Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards

Peisley, Rebecca K.; Saunders, Manu E.; Luck, Gary W.

doi:10.7717/peerj.2179

Cited by 29 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…, Koh , Peisley et al. ), and sometimes resulting in increased yields (Mols and Visser , Kellermann et al. , Maas et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Avian functional traits such as diet, foraging substrate, and foraging behavior underlie the delivery of regulating ecosystem services such as crop pest reduction (S ßekercio glu et al 2016). Birds prey on crop pests (MacLellan 1958, Van Bael et al 2007, Ndang'ang'a et al 2013, Barbaro et al 2016, Kross et al 2016, Milligan et al 2016, reducing crop damage (Hooks et al 2003, Koh 2008, Peisley et al 2016, and sometimes resulting in increased yields (Mols and Visser 2002, Kellermann et al 2008, Maas et al 2013, Classen et al 2014). Thus, decreases in avian functional diversity , S ßekercio glu 2012) are expected to have ecological and economic consequences for agriculture (S ßekercio glu et al 2004(S ßekercio glu et al , Karp et al 2013b.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiscale habitat mediates pest reduction by birds in an intensive agricultural region

Heath

Long²

2019

Ecosphere

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Habitat augmentation on farms is predicted to conserve biological diversity and support beneficial animals that reduce crop pests. Effectiveness of local habitat enhancement and subsequent pest reduction services can be mediated by the amount of habitat at larger scales. We tested whether the presence and increase of local and landscape scale bird habitat increased avian predator abundance and pest reduction by birds. We surveyed birds and performed a sentinel prey exclosure experiment in walnut orchards in the Sacramento Valley, California, USA—comparing predation probability between orchards with (n = 10) and without (n = 10) woody habitat in uncultivated orchard margins. We digitized seminatural habitat cover in landscapes around orchards to test the effectiveness of avian predators in reducing sentinel prey along a seminatural cover gradient of 0–38%. Experimental prey were diapausing larvae of Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae; codling moth), a significant pest of walnuts, which overwinter in cocoons in orchards, emerge as adults, and produce larvae that feed on the nuts the following spring. Permitting bird access to cocoons increased larval predation from 11% (caged) to 46% (no cage), and predation increased with increasing proportions of seminatural habitat within 500‐m of orchard transects. Predation also increased as the size and bark furrow depth of walnut trees increased, likely because these characteristics were associated with increasing abundance of avian predators with functional traits specific to consuming tree‐dwelling cocoons (e.g., woodpeckers). The presence and increasing complexity of local margin habitat increased the species richness and abundance of avian predators but was not predictive of cocoon predation. Consistent with intermediate landscape‐complexity hypothesis predictions, the effect size of woodpecker abundance on predation was large in simple landscapes (1–20% seminatural cover) and low in complex landscapes (>20% cover). Contrary to predictions, effect size was large in cleared landscapes (<1% cover), suggesting that orchards supported predators in cleared landscapes, with positive effects on pest reduction. We provide evidence that increasing the abundance of avian predators with traits specific for consuming target pests—by retaining old trees and seminatural cover—can increase orchard pest reduction services in an intensive agricultural region.

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“…, Koh , Peisley et al. ), and sometimes resulting in increased yields (Mols and Visser , Kellermann et al. , Maas et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiscale habitat mediates pest reduction by birds in an intensive agricultural region

Heath

Long²

2019

Ecosphere

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“…Early work used this method to study how body coloration affected predation rates in snakes [51, 52]. Since then, clay models have been used in predation studies to represent a wide range of taxa including frogs [53], salamanders [54], lizards [55], and insect larvae [56]. …”

Section: Workflow Application: 3d Printed Anolis Lizardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In many of these studies, models are constructed by hand either completely or nearly completely from clay (e.g., [52, 54, 56, 57]). In other studies, silicon molds are made from preserved specimens, which are then used to make models either directly out of clay [58], or out of plaster which is then covered with clay [59].…”

Section: Workflow Application: 3d Printed Anolis Lizardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits and limitations of three-dimensional printing technology for ecological research

et al. 2018

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BackgroundEcological research often involves sampling and manipulating non-model organisms that reside in heterogeneous environments. As such, ecologists often adapt techniques and ideas from industry and other scientific fields to design and build equipment, tools, and experimental contraptions custom-made for the ecological systems under study. Three-dimensional (3D) printing provides a way to rapidly produce identical and novel objects that could be used in ecological studies, yet ecologists have been slow to adopt this new technology. Here, we provide ecologists with an introduction to 3D printing.ResultsFirst, we give an overview of the ecological research areas in which 3D printing is predicted to be the most impactful and review current studies that have already used 3D printed objects. We then outline a methodological workflow for integrating 3D printing into an ecological research program and give a detailed example of a successful implementation of our 3D printing workflow for 3D printed models of the brown anole, Anolis sagrei, for a field predation study. After testing two print media in the field, we show that the models printed from the less expensive and more sustainable material (blend of 70% plastic and 30% recycled wood fiber) were just as durable and had equal predator attack rates as the more expensive material (100% virgin plastic).ConclusionsOverall, 3D printing can provide time and cost savings to ecologists, and with recent advances in less toxic, biodegradable, and recyclable print materials, ecologists can choose to minimize social and environmental impacts associated with 3D printing. The main hurdles for implementing 3D printing—availability of resources like printers, scanners, and software, as well as reaching proficiency in using 3D image software—may be easier to overcome at institutions with digital imaging centers run by knowledgeable staff. As with any new technology, the benefits of 3D printing are specific to a particular project, and ecologists must consider the investments of developing usable 3D materials for research versus other methods of generating those materials.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12898-018-0190-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Studies into the detrimental behaviors of birds rarely focus on potentially beneficial 70 impacts, and similarly, studies into the beneficial pest-control services of birds rarely focus on 71 the fact that the same species may cause damage to crops (Pejchar et al 2018) with a few 72 recent exceptions (Peisley et al 2016, Gonthier et al 2019). The effects of natural vegetation 73 on biological control can vary with crop type, seasonality, farm management, and the 74 demographic effects of interactions between natural enemies and pests (Karp et al 2018, 75 Settele and Settle 2018).…”

Section: Introduction 41mentioning

confidence: 99%

Net effects of field and landscape scale habitat on insect and bird damage to sunflowers

Kross

Martinico

Bourbour

et al. 2019

Preprint

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AbstractAgriculture-dominated landscapes harbor significantly diminished biodiversity, but are also areas in which significant gains in biodiversity can be achieved. Planting or retaining woody vegetation along field margins can provide farmers with valuable ecosystem services while simultaneously benefitting biodiversity. However, when crops are damaged by the biodiversity harbored in such vegetation, farmers are reluctant to incorporate field margin habitat onto their land and may even actively remove such habitats, at cost to both farmers and non-target wildlife. We investigated how damage by both insect pests (sunflower moth, Homoeosoma electellum) and avian pests to sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seed crops varied as a function of bird abundance and diversity, as well as by landscape-scale habitat. Surveys for insect damage, avian abundance, and bird damage were carried out over two years in 30 different fields on farms in California’s Sacramento Valley. The mean percentage of moth-damaged sunflowers sampled was nearly four times higher in fields that had bare or weedy margins (23.5%) compared to fields with woody vegetation (5.9%) and decreased in both field types as landscape-scale habitat complexity declined. Birds damaged significantly fewer sunflower seeds (2.7%) than insects, and bird damage was not affected by field margin habitat type, landscape-scale habitat variables, or avian abundance, but was significantly higher along field edges compared to ≥ 50m from the field edge. Avian species richness nearly doubled in fields with woody margin habitat compared to fields with bare/weedy margins in both the breeding season and in fall. These results indicate that the benefits of planting or retaining woody vegetation along sunflower field margins could outweigh the ecosystem disservices related to bird damage, while simultaneously increasing the biodiversity value of intensively farmed agricultural landscapes.

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Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards

Cited by 29 publications

References 48 publications

Multiscale habitat mediates pest reduction by birds in an intensive agricultural region

Multiscale habitat mediates pest reduction by birds in an intensive agricultural region

Benefits and limitations of three-dimensional printing technology for ecological research

Net effects of field and landscape scale habitat on insect and bird damage to sunflowers

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