Landscape composition and configuration affect the abundance of the olive moth (Prays oleae, Bernard) in olive groves

Landscape and crop management are important concepts for conservation biological control as they can influence the abundance of natural enemies. In this work we accomplished a multi-scale study focused on the effect of landscape structure and crop management on the olive moth, Prays oleae (Bernard), an important pest of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.). The olive moth was collected in different olive groves managed under organic farming and integrated production and surrounded by different landscape structures. Generalized additive mixed models were used to analyze the response of the pest to (i) landscape composition and configuration indices, (ii) the management system and (iii) pesticides applications at different scales. Results indicated that the landscape composition, through the effect of the Simpson’s diversity index, negatively influenced P. oleae abundance and that the effect was evident at larger scales. Also, the landscape configuration negatively affected P. oleae at larger scales. However, neither the crop management system nor the pesticide applications affected P. oleae abundance. This study emphasizes that the preservation or implementation of diverse and complex landscapes can contribute to maintain lower population levels of P. oleae when compared with homogenous landscape areas.The authors are grateful to the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through the projects EXCL/AGR-PRO/0591/2012 “Olive crop protection in sustainable production under global climatic changes: linking ecological infrastructures to ecosystem functions” and PTDC/ASP-PLA/30003/ 2017 – “OLIVESIM - Managing ecosystem services in olive groves using advanced landscape agent-based models” and CIMO (UIDB/00690/ 2020). María Villa also thanks to Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology for the Postdoctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/119487/2016. The authors would like to thank to the farmers for allowing the access to their olive groves.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Building a system of computational models to simulate natural pest control

A limitação natural de pragas é um serviço de ecossistema que deve ser promovido nos sistemas agrícolas, já que pode ser usada como alternativa, ou complementarmente, à aplicação de pesticidas. Consiste no consumo das pragas pelos seus inimigos naturais e pode ser promovida através do estabelecimento de componentes paisagísticas que forneçam, a estes inimigos das pragas, alimento alternativo e refúgio, para além da aplicação de práticas agrícolas sustentáveis. No entanto, o delineamento de uma estratégia eficaz de limitação natural de pragas está dependente da caracterização detalhada dos comportamentos dos animais que fazem parte dessa cadeia trófica, nomeadamente, das pragas e dos seus predadores, o que pode ser feito através de simulações computacionais. Neste contexto, e no âmbito do projeto OLIVESIM, estamos a construir um sistema de modelos para simular a biologia e o comportamento de duas espécies de artrópodes (1) a mosca-da-azeitona, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), praga chave da oliveira, e (2) a aranha de solo, Haplodrassus rufipes (Lucas), um dos potenciais predadores da praga, e as suas interações com a paisagem selecionada para realizar este estudo, localizada na região de Trás-os-Montes (Mirandela, Portugal) e caracterizada fundamentalmente por olival tradicional. Para isso, está a ser utilizado o sistema ALMaSS (Animal, Landscape and Man Simulation System), que recebe inputs diários de variáveis climáticas e também de ações de gestão agrícola, e que é calibrado com dados sobre abundância quantitativa e qualitativa de animais. Neste simpósio focamo-nos nestes dois modelos, mostrando também o estado atual deste trabalho.Natural pest control is an ecosystem service that should be promoted in agricultural systems, as it can be used as an alternative or complementary to pesticide application. It consists in increasing the populations of natural pest enemies by establishing landscape components that provide them with alternative food and refuge, and by applying sustainable agricultural practices. However, the design of an effective strategy for natural pest control depends on the detailed characterization of the behaviour of animals that are part of this trophic chain, namely pests and their predators, which can be done through computational simulations. In this context, and in the scope of project OLIVESIM, we are building a system of models to simulate the biology and behaviours of two species (1) the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), key pest of the olive tree, and (2) a ground spider, Haplodrassus rufipes (Lucas), one of the potential predators of the pest, and their interactions with the landscape selected to carry out this study, located in the region of Trás-os-Montes (Mirandela, Portugal) and characterized primarily by traditional olive groves. For this, the ALMaSS (Animal, Landscape and Man Simulation System) system is being used, which receives daily inputs of climatic variables and agricultural management actions, and which is calibrated with data on quantitative and qualitative abundance of animals. In this symposium, we focus on the models for these two animal species, showing the current state of this work.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio