A Risk Assessment Model on Pine Wood Nematode in the EU

Pine wood nematode, B. xylophilus poses a serious threat for the European forest industry. This study applies a quantitative risk assessment to analyze the risk of pine wood nematode in the EU, by estimating the reduction expected within forestry stock available for wood supply and its downstream roundwood market. Spatial analysis is used to join information on climate suitability, host distribution, pest spread and value of assets. Economic impacts are presented spatially on a NUTS-2 scale based on partial budgeting technique and for the EU as a whole based on partial equilibrium modeling. Results highlight the Southern regions of Europe as high risk areas with a total impact on available forestry stock of 19,000 M € after 20 years of an outbreak and no regulatory control measures. Welfare analysis of the roundwood market, in which its production represents 2,5% of forestry stock, demonstrates the ability of the producers to pass most of the negative impact to the consumers by charging higher prices. Reduction in social welfare estimated at 2,043 M €, where consumer surplus decreased by 2,622 M € and net producer surplus, affected and non-affected producers, increased by 579 M €.Risk assessment, pine wood nematode, economic analysis, EU, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Crop Yields in European Agroforestry Systems: A Meta-Analysis

Agroforestry is the practice of integrating woody vegetation with crops and/or livestock production in order to strengthen ecological services on farmland and achieve a more multi-functional agricultural system. Crop yields determine economic outcomes when trees are young, but information on yields is scattered in the literature and a quantitative overview of crop yields in European agroforestry systems is lacking. We therefore synthesized published information on crop yields in European agroforestry systems, using meta-analysis. A systematic review of the literature was conducted, highlighting quantitative information on yields is available only for traditional Dehesa systems in Spain and Portugal and for modern alley cropping experiments, mostly in northern Europe. Relative cereal crop yields in alley cropping systems (systems with tree rows with interspersed crop strips) were 96% of sole crop yield at tree planting. Crop yields in alley cropping decreased on average with 2.6% per year over the first 21 years of the tree stand, indicating increasing competitive effects of the trees with their age. On the other hand, studies in traditional Dehesa and Montado systems in Southern Europe showed no negative influence of the trees on crop production, indicating that competition between crops and trees plays a less important role in those systems than in alley cropping. Overall, the systematic review showed a need for more experimental data to further substantiate the benefits of agroforestry and elucidate optimal agroforestry practices under European conditions

Neonicotinoids in global agriculture:Evidence for a new pesticide treadmill?

Overreliance on synthetic insecticides in global agriculture is the outcome of a “pesticide treadmill,” in which insecticide-induced pest resistance development and the depletion of beneficial insect populations aggravate farmers’ pesticide dependencies. Examples of the pesticide treadmill have been witnessed repeatedly over the past seven decades, prompting the question whether the rapid uptake and usage patterns of neonicotinoid insecticides and their associated environmental impact are in accordance with this recurrent phenomenon. We hypothesize a conceptual framework in which treadmills are enforced by enabling or disabling drivers within four domains: pest management decisions at the farm level, characteristics of farming landscapes, science and technology, and societal demands. These drivers then tend to create a self-enforcing pesticide “lock-in.” We then analyze several post-1950s historical case studies with reference to this framework, e.g., those involving sprays of the highly hazardous DDT and methyl-parathion, in which the pesticide treadmill was initiated, sustained, and broken, and compare this with current patterns in neonicotinoid use. Historical case studies further illustrate how treadmills occur in three phases in which (i) a limited number of insecticides are routinely used, (ii) resistance development of pests results in the increased crop injury, prompting increased frequency of applications with a wider range of products, (iii) breaking out of the pesticide “lock-in” by policy change and adoption of alternative technologies that lowered chemical inputs and improved agro-ecosystem functioning. The analysis shows similarities as well as differences between neonicotinoid usage patterns and historic pesticide treadmills, and provides guidance on how to effectively avoid or dismantle pesticide treadmills in global agriculture

Understanding and optimizing species mixtures using functional–structural plant modelling

Plant species mixtures improve productivity over monocultures by exploiting species complementarities for resource capture in time and space. Complementarity results in part from competition avoidance responses that maximize resource capture and growth of individual plants. Individual organs accommodate to local resource levels, e.g. with regard to nitrogen content and photosynthetic capacity or by size (e.g. shade avoidance). As a result, the resource acquisition in time and space is improved and performance of the community as a whole is increased. Modelling is needed to unravel the primary drivers and subsequent dynamics of complementary growth responses in mixtures. Here, we advocate using functional–structural plant (FSP) modelling to analyse the functioning of plant mixtures. In FSP modelling, crop performance is a result of the behaviour of the individual plants interacting through competitive and complementary resource acquisition. FSP models can integrate the interactions between structural and physiological plant responses to the local resource availability and strength of competition, which drive resource capture and growth of individuals in species mixtures. FSP models have the potential to accelerate mixed-species plant research, and thus support the development of knowledge that is needed to promote the use of mixtures towards sustainably increasing crop yields at acceptable input levels

Landscape epidemiology of an insect-vectored plant-pathogenic bacterium : Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum in carrots in Finland

Crop diseases may be affected by landscape composition, but limited quantitative information is available. We studied the effects of landscape factors on the incidence of the psyllid-transmitted bacterium Candidatus Lib-eribacter solanacearum (CLso) haplotype C in carrots in Finland. Samples were collected from 104 carrot fields in 2013 and 2014. The relationship between CLso incidence and landscape data was analysed using logistic regression. The probability of CLso infection significantly increased with increasing area of carrot cultivation, up to a 10 km radius. Spruce biomass (spruce is the winter shelter of the main vector, Trioza apicalis,) within 200 m distance from the field edges affected CLso infection in landscapes with a low to medium area proportion of carrot cultivation but not in landscapes with a high proportion of carrot fields. Disease incidence was higher on clay soils than on mineral soils. The findings illustrate the importance of movement of the vector between carrot and spruce and highlight this disease as a landscape-scale disease syndrome, which needs to be managed also at the landscape level. Moderating the proportion of carrot fields in a carrot production landscape could be a key to manage the disease by breaking the epidemic cycle at the landscape level.Peer reviewe

Invasive alien species in the food chain : advancing risk assessment models to address climate change, economics and uncertainty

Economic globalization depends on the movement of people and goods between countries. As these exchanges increase, so does the potential for translocation of harmful pests, weeds, and pathogens capable of impacting our crops, livestock and natural resources (Hulme 2009), with concomitant impacts on global food security (Cook et al. 2011)

Intraspecific variation in herbivore-induced plant volatiles influences the spatial range of plant–parasitoid interactions

Chemical information influences the behaviour of many animals, thus affecting species interactions. Many animals forage for resources that are heterogeneously distributed in space and time, and have evolved foraging behaviour that utilizes information related to these resources. Herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), emitted by plants upon herbivore attack, provide information on herbivory to various animal species, including parasitoids. Little is known about the spatial scale at which plants attract parasitoids via HIPVs under field conditions and how intraspecific variation in HIPV emission affects this spatial scale. Here, we investigated the spatial scale of parasitoid attraction to two cabbage accessions that differ in relative preference of the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata when plants were damaged by Pieris brassicae caterpillars. Parasitoids were released in a field experiment with plants at distances of up to 60 m from the release site using intervals between plants of 10 or 20 m to assess parasitism rates over time and distance. Additionally, we observed host-location behaviour of parasitoids in detail in a semi-field tent experiment with plant spacing up to 8 m. Plant accession strongly affected successful host location in field set-ups with 10 or 20 m intervals between plants. In the semi-field set-up, plant finding success by parasitoids decreased with increasing plant spacing, differed between plant accessions, and was higher for host-infested plants than for uninfested plants. We demonstrate that parasitoids can be attracted to herbivore-infested plants over large distances (10 m or 20 m) in the field, and that stronger plant attractiveness via HIPVs increases this distance (up to at least 20 m). Our study indicates that variation in plant traits can affect attraction distance, movement patterns of parasitoids, and ultimately spatial patterns of plant–insect interactions. It is therefore important to consider plant-trait variation in HIPVs when studying animal foraging behaviour and multi-trophic interactions in a spatial context.</p

Uncovering the economic value of natural enemies and true costs of chemical insecticides to cotton farmers in China

Little empirical evidence on economic value of biological control of pests at farm level is available to improve economic decision-making by farmers and policy makers. Using insect sampling and household survey in an integrated bio-economic analysis framework, this paper studies farmers' crop management practices in cotton in the North China Plain, and estimates the marginal value of natural enemies and costs of chemical insecticides to farmers. Ladybeetles (mainly Harmonia axyridis, Propylea japonica, and Coccinella septempunctata), the dominant natural enemy group that controls the primary pest (aphid) in cotton in our study area, provide a significant economic benefit that is unknown to the farmers. Even at the current high levels of insecticide use, additional ladybeetle provides an economic benefit of 0.05 CNY (USD 0.01) to farmers. The use of broad-spectrum insecticides by farmers is alarmingly excessive, not only undermining farmers' profitability but also inducing social costs as well as disruption of the natural pest suppression system. Doubling current ladybeetle density in cotton field could gain an estimated USD 300 million for cotton farmers in China, providing a strong economic case for policies to move the pest control system toward a more ecologically-based regime, with positive consequences for farm income and environmental health. With rising use of biological control service provided by natural enemies in cotton fields, significant falls in farmers' insecticide use would be expected, which could raise the value of ladybeetles and other natural enemies even further. The results indicate that there is an urgent need to rationalize inputs and move forward to improved agro-ecosystem management in smallholder farming system. Raising knowledge and awareness on the costs and value of biological pest control versus insecticides among farmers and policy makers and having effective extension service are priorities toward achieving a more ecologically-based approach to crop protection on smallholder farms

Zoning strategies for managing outbreaks of alien plant pests in the European Union: a review

Managing outbreaks of alien plant pests is key to preserving biodiversity and safeguarding crop production. Zoning strategies are applied by plant health authorities to tailor measures to the risk of spread in relation to distance from the outbreak epicentre and the biology of the pest. Here we synthesize information on outbreak management to evaluate the diversity and consistency of such approaches. We collected information on the zoning strategies of 121 outbreaks of 25 plant pests in the European Union (EU). According to the organism’s presence and the measures applied, five zones were distinguished: an infested zone (83% of cases), a buffer zone (76%), a clear-cutting zone (28%), an eradication zone (1%) and a containment zone (1%). Infested zones and buffer zones were adjacent non-overlapping zones, while the clear-cutting zone, eradication zone or containment zone was within either the infested zone or buffer zone. A combination of infested and buffer zones was used in 51% of recorded cases. Measures differed within different zones. Destruction of infested plants in the infested zone was done in 78% of the cases, while surveillance was always applied in the buffer zone. Regulation of an organism at EU level led to a convergence of zoning strategies applied by different member states. Regulations often prescribed the greatest widths used before regulations were issued. Further analyses are needed to explore the efficacy of different strategies including the costs of each strategy. Such analyses should combine insight from practice with bio-economic modelling

A pan-European model of landscape potential to support natural pest control services

Pest control by natural enemies (natural pest control) is an important regulating ecosystem service with significant implications for the sustainability of agro-ecosystems. The presence of semi-natural habitats and landscape heterogeneity are key determinants of the delivery of this service. However, to date, synthetic and consistent indicators at large scales are lacking. We developed a pan-European, spatially-explicit model to map and assess the landscape potential to sustain natural pest control. The model considers landscape composition in terms of semi-natural habitats types, abundance, spatial configuration and distance from the focal field. It combines recent high-resolution geospatial layers with empirical results from extensive field surveys measuring the specific contribution of different semi-natural habitats to support insects flying enemies providing natural pest control. The resulting maps facilitate a comparison of the relative biological control potential of different areas and show that currently a large proportion of high-productive agricultural areas in Europe has low potential. The obtained indicator can inform the formulation of policies and planning strategies aimed at increasing biodiversity and ecosystem services and can be used to assess trade-offs between different services. Potential fields of application include the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU Biodiversity Strategy, in particular the implementation of Green Infrastructure