Impacts of the agricultural transformation of the Canadian Prairies on grassland arthropods

Abstract

The prairie grasslands have been transformed to become the primary source of agricultural production in Canada. Soon after its establishment, the Biological Survey of Canada recognised the urgent need to document the arthropods of the prairie grasslands, especially in the few pristine remnants. Although this initiative has yielded considerable progress in documenting the species present in the Prairies Ecozone, comprehensive ecological studies are sparse. Landscape effects on arthropods are well studied elsewhere, but no equivalent studies have been published for the Canadian Prairies. Crop rotation varies landscape composition annually, changes host plant resources in fields, and interacts with other agricultural inputs to disturb pest and beneficial arthropods. Despite only a handful of studies on grazing, there is an emerging pattern: moderate grazing increases arthropod diversity and benefits certain arthropod guilds. Abiotic inputs elicit variable responses from different arthropod taxa; Carabidae (Coleoptera) are best studied, with some information available for ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and aquatic arthropods. Biotic inputs include arthropods released for biocontrol of weed and insect pests; evidence indicates that biocontrol agents of insects have a greater potential for impact on native communities of arthropods. The studies reviewed here reveal important trends and research gaps to be addressed in the future.

Laboratory and field tests of predation on the cereal leaf beetle, Oulema melanopus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

“…Agricultural intensification has led to loss of habitat diversity due to simplification of landscapes through increasing crop field sizes, use of monocultures, and loss of natural habitats in an aim to meet food demands required by human population growth (Landis, 2017;Vankosky et al, 2017). Ecological intensification is an alternative approach to increase crop yield and production while minimizing the negative effects on the environment (Bommarco et al, 2013).…”

An Assessment of Prairie Management Practices for Maintaining Habitat Quality for the Endangered Poweshiek Skipperling Butterfly in Canada

“…Almost all of the tall grass prairie in North America has been lost due to human disturbance (Samson and Knopf, 1994;COSEWIC, 2003;Samson et al, 2004;Koper et al, 2010) and less than 1% remains in Canada (Vankosky et al, 2017). Undisturbed and unploughed fragments of prairie now mostly exist in preserves, parks, and areas with soil too poor for agriculture (Swengel and Swengel, 1999;Westwood et al, 2020).…”

Farming on Arctic margins: Models of agricultural development in northern regions of Russia, Europe and North America

“…A more or less similar approach prevails in Russia, where farming in the North has recently become again a popular topic of research (Ivanov, 2011; Naumov & Sidorova, 2018; Vinokurova & Prokhorova, 2013). In Canada most of publications are devoted to the main agricultural region of this country—the Prairie Provinces (Arthur & Abizadeh, 1988; Larney, Janzen, Smith, & Anderson, 2004; Vankosky, Cárcamo, Catton, Costamagna, & De Clerck‐Floate, 2017). Economic analysis of recent agricultural development in Alaska is not a common topic in scientific literature, although there are meaningful publications on the matter (Stevenson et al, 2014).…”