8 - Plant—Arthropod Interactions in Agroecosystems

Abstract

This chapter focuses on ecological principles applied within agroecosystem management schemes to change the quality of the crop as a resource. The aim is to reduce the colonization, growth, survival, and reproduction of phytophagous arthropods as consumers. Ecological knowledge of plant–arthropod interactions offers explanations for the relative vulnerability of agroecosystems to pest irruption and is applied in agriculture to create prophylactic conditions against pest outbreaks. The chapter emphasizes plant–arthropod interactions from the plant perspective and includes explicit statements of ecological concepts, patterns, and hypotheses that predict value for crop plant defense. Factors such as the physical properties of plant surfaces, structural attributes of plants, chemical production by plants, and microclimatic conditions become vital aspects of habitat suitability for the natural enemies of herbivores and determine the efficiency of a particular parasitoid or predator as a biological control agent. Energetically expensive products that attract natural enemies afford plants a selective advantage if the cost of production is less than the cost of tissue loss and injury due to herbivores.