A B S T R A C TThere is limited understanding about how insect movement patterns are influenced by landscape features, and how landscapes can be managed to suppress pest phytophage populations in crops. Theory suggests that the relative timing of pest and natural enemy arrival in crops may influence pest suppression. However, there is a lack of data to substantiate this claim. We investigate the movement patterns of insects from native vegetation (NV) and discuss the implications of these patterns for pest control services. Using bi-directional interception traps we quantified the number of insects crossing an NV/crop ecotone relative to a control crop/crop interface in two agricultural regions early in the growing season. We used these data to infer patterns of movement and net flux. At the community-level, insect movement patterns were influenced by ecotone in two out of three years by region combinations. At the functional-group level, pests and parasitoids showed similar movement patterns from NV very soon after crop emergence. However, movement across the control interface increased towards the end of the earlyseason sampling period. Predators consistently moved more often from NV into crops than vice versa, even after crop emergence. Not all species showed a significant response to ecotone, however when a response was detected, these species showed similar patterns between the two regions. Our results highlight the importance of NV for the recruitment of natural enemies for early season crop immigration that may be potentially important for pest suppression. However, NV was also associated with crop immigration by some pest species. Hence, NV offers both opportunities and risks for pest management. The development of targeted NV management may reduce the risk of crop immigration by pests, but not of natural enemies.Crown

1. Pollination shortfalls affect yield of many crops, and the use of managed honeybee colonies is a common practice for addressing the problem. However, colony density and arrangement strategies are not generally based on replicated scientific trials, so there is considerable uncertainty regarding effectiveness of different practices. We address this problem with experiments in almond orchards in south-east Australia, considering impacts on honeybee pollen foraging and fruit set. 2. We examined the effect of distance from colony location on the depletion rate of pollen from flowers near (~40 m) and far (260-490 m) from colonies in almond orchards. We assessed pollen loads of 950 flowers in total, collected at four times of day (9-9:30 h, 11-11:30 h, 13-13:30 h and 15-15:30 h), from 8 near : far pairs. We also surveyed fruit set on nearly 900 trees in replicated transects over two seasons to determine the effect of distance from colony when using large placements of colonies (~120 colonies, N = 581 trees), and effect of colony density when using smaller placements of colonies (N = 313 trees). 3. Flowers near colonies maintained an approximately constant mean pollen load over the course of the day, indicating that the rate of pollen released by flowers was matched by the rate of pollen collection by bees. Flowers far from colonies increased in pollen load over the course of the day, indicating relatively less pollen-collecting activity, so that by 15:30 h they had, on average, 46% more than flowers near colonies. 4. Fruit set declined with distance by 22% over 850 m, consistent with the observation that pollen foraging declines over distance from colony. Fruit set also declined with colony density from 46% at 6Á8 colonies per ha to 33% at 2Á8 colonies per ha. 5. Synthesis and applications. Pollen-collecting activity is relatively low at flowers far from honeybee colonies, creating a risk of lost yield through underpollination. Fruit set declines if colony density is reduced below 6Á8 colonies per ha. Pollination outcomes in terms of fruit set are improved when fewer colonies are used per placement (<100) and placements of colonies are arranged with shorter distances (<700 m) between them, so that more trees are within 400 m of colonies.

Broad-leaved weeds in pasture, such as Carduus nutans, Onopordum spp. and Echium plantagineum are a major problem for graziers in southern Australia. Previous attempts to combat these weeds with a single technique have only resulted in short-term success. An approach to long-term control, combining biological control with different grazing and herbicide strategies, was evaluated in an integrated weed management (IWM) programme, in south-eastern Australia. This IWM study was one of the few that has focused on biological control agents. During the field trials, the impacts of grazing and herbicide treatments on the weed and biological control agents, as well as on pasture composition, were monitored. This paper concentrates on the part of the study that focuses on the role and importance of pasture composition as part of weed management. The main pasture components were monitored using BOTANAL, a sampling technique for estimating species composition and pasture yield in the field. IWM is a long-term ecological approach and after 3 years, major trends were just becoming apparent. This study shows that pasture composition can be manipulated to increase productivity and sustainability. It demonstrates that broad-leaved weeds can be reduced when high level pasture background management and chemical control are combined.

Bee responses to anthropogenic disturbances have received much recent attention in scientific literature. These studies typically involve 1–3 years of sampling along spatial gradients of disturbance, though occasionally greater temporal replication and/or longer time periods are used at the expense of spatial replication. We surveyed bees using a blue vane trap during spring, summer and autumn from 2008 to 2017 at one location in Canberra, Australia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest near‐continuous record of bee activity in the southern hemisphere. We use these data to describe the temporal dynamics of the bee community, which was characterised by high annual variability in overall abundance, richness and composition and a negative correlation between spring rainfall and bee activity. The phenologies of abundant species are also described. Our findings relate only to our study site but are similar to findings from other long‐term studies conducted in the northern hemisphere, which collectively present a picture of high natural variability in bee communities that must be considered when interpreting findings of bee responses to anthropogenic disturbances.