Abstract
Entomopathogenic fungi are important natural enemies of insects. However, there is little information on the insect‐suppressive potential of these fungi and possible effects of farming management on this. Meanwhile, changes in natural landscapes due to agricultural intensification have caused considerable biodiversity loss and consequent decay of ecosystem services. However, the adoption of practices such as agroforestry in agroecosystems can foster abiotic and biotic conditions that conserve biodiversity, consequently restoring the provision of ecosystems services. Here, we assessed the effect of management systems (agroforestry or full‐sun) on the pest‐suppressive potential of entomopathogenic fungi in Brazilian coffee plantations. We used the insect bait method coupled with survival analyses to assess the speed of kill by entomopathogenic fungi and their presence in soil samples from both farming systems. We found that insects exposed to agroforestry soils died more quickly than insects exposed to full‐sun soils. Of the fungi isolated from the bait insects, Metarhizium was found most frequently, followed by Beauveria. Meanwhile, Fusarium was frequently isolated as primary or secondary infections. We propose that the differential survival of insects is indicative of a greater suppressive potential by entomopathogenic fungi in agroforestry, and that this could be promoted by the diversified landscape, microclimatic stability, and reduced soil disturbance in agroforestry systems. Furthermore, our results provide a useful demonstration of the potential use of the insect bait method to investigate pest‐suppressive potential through bait insect mortality, and we term this the “bait survival technique.”
Highlights
Changes in natural landscapes due to agricultural intensification have caused considerable biodiversity loss and consequent decay of ecosystem services (Matson, Parton, Power, & Swift, 1997)
We aimed to compare potential ecosystem services provided by entomopathogenic fungi in two coffee management systems: Agroforestry and full‐sun
Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), were used as baits (Aguilera Sammaritano et al, 2016; Kim et al, 2018; Sanchez‐Pena, Lara, & Medina, 2011). This bait insect has been shown to be less susceptible to insect‐patho‐ genic fungi than the insect most commonly used as bait, Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) (Bidochka, Menzies, & Kamp, 2002; Oreste, Bubici, Poliseno, Triggiani, & Tarasco, 2012), a char‐ acteristic we considered desirable here as it increases the relevance to soil‐dwelling insects
Summary
Changes in natural landscapes due to agricultural intensification have caused considerable biodiversity loss and consequent decay of ecosystem services (Matson, Parton, Power, & Swift, 1997). 60 years after the Green Revolution, which propelled agricultural intensification, it has become evident that there is a need for more suitable forms of agricultural production, including the adoption of agroecolog‐ ical systems and technologies that emphasize conservation and regeneration of ecosystem services (Pingali, 2012; Tilman, 1998) Agroecological systems such as agroforestry can mimic forest nat‐ ural habitats (Altieri, 1999; Lin, 2007), promoting shaded soil, re‐ ducing microclimatic variation, conserving moisture, and reducing ecosystem disturbance (Jose, 2009), thereby potentially improving the maintenance of ecosystem services and soil quality, especially for tropical understory plants such as cacao and coffee (Cardoso, Boddington, Janssen, Oenema, & Kuyper, 2003; De Beenhouwer, Aerts, & Honnay, 2013; Tscharntke et al, 2011). Many of these organisms are natural enemies of in‐ sect pests including birds, bats and predatory or parasitoid arthro‐ pods (Klein, Steffan‐Dewenter, & Tscharntke, 2006; Letourneau, Jedlicka, Bothwell, & Moreno, 2009; Philpott & Armbrecht, 2006; Rezende, Venzon, Perez, Cardoso, & Janssen, 2014; Tylianakis, Klein, & Tscharntke, 2005; Tylianakis, Tscharntke, & Klein, 2006)
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