Institutional Context of Pest Management Science in the Global South

The natural sciences are receiving increasing attention in the Global South. This timely development may help mitigate global change and quicken an envisioned food system transformation. Yet in order to resolve complex issues such as agrochemical pollution, science ideally proceeds along suitable trajectories within appropriate institutional contexts. Here, we employ a systematic literature review to map the nature of inquiry and institutional context of pest management science in 65 low- and middle-income countries published from 2010 to 2020. Despite large inter-country variability, any given country generates an average of 5.9 publications per annum (range 0–45.9) and individual nations such as Brazil, Kenya, Benin, Vietnam, and Turkey engage extensively in regional cooperation. International development partners are prominent scientific actors in West Africa but are commonly outpaced by national institutions and foreign academia in other regions. Transnational institutions such as the CGIAR represent a 1.4-fold higher share of studies on host plant resistance but lag in public interest science disciplines such as biological control. Despite high levels of scientific abstraction, research conducted jointly with development partners shows real yet marginal improvements in incorporating the multiple (social–ecological) layers of the farming system. Added emphasis on integrative system-level approaches and agroecological or biodiversity-driven measures can extend the reach of science to unlock transformative change

Bean Leaf Beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Bean Pod Mottle Virus in Soybean: Biology, Ecology, and Management

Bean leaf beetle, Cerotoma trifurcata (Förster), is a pest of soybean found in many production areas in the United States. The bean leaf beetle larvae feed on soybean root nodules, whereas the adults feed on the above ground parts of soybean such as cotyledon, leaves, and pods. Bean leaf beetle is also a very efficient vector of Bean pod mottle virus, a widespread virus of soybean in the south and southeastern United States with recent expansion into the north central region of the country. This article summarizes bean leaf beetle biology, ecology, and its impact on soybean production in the United States. The management of this insect and Bean pod mottle virus as recommended in the north central states is also presented

Pest management science often disregards farming system complexities

Abstract Since the 1940s, pesticide-intensive crop protection has sustained food security but also caused pervasive impacts on biodiversity, environmental integrity and human health. Here, we employ a systematic literature review to structurally analyze pest management science in 65 developing countries. Within a corpus of 3,407 publications, we find that taxonomic coverage is skewed towards a subset of 48 herbivores. Simplified contexts are commonplace: 48% of studies are performed within laboratory confines. 80% treat management tactics in an isolated rather than integrated fashion. 83% consider no more than two out of 15 farming system variables. Limited attention is devoted to pest-pathogen or pest-pollinator interplay, trophic interactions across ecosystem compartments or natural pest regulation. By overlooking social strata, the sizable scientific progress on agroecological management translates into slow farm-level uptake. We argue that the scientific enterprise should integrate system complexity to chart sustainable trajectories for global agriculture and achieve transformative change on the ground

Rice ecosystem services in South-east Asia

The present special issue of Paddy and Water Environment (PAWE) focuses on Ecosystem Services in Irrigated Rice Landscapes as dealt with in the project “LEGATO—Land-use intensity and Ecological enGineering—Assessment Tools for risks and Opportunities in irrigated rice based production systems’’ (Settele et al. 2015; http://www.legato-project.net/). The project aimed at advancing long-term sustainable development of irrigated rice landscapes against risks arising from multiple aspects of global change. It encompassed 20 contract partners from six countries and two international organisations as core members as well as numerous associated partners and/or advisory board members (see addresses of authors). LEGATO was part of the framework programme ‘FONA—Research for Sustainability’ (a funding scheme of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research—BMBF) and was supported by GLUES—the scientific coordination and synthesis project (http://modul-a.nachhaltiges-landmanagement.de/en/scientific-coordination-glues/). LEGATO followed the framework of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005) by selecting characteristic elements of three MA service strands for analyses: (a) Provisioning Services: primary production, plant diversity, crop yield; (b) Regulating and Supporting Services: biocontrol, pollination and nutrient cycling; and (c) Cultural Services: cultural diversity and aesthetics/beauty. The analysis of ecosystem services was embedded in studies of socio-cultural and economic backgrounds, local as well as regional land use intensity and biodiversity, and the potential impacts of future climate and land use change. As core output, LEGATO developed generally applicable principles of Ecological Engineering (EE), adapting, testing and implementing them under the given local socio-cultural conditions, for the stabilisation and improvement of agricultural production under future climate and land use change. EE is an emerging discipline, concerned with the design, monitoring and construction of ecosystems and aims at developing strategies to optimise the delivery of ecosystem services by enhancing natural regulation mechanisms instead of suppressing them (see also Gurr et al. 2003; Mitsch 2012; Horgan et al. 2016). Along these lines, LEGATO further aimed at generating new knowledge bases for decision making in the area of sustainable land management and livelihoods, including the support of governance and management strategies, technologies and system solutions (Truong et al. 2016)