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Ecological production functions for biological control services in agricultural landscapes

Jonsson, Mattias ; Bommarco, Riccardo ; Ekbom, Barbara ; Smith, Henrik LU ; Bengtsson, Jan ; Caballero-Lopez, Berta ; Winqvist, Camilla and Olsson, Ola LU orcid (2014) In Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5(3). p.243-252
Abstract
Research relating to ecosystem services has increased, partly because of drastic declines in biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, the mechanistic linkages between land use, biodiversity and service provision are poorly understood and synthesized. This is particularly true for many ecosystem services provided by mobile organisms such as natural enemies to crop pests. These species are not only influenced by local land use but also by landscape composition at larger spatial scales. We present a conceptual ecological production function framework for predicting land-use impact on biological control of pests by natural enemies. We develop a novel, mechanistic landscape model for biological control of cereal aphids, explicitly... (More)
Research relating to ecosystem services has increased, partly because of drastic declines in biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, the mechanistic linkages between land use, biodiversity and service provision are poorly understood and synthesized. This is particularly true for many ecosystem services provided by mobile organisms such as natural enemies to crop pests. These species are not only influenced by local land use but also by landscape composition at larger spatial scales. We present a conceptual ecological production function framework for predicting land-use impact on biological control of pests by natural enemies. We develop a novel, mechanistic landscape model for biological control of cereal aphids, explicitly accounting for the influence of landscape composition on natural enemies varying in mobility, feeding rates and other life history traits. Finally, we use the model to map biological control services across cereal fields in a Swedish agricultural region with varying landscape complexity. The model predicted that biological control would reduce crop damage by 45-70% and that the biological control effect would be higher in complex landscapes. In a validation with independent data, the model performed well and predicted a significant proportion of biological control variation in cereal fields. However, much variability remains to be explained, and we propose that the model could be improved by refining the mechanistic understanding of predator dynamics and accounting for variation in aphid colonization. We encourage scientists working with biological control to adopt the conceptual framework presented here and to develop production functions for other crop-pest systems. If this kind of ecological production function is combined with production functions for other services, the joint model will be a powerful tool for managing ecosystem services and planning for sustainable agriculture at the landscape scale. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
model, natural enemy, aphid, ecosystem service, economic value, predator, pest, land use
in
Methods in Ecology and Evolution
volume
5
issue
3
pages
243 - 252
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000332517100005
  • scopus:84897766612
ISSN
2041-210X
DOI
10.1111/2041-210X.12149
project
LInking farmland Biodiversity to Ecosystem seRvices for effective
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e905f89d-714c-4d66-84d9-8323c3e0d29d (old id 4410711)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:26:43
date last changed
2024-04-24 08:26:23
@article{e905f89d-714c-4d66-84d9-8323c3e0d29d,
  abstract     = {{Research relating to ecosystem services has increased, partly because of drastic declines in biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, the mechanistic linkages between land use, biodiversity and service provision are poorly understood and synthesized. This is particularly true for many ecosystem services provided by mobile organisms such as natural enemies to crop pests. These species are not only influenced by local land use but also by landscape composition at larger spatial scales. We present a conceptual ecological production function framework for predicting land-use impact on biological control of pests by natural enemies. We develop a novel, mechanistic landscape model for biological control of cereal aphids, explicitly accounting for the influence of landscape composition on natural enemies varying in mobility, feeding rates and other life history traits. Finally, we use the model to map biological control services across cereal fields in a Swedish agricultural region with varying landscape complexity. The model predicted that biological control would reduce crop damage by 45-70% and that the biological control effect would be higher in complex landscapes. In a validation with independent data, the model performed well and predicted a significant proportion of biological control variation in cereal fields. However, much variability remains to be explained, and we propose that the model could be improved by refining the mechanistic understanding of predator dynamics and accounting for variation in aphid colonization. We encourage scientists working with biological control to adopt the conceptual framework presented here and to develop production functions for other crop-pest systems. If this kind of ecological production function is combined with production functions for other services, the joint model will be a powerful tool for managing ecosystem services and planning for sustainable agriculture at the landscape scale.}},
  author       = {{Jonsson, Mattias and Bommarco, Riccardo and Ekbom, Barbara and Smith, Henrik and Bengtsson, Jan and Caballero-Lopez, Berta and Winqvist, Camilla and Olsson, Ola}},
  issn         = {{2041-210X}},
  keywords     = {{model; natural enemy; aphid; ecosystem service; economic value; predator; pest; land use}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{243--252}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Methods in Ecology and Evolution}},
  title        = {{Ecological production functions for biological control services in agricultural landscapes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12149}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/2041-210X.12149}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}