Effective biological control of an invasive mealybug pest enhances root yield in cassava

Thancharoen, Anchana; Lankaew, S.; Moonjuntha, Phanuwat; Wongphanuwat, T.; Sangtongpraow, B.; Ngoen-Klan, Ratchadawan; Kittipadakul, Piya; Wyckhuys, Kris A. G.

doi:10.1007/s10340-018-1012-y

Cited by 32 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Biological control is conservatively valued at $4.5-13.6 billion annually for US agriculture alone (Pimentel et al 1997, Losey andVaughan 2006), and insect 'natural enemies' deliver pest control services worth hundreds of dollars ha −1 year −1 in e.g. US corn, Thailand cassava or New Zealand cereals (Naranjo et al 2015, Sandhu et al 2015, Thancharoen et al 2018. Arthropod biological control can generate substantial farm-level savings that often surpass the local per-capita income (Kremen and Merenlender 2018), yet only a fraction of farmers recognize the existence of (on-farm) natural enemies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological illiteracy can deepen farmers’ pesticide dependency

Wyckhuys

Heong

Sánchez‐Bayo

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Nearly 2.5 billion smallholders cultivate the world’s arable land, strategically positioned to tackle multiple Anthropocene challenges. When consciously adopting ecologically-based pest management practices, they can improve resource use efficiency, slow biodiversity loss, curtail environmental pollution and safeguard human health. Yet, the effective implementation of knowledge-intensive management practices requires underlying ecological concepts to be well-understood. Here, drawing upon published social science research spanning 1910–2016, we illuminate deficiencies in the world’s farmers’ ecological literacy and in their valuation of insect-mediated ecosystem services. Though tribal people and indigenous folk possess sophisticated knowledge of insects that occur within farm settings, contemporary farmers on average know a mere 1.9–2.3 pestiferous herbivores and 0.5–0.9 pest-killing organisms (out of a respective 8 and 3 taxa) in a particular crop or cropping system. Ecosystem services such as biological pest control are annually worth hundreds of dollars ha−1 but remain unknown to nearly 70% of farmers globally. Also, agricultural systems with deficient ecological literacy tend to foster a greater dependency upon chemically-synthesized pesticides. If this ‘cognitive handicap’ can be remediated, farmers could become agro-biodiversity stewards and champions in redressing multiple aspects of global environmental change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological illiteracy can deepen farmers’ pesticide dependency

Wyckhuys

Heong

Sánchez‐Bayo

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…45 pest targets over 1918-2018. BC delivered durable pest control in myriad Asia-Pacific agriculture and livestock production sectors, permitting an associated yield-loss recovery up to 73%, 81% or 100% in crops such as cassava, banana or coconut Thancharoen et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, our estimates do not account for cosmetic damage and quality loss to farm produce, loss of export markets, pest management costs (Zalucki et al, 2012), price shocks or rippling effects either backward or forward (i.e., processors of raw produce such as copra) along the value chainwith the latter amplified by trade (Reardon, 2015;Wyckhuys et al, 2018). Moreover, various BC-reliant crops (e.g., bananas, root crops, breadfruit) are not extensively traded in the marketplace and irregularly assigned a monetary value while crops such as cassava overcompensate low-level pest attack (Thancharoen et al, 2018). The 30% lower estimated value of E. thrax biological control in PNG, as compared to full-fledged assessments , exemplifies the conservative nature of our calculations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity-based innovations fortify agricultural growth in Asia-Pacific economies

Wyckhuys

Lu²,

Zhou

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The Green Revolution (GR) is widely credited with alleviating famine, mitigating poverty and driving aggregate economic growth over the past 6 decades. In Asia, GR technologies secured a tripling of rice output, with one-off germplasm improvements providing benefits beyond US$ 4.3 billion/year. Here, we unveil the magnitude and macro-economic relevance of parallel biodiversity-induced productivity growth in non-rice crops from 1918 to 2018. We empirically demonstrate how biological control (BC) defused invasive pest threats in multiple agricultural commodities, ensuring annually-accruing (on-farm) benefits of US$ 22.6 billion/year. Scientifically-guided BC permitted 73-100% yield-loss recovery in critical food, feed and fiber crops including cassava, banana, breadfruit and coconut. As such, BC promoted rural growth and prosperity even in marginal, poorly-endowed, non-rice environments. By placing agro-ecological innovations on equal footing with input-intensive measures, our work provides lessons for future efforts to mitigate invasive species, restore ecological resilience and sustainably raise output of global agri-food systems.

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“…In August 2014, a field study was initiated at the Rayong Field Crops Research Center (RYFCRC) in Rayong, Thailand (see Thancharoen et al, 2018). To assess the relative contribution of natural enemies such as A. lopezi to pest control, we employed exclusion assays (Snyder and Wise, 2001;Costamagna et al, 2007).…”

Section: Exclusion Cage Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cassava yield parameters varied considerably under the four experimental treatments, and for both crop varieties (see Thancharoen et al, 2018 Manuscript to be reviewed respectively (Chi square, χ = 10.473, p= 0.015). Fresh root yield (FRY) was significantly affected by treatment (F 3,27 = 4.104, p= 0.016) and variety (F 1,27 = 4.364, p= 0.046).…”

Section: Exclusion Cage Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #1 of "Continental-scale suppression of an invasive pest by a host-specific parasitoid underlines both environmental and economic benefits of arthropod biological control (v0.2)"

Fragoo¹

2018

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Biological control, a globally-important ecosystem service, can provide long-term and broad-scale suppression of invasive pests, weeds and pathogens in natural, urban and agricultural environments. Following (few) historic cases that led to sizeable environmental upsets , the discipline of arthropod biological control has-over the past three decadesevolved and matured. Now, by deliberately taking into account the ecological risks associated with the planned introduction of insect natural enemies, immense environmental and societal benefits can be gained. In this study, we document and analyze a successful case of biological control against the cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) which invaded Southeast Asia in 2008, where it

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Effective biological control of an invasive mealybug pest enhances root yield in cassava

Cited by 32 publications

References 64 publications

Ecological illiteracy can deepen farmers’ pesticide dependency

Ecological illiteracy can deepen farmers’ pesticide dependency

Biodiversity-based innovations fortify agricultural growth in Asia-Pacific economies

Peer Review #1 of "Continental-scale suppression of an invasive pest by a host-specific parasitoid underlines both environmental and economic benefits of arthropod biological control (v0.2)"

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