Habitat functionality for the ecosystem service of pest control: reproduction and feeding sites of pests and natural enemies

1 Landscape management for enhanced natural pest control requires knowledge of the ecological function of the habitats present in the landscape mosaic. However, little is known about which habitat types in agricultural landscapes function as reproduction habitats for arthropod pests and predators during different times of the year. 2 We studied the arthropod assemblage on six crops and on the seven most abundant native plant species in two landscapes over 1 year in Australia. Densities of immature and adult stages of pests and their predators were assessed using beat sheet sampling. 3 The native plants supported a significantly different arthropod assemblage than crops. Native plants had higher predator densities than crops over the course of the year, whereas crops supported higher pest densities than the native plants in two out of four seasonal sampling periods. Crops had higher densities of immature stages of pests than native plants in three of four seasonal sampling periods, implying that crops are more strongly associated with pest reproduction than native plants. Densities of immature predators, excluding spiders, were not different between native plants and crops. Spiders were, however, generally abundant and densities were higher on native plants than on crops but, because some species disperse when immature, there is less certainty in identifying their reproduction habitat. 4 Because the predator to pest ratio on native plant species showed little variation, and spatial variation in arthropod assemblages was limited, the predator support function of native vegetation may be a general phenomenon. Incentives that maintain and restore native remnant vegetation can increase the predator to pest ratio at the landscape scale, which could enhance pest suppression in crops

Predicting the time to colonization of Diadegma semiclausum using spatial dispersal kernels

The predatory staphylinid beetle, Atheta coriaria, can be reared easily and cheaply on turkey feed. This creates opportunities for inundative release of the predator at relatively low cost for biological control of pests with ground-dwelling life stages. A. coriaria was mass-released into a commercial cauliflower crop, in a field trial to investigate its potential for biological control of cabbage root fly (CRF) (Delia radicum). Significantly fewer dead plants due to CRF damage and higher root weights of surviving plants were recorded in plots treated with A. coriaria or with chlorpyrifos or spinosad than in untreated control plots. If use of A. coriaria for biological control of CRF is developed for commercial uptake, its potential interactions with other immigrant and resident beetles should be investigated. Initial data on beetle activity in the trial field was collected and these preliminary results are discusse

Predicting the time to colonization of the parasitoid Diadegma semiclausum: the importance of the shape of spatial dispersal kernels for biological control

The time at which natural enemies colonize crop fields is an important determinant of their ability to suppress pest populations. This timing depends on the distance between source and sink habitats in the landscape. Here we estimate the time to colonization of sink habitats from a distant source habitat, using empirical mark-capture data of Diadegma semiclausum in Broccoli. The data originated from experiments conducted at two locations and dispersal was quantified by suction sampling before and after a major disturbance. Three dispersal kernels were fitted to the dispersal data: a normal, a negative exponential, and a square root negative exponential kernel. These kernels are characterized by a thin, intermediate and a fat tail, respectively. The dispersal kernels were included in an integro-difference equation model for parasitoid population redistribution to generate estimates of time to colonization of D. semiclausum in sink habitats at distances between 100 and 2000 m from a source. We show that the three dispersal kernels receive similar support from the data, but can produce a wide range of outcomes. The estimated arrival time of 1% of the D. semiclausum population at a distance 2000 m from the source ranges from 12 days to a length of time greatly exceeding the life span of the parasitoid. The square root negative exponential function, having the thickest tail among the tested functions, gave the fastest spread and colonization in three of the four data sets, but it gave the slowest redistribution in the fourth. In all four data sets, the rate of accumulation at the target increased with the mean dispersal distance of the fitted kernel model, irrespective of the fatness of the tail. This study underscores the importance of selecting a proper dispersal kernel for modelling spread and colonization time of organisms, and of the collection of pertinent data that enable kernel estimation and that can discriminate between different kernel shape

Landscape-scale mass-action of spiders explains early-season immigration rates in crops

Context: Early-season immigration into arable fields by natural enemies is key for effective biocontrol, but little is known about the mechanisms underlying immigration processes. Objectives: Here we test the mass action hypothesis for ballooning spiders, stating that local immigration rates are positively related to the amount of spiders in the surrounding landscape. Methods: Immigration rates of spiders were assessed by sticky traps in remnant vegetation, in arable land 25–125 m from remnant vegetation, and in arable land further than 400 m from remnant vegetation. The experiment was conducted at 18 locations across two landscapes and repeated three times in a 2-week period in 2007 and 2008. Spider densities in crop and non-crop habitats were assessed by beat sheet sampling and used to calculate spider loads in landscape sectors around the experimental locations at five spatial scales. Results: Regression analysis indicated that immigration rates were influenced by meteorological variables and landscape context at 2 km and possibly beyond. Regression models that included spider load at relevant spatial scales received more statistical support from the data than models with the proportion of remnant vegetation and crops. Regression analysis further indicated that wheat and—to a lesser extent—remnant vegetation are important habitats for the recruitment of ballooning spiders. Conclusions: Our study provides support for the mass action hypothesis by showing that a combination of land-use variables with habitat specific spider densities allows the generation of functional cover types with greatly improved explanatory power

Early-season crop colonization by parasitoids is associated with native vegetation, but is spatially and temporally erratic

Semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes may support parasitoid populations that provide biocontrol services by suppressing populations of crop pests, but little is known about the spatial pattern and variability of these services at different levels of scale. Here we investigate the rarely studied phenomenon of early-season crop colonization by parasitoids and the relationship with the surrounding landscape. We assessed parasitism of whiteflies by placing whitefly infested cotton seedlings in remnant vegetation, arable land 25–125 m from remnant vegetation, and arable land further than 400 m from remnant vegetation. Twelve to twenty sentinel plants were exposed in a 25 × 25 m grid pattern in plots in each habitat. The experiment was conducted at 18 locations across two landscapes and repeated three times in a 2-week period in 2007 and 2008. Parasitism was observed during the first three days after the introduction of the whitefly infested seedlings and was in all cases caused by Encarsia spp. The mean number of parasitized whitefly per plant was 0.106 ± 0.025 and was highest on cotton plants placed in remnant vegetation, declining with increasing distance from remnant vegetation. A regression model with land use and meteorological variables received more statistical support from the data than models with only landscape and time period as factors. Parasitism levels were influenced by the proportion of remnant vegetation, grassland, as well as wind, temperature, dew point temperature and year. Early-season colonization of whitefly infested seedlings by parasitoids was erratic and characterized by large spatial (inter-plant and inter-plot) and temporal variation. Our study confirms that remnant vegetation function as reservoirs for parasitoids and that parasitoids can penetrate arable fields beyond 125 m within 3 days. However, variation in the occurrence of parasitism makes it difficult to predict parasitoid colonization at a specific place and time. Therefore, field-based scouting for pests and parasitoids is necessary, even in landscapes with a high biocontrol potential

Early-season movement dynamics of phytophagous pest and natural enemies across a native vegetation-crop ecotone

There is limited understanding about how insect movement patterns are influenced by landscape features, and how landscapes can be managed to suppress pest phytophage populations in crops. Theory suggests that the relative timing of pest and natural enemy arrival in crops may influence pest suppression. However, there is a lack of data to substantiate this claim. We investigate the movement patterns of insects from native vegetation (NV) and discuss the implications of these patterns for pest control services. Using bi-directional interception traps we quantified the number of insects crossing an NV/crop ecotone relative to a control crop/crop interface in two agricultural regions early in the growing season. We used these data to infer patterns of movement and net flux. At the community-level, insect movement patterns were influenced by ecotone in two out of three years by region combinations. At the functional-group level, pests and parasitoids showed similar movement patterns from NV very soon after crop emergence. However, movement across the control interface increased towards the end of the early-season sampling period. Predators consistently moved more often from NV into crops than vice versa, even after crop emergence. Not all species showed a significant response to ecotone, however when a response was detected, these species showed similar patterns between the two regions. Our results highlight the importance of NV for the recruitment of natural enemies for early season crop immigration that may be potentially important for pest suppression. However, NV was also associated with crop immigration by some pest species. Hence, NV offers both opportunities and risks for pest management. The development of targeted NV management may reduce the risk of crop immigration by pests, but not of natural enemies

No evidence for change in oviposition behaviour of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) after widespread adoption of transgenic insecticidal cotton

Cotton growing landscapes in Australia have been dominated by dual-toxin transgenic Bt varieties since 2004. The cotton crop has thus effectively become a sink for the main target pest, Helicoverpa armigera. Theory predicts that there should be strong selection on female moths to avoid laying on such plants. We assessed oviposition, collected from two cotton-growing regions, by female moths when given a choice of tobacco, cotton and cabbage. Earlier work in the 1980s and 1990s on populations from the same geographic locations indicated these hosts were on average ranked as high, mid and low preference plants, respectively, and that host rankings had a heritable component. In the present study, we found no change in the relative ranking of hosts by females, with most eggs being laid on tobacco, then cotton and least on cabbage. As in earlier work, some females laid most eggs on cotton and aspects of oviposition behaviour had a heritable component. Certainly, cotton is not avoided as a host, and the implications of these finding for managing resistance to Bt cotton are discussed