habitat, human, landscape, natural enemy, nonhuman, predator, prediction, animal, biological model, biological pest control, crop, ecosystem, growth, development and aging, parasitology, Animals, Crops, Agricultural, Ecosystem, Models, Biological, Pest Control, Biological
in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
volume
115
issue
33
pages
7863 - 7870
publisher
National Academy of Sciences
external identifiers
  • scopus:85050686845
  • pmid:30072434
ISSN
1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1800042115
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1b4166f4-77d6-4567-b90f-5a7bbd3839fe
date added to LUP
2019-12-10 15:38:20
date last changed
2022-04-18 19:22:57
@article{1b4166f4-77d6-4567-b90f-5a7bbd3839fe,
  abstract     = {{The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies. © 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Karp, Daniel S. and Smith, Henrik G. and Zou, Yi}},
  issn         = {{1091-6490}},
  keywords     = {{Agroecology; Biodiversity; Biological control; Ecosystem services; Natural enemies; agricultural worker; article; biodiversity; biology; crop pest; habitat; human; landscape; natural enemy; nonhuman; predator; prediction; animal; biological model; biological pest control; crop; ecosystem; growth, development and aging; parasitology; Animals; Crops, Agricultural; Ecosystem; Models, Biological; Pest Control, Biological}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{33}},
  pages        = {{7863--7870}},
  publisher    = {{National Academy of Sciences}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}},
  title        = {{Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1800042115}},
  doi          = {{10.1073/pnas.1800042115}},
  volume       = {{115}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}