High effectiveness of tailored flower strips in reducing pests and crop plant damage
(2015) In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences 282(1814).- Abstract
- Providing key resources to animals may enhance both their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. We examined the performance of annual flower strips targeted at the promotion of natural pest control in winter wheat. Flower strips were experimentally sown along 10 winter wheat fields across a gradient of landscape complexity (i.e. proportion noncrop area within 750 m around focal fields) and compared with 15 fields with wheat control strips. We found strong reductions in cereal leaf beetle (CLB) density (larvae: 40%; adults of the second generation: 53%) and plant damage caused by CLB (61%) in fields with flower strips compared with control fields. Natural enemies of CLB were strongly increased in flower strips and in part... (More)
- Providing key resources to animals may enhance both their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. We examined the performance of annual flower strips targeted at the promotion of natural pest control in winter wheat. Flower strips were experimentally sown along 10 winter wheat fields across a gradient of landscape complexity (i.e. proportion noncrop area within 750 m around focal fields) and compared with 15 fields with wheat control strips. We found strong reductions in cereal leaf beetle (CLB) density (larvae: 40%; adults of the second generation: 53%) and plant damage caused by CLB (61%) in fields with flower strips compared with control fields. Natural enemies of CLB were strongly increased in flower strips and in part also in adjacent wheat fields. Flower strip effects on natural enemies, pests and crop damagewere largely independent of landscape complexity (8–75% non-crop area). Our study demonstrates a high effectiveness of annual flower strips in promoting pest control, reducing CLB pest levels below the economic threshold. Hence, the studied flower strip offers a viable alternative to insecticides. This highlights the high potential of tailored agri-environment schemes to contribute to ecological intensification and may encourage more farmers to adopt such schemes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/258389f1-dde5-4286-b7a0-7557da1beea8
- author
- Tschumi, Matthias LU ; Albrecht, Matthias ; Entling, Martin H and Jacot, Katja
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- conservation, biological control, ecosystem functioning, Habitat management, landscape context, Oulema melanopus L.,, wildflower strip
- in
- Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
- volume
- 282
- issue
- 1814
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84940703074
- pmid:26311668
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2015.1369
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 258389f1-dde5-4286-b7a0-7557da1beea8
- date added to LUP
- 2016-05-03 13:40:14
- date last changed
- 2022-04-24 07:02:25
@article{258389f1-dde5-4286-b7a0-7557da1beea8,
abstract = {{Providing key resources to animals may enhance both their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. We examined the performance of annual flower strips targeted at the promotion of natural pest control in winter wheat. Flower strips were experimentally sown along 10 winter wheat fields across a gradient of landscape complexity (i.e. proportion noncrop area within 750 m around focal fields) and compared with 15 fields with wheat control strips. We found strong reductions in cereal leaf beetle (CLB) density (larvae: 40%; adults of the second generation: 53%) and plant damage caused by CLB (61%) in fields with flower strips compared with control fields. Natural enemies of CLB were strongly increased in flower strips and in part also in adjacent wheat fields. Flower strip effects on natural enemies, pests and crop damagewere largely independent of landscape complexity (8–75% non-crop area). Our study demonstrates a high effectiveness of annual flower strips in promoting pest control, reducing CLB pest levels below the economic threshold. Hence, the studied flower strip offers a viable alternative to insecticides. This highlights the high potential of tailored agri-environment schemes to contribute to ecological intensification and may encourage more farmers to adopt such schemes.}},
author = {{Tschumi, Matthias and Albrecht, Matthias and Entling, Martin H and Jacot, Katja}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
keywords = {{conservation; biological control; ecosystem functioning; Habitat management; landscape context; Oulema melanopus L.,; wildflower strip}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1814}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
title = {{High effectiveness of tailored flower strips in reducing pests and crop plant damage}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1369}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2015.1369}},
volume = {{282}},
year = {{2015}},
}