Abstract
Biological pest control by natural enemies is an important component of sustainable crop production. Among biological control approaches, natural enemy augmentation is an effective alternative when naturally occurring enemies are not sufficiently abundant or effective. However, it remains unknown whether the effectiveness of augmentative biocontrol varies along gradients of landscape composition, and how the interactions with resident enemies may modulate the collective impact on pest suppression. By combining field and lab experiments, we evaluated how landscape composition influenced the effectiveness of predator augmentation, and the consequences on pest abundance, plant damage, and crop biomass. We show for the first time that the effectiveness of predator augmentation is landscape-dependent. In complex landscapes, with less cropland area, predator augmentation increased predation rates, reduced pest abundance and plant damage, and increased crop biomass. By contrast, predator releases in simple landscapes had a negative effect on pest control, increasing plant damage and reducing crop biomass. Results from the lab experiment further suggested that landscape simplification can lead to greater interference among predators, causing a decrease in predator foraging efficiency. Our results indicate that landscape composition influence the effectiveness of augmentative biocontrol by modulating interactions between the introduced predators and the local enemy community.
Highlights
Agricultural intensification is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss and landscape simplification[1]
Biological pest control by natural enemies has become an important component for sustainable crop production[7]
How does the interaction between landscape composition and enemy augmentation influence pest suppression? We experimentally addressed these questions by releasing predators in cabbage fields situated in landscapes of varying complexity and evaluating whether predator augmentation suppressed pest populations to a greater extent than resident natural enemies acting alone
Summary
Agricultural intensification is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss and landscape simplification[1]. Intensive agricultural practices simplify the landscape by decreasing crop species diversity and transforming natural habitats into more agricultural land These changes in land-use patterns directly affect the diversity and composition of arthropod species[2], and potentially reduce the delivery of essential ecosystem services such as biological pest control[3]. The effectiveness of augmentative releases of natural enemies to improve pest control may depend on the composition of the surrounding landscape. It remains to be seen whether the landscape-dependency patterns of augmentative biocontrol are comparable to those observed with other local management practices
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