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Pest abundance and parasitism rates provided by natural enemies in white clover seed production depend on farming system and landscape context

Hederström, Veronica LU ; Lundin, Ola LU ; Berger, Josef LU ; Svensson, Glenn P. LU ; Rundlöf, Maj LU orcid ; Anderbrant, Olle LU ; Lankinen, Åsa LU and Larsson, Mattias C. LU (2026) In Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 411.
Abstract

Natural enemies provide an important ecosystem service, limiting the population densities of insect pests in agricultural crops. In white clover (Trifolium repens L.) grown for seed production, the white clover seed weevil (Protapion fulvipes Geoffrey) is a major factor limiting seed yields. We explored the abundances and parasitism rates of P. fulvipes in relation to local field management and landscape context. Furthermore, we investigated the ability of parasitoids to control pests and limit seed loss in white clover. We collected overwintered P. fulvipes with pan traps, sampled the new generation of P. fulvipes and parasitoid wasps emerging from inflorescences, and determined seed set in 45 organic and conventional white clover seed... (More)

Natural enemies provide an important ecosystem service, limiting the population densities of insect pests in agricultural crops. In white clover (Trifolium repens L.) grown for seed production, the white clover seed weevil (Protapion fulvipes Geoffrey) is a major factor limiting seed yields. We explored the abundances and parasitism rates of P. fulvipes in relation to local field management and landscape context. Furthermore, we investigated the ability of parasitoids to control pests and limit seed loss in white clover. We collected overwintered P. fulvipes with pan traps, sampled the new generation of P. fulvipes and parasitoid wasps emerging from inflorescences, and determined seed set in 45 organic and conventional white clover seed fields over four consecutive years in southernmost Sweden. The abundance of overwintered P. fulvipes increased, whereas parasitism rates decreased, with the proportion of arable land surrounding the clover field. Insecticide treatment in conventional fields and longer distance to the closest white clover seed field in the previous year decreased the abundance of overwintered P. fulvipes, whereas insecticide treatment but not distance affected parasitism rates. Increased parasitism was related to lower pest emergence from inflorescences, but did not modulate the negative effect of P. fulvipes on seed set, possibly due to low average parasitism rates (12%) and delayed effects of parasitism on seed predation. We conclude that improving the landscape complexity by increasing the amount of non-crop area, or placing the crop in an already complex landscape, can achieve both lower pest abundance and higher parasitism rates. Spatiotemporal host crop isolation is an additional measure that counteracts pest pressure without affecting parasitism rates.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Mesopolobus incultus, Organic farming, Parasitic wasps, Parasitoids, Protapion fulvipes, Seed set, Spintherus dubius, Trifolium repens
in
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
volume
411
article number
110606
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105043449073
ISSN
0167-8809
DOI
10.1016/j.agee.2026.110606
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
id
d787b594-257c-442b-82db-928336205a6f
date added to LUP
2026-10-02 11:25:28
date last changed
2026-10-02 11:26:03
@article{d787b594-257c-442b-82db-928336205a6f,
  abstract     = {{<p>Natural enemies provide an important ecosystem service, limiting the population densities of insect pests in agricultural crops. In white clover (Trifolium repens L.) grown for seed production, the white clover seed weevil (Protapion fulvipes Geoffrey) is a major factor limiting seed yields. We explored the abundances and parasitism rates of P. fulvipes in relation to local field management and landscape context. Furthermore, we investigated the ability of parasitoids to control pests and limit seed loss in white clover. We collected overwintered P. fulvipes with pan traps, sampled the new generation of P. fulvipes and parasitoid wasps emerging from inflorescences, and determined seed set in 45 organic and conventional white clover seed fields over four consecutive years in southernmost Sweden. The abundance of overwintered P. fulvipes increased, whereas parasitism rates decreased, with the proportion of arable land surrounding the clover field. Insecticide treatment in conventional fields and longer distance to the closest white clover seed field in the previous year decreased the abundance of overwintered P. fulvipes, whereas insecticide treatment but not distance affected parasitism rates. Increased parasitism was related to lower pest emergence from inflorescences, but did not modulate the negative effect of P. fulvipes on seed set, possibly due to low average parasitism rates (12%) and delayed effects of parasitism on seed predation. We conclude that improving the landscape complexity by increasing the amount of non-crop area, or placing the crop in an already complex landscape, can achieve both lower pest abundance and higher parasitism rates. Spatiotemporal host crop isolation is an additional measure that counteracts pest pressure without affecting parasitism rates.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hederström, Veronica and Lundin, Ola and Berger, Josef and Svensson, Glenn P. and Rundlöf, Maj and Anderbrant, Olle and Lankinen, Åsa and Larsson, Mattias C.}},
  issn         = {{0167-8809}},
  keywords     = {{Mesopolobus incultus; Organic farming; Parasitic wasps; Parasitoids; Protapion fulvipes; Seed set; Spintherus dubius; Trifolium repens}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment}},
  title        = {{Pest abundance and parasitism rates provided by natural enemies in white clover seed production depend on farming system and landscape context}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2026.110606}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.agee.2026.110606}},
  volume       = {{411}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}