Landscape complexity and elevation affect the effectiveness of a local pest-management practice

Poveda, Katja; Díaz, María Fernanda Lara; Espinosa, Saira; Obregón, Diana; Ramírez, Augusto

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00763

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Studies and meta-analyses have shown a strong interaction between farm management and the surrounding landscape (Grab et al 2019;Batáry et al 2011;Poveda et al 2019;Perez-Alvarez et al 2019). A 2011 meta-analysis by Batary et al demonstrated that local agricultural management schemes such as flower strips and beetle banks were more effective at increasing biodiversity in simplified landscapes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body size, richness, and abundance of Staphylinidae unaffected by landscape composition and cropping system in a push–pull maize system in Kenya

2022

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The change from predominantly natural to agricultural landscapes has been shown to reduce pollination and biological control services and also affect the functional traits of the insects that provide such services. Research shows that increasing agricultural area at the landscape scale can have variable effects on functional traits such as body size in predators. Moreover, local factors such as farm management strategies have also been shown to affect functional traits in insects. Studies of local or landscape effects on functional traits are often contradictory in temperate regions, and absent from tropical regions. In Kenya, local pest management technologies, e.g. push–pull systems have been shown to increase biological control, but data is lacking on how local management could affect body size of natural enemies. We investigated how the proportion of natural areas in the landscape and local management (push–pull) affected the body size of rove beetles (Staphylinidae) in Kenyan maize fields. Elytral and pronotal measurements were used to quantify body size, and a mixed-effects model was used to test the effect of landscape complexity and local management on the body size, richness, and abundance of rove beetles. We found no effect of landscape composition or local management on body size, richness, or abundance of rove beetles. We hypothesize that the lack of landscape effects could be caused by less plasticity in functional traits in tropical versus temperate zones. Our results demonstrate that changes in land use and local management do not always lead to changes in the diversity and functional traits of predator communities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body size, richness, and abundance of Staphylinidae unaffected by landscape composition and cropping system in a push–pull maize system in Kenya

2022

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“…Very few studies have sought to elucidate how natural enemies respond to both landscape effects and local management. However, we know from previous work that landscape complexity and local management interact to affect insect diversity (Batáry et al, 2010;Chaplin-Kramer et al, 2011;Tscharntke et al, 2012a;Shackelford et al, 2013) and also ecosystem services (Grab et al, 2018;Perez-Alvarez et al, 2019;Poveda et al, 2019). Within the push-pull system, previous studies have shown stemborer infestations are differentially mediated across a landscape gradient (Kebede et al, 2018), with greater damage done in simple landscapes.…”

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The effects of landscape complexity and local management on a generalist predator in Kenyan maize push‐pull systems

Salzberg

Luttermoser

Kessler

et al. 2022

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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Farmers looking to maximize ecosystem services often use diversification practices on their fields to increase abundance and diversity of insect natural enemies. These practices affect functional traits of natural enemies such as body size that can play an important role in their effectiveness as biological control agents. However, landscape features out of the control of farmers might also affect functional traits of natural enemies and their herbivores, including land use surrounding farms. There have been few studies elucidating how landscape complexity and local diversity interact to affect functional traits, and ultimately ecosystem services such as predation on herbivore pests. We examined combined effects of landscape complexity and a local management practice (push‐pull) on lady beetle size, and its consequences for egg predation of lepidopteran pests in Kenyan smallholder maize farms. Cheilomenes sulphurea (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), a potential predator of the invasive fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), was collected in push‐pull and control fields along a landscape gradient. We measured beetle size and conducted feeding assays with fall armyworm eggs. We found that female beetles had larger bodies in landscapes with greater complexity. Predation rates not only increased as a response to beetle size but also in response to landscape complexity, suggesting it is not just size that determines predation. Surprisingly, we did not find any effect of the local management practice or its interaction on functional traits or predation rates. Our study suggests that landscape complexity could benefit pest control through two mechanisms: (1) increase in predator body size, leading to higher predation rates; and (2) changes in predator behavior as a function of landscape characteristics – increasing egg predation. Further studies on these mechanisms would allow deeper understanding of landscape simplification's effect on ecosystem services, as mediated by morphological and behavioral traits, and help us harness these traits to increase biological control.

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Natural pest regulation along a tropical agricultural landscape gradient: complexity counts

Samajpati,

Basu

2024

Preprint

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Agricultural intensification is a threat to arthropod natural enemies of crop pests in agricultural landscapes due to multiple reasons. This may disrupt the biological pest regulation in the agro-ecosystems and thereby affect their sustainability. Natural enemies are reliant on natural and semi natural vegetation in the landscape which serves as alternative resources and provide refuge, decline of which may affect pest regulation through both direct and indirect mechanisms. We examined how landscape complexity affects natural arthropod enemies, pest, intraguild predators (Insectivorous birds), predation rate and pest damage at different spatial scales. We modeled the interrelationship between different farm scale parameters through Structural equational models (SEM) at 1000m and 2000m. There was significant positive association between landscape complexity and coccinellidae and parasitic hymenoptera abundance. Arthropod predation rate on artificial plascticine caterpillar also increased significantly with landscape complexity at different spatial scale. Structural equational models revealed latent relationships between different farm level components which were not directly found through simple correlative models. Comprehensive studies incorporating direct and indirect effect of landscape complexity on farm level biodiversity elements is necessary for ecologically intensive farms in the future.

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Landscape complexity and elevation affect the effectiveness of a local pest-management practice

Cited by 3 publications

References 33 publications

Body size, richness, and abundance of Staphylinidae unaffected by landscape composition and cropping system in a push–pull maize system in Kenya

Body size, richness, and abundance of Staphylinidae unaffected by landscape composition and cropping system in a push–pull maize system in Kenya

The effects of landscape complexity and local management on a generalist predator in Kenyan maize push‐pull systems

Natural pest regulation along a tropical agricultural landscape gradient: complexity counts

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