Impacts of Wildflower Interventions on Beneficial Insects in Fruit Crops: A Review.

Abstract

Simple SummaryDeclines in insects, including pollinators, are leading to public pressure for governments and landowners to intervene. Although integrated pest management, used to preserve the natural enemies of pests, has been in place for decades, promoting the preservation of pollinators is more recent, especially on farmed land. To enable fruit production, which is less environmentally damaging, natural enemies and pollinators are key. In addition, a reduction in available pesticides is forcing fruit growers to reconsider their management practices. One intervention that is increasingly being used is the provision of floral resources as wildflower areas or cover crops to encourage natural enemies and pollinators. This review brings together the literature on the benefits and costs of provisioning flora in the vicinity of fruit crops. It highlights that most impacts of floral resource provision in the vicinity of fruit crops are beneficial or benign.Integrated pest management (IPM) has been practiced by the fruit industry for at least 30 years. Naturally occurring beneficial insects have been encouraged to thrive alongside introduced predatory insects. However, Conservation Biological Control (CBC) and augmented biocontrol through the release of large numbers of natural enemies is normally only widely adopted when a pest has become resistant to available conventional pesticides and control has begun to break down. In addition, the incorporation of wild pollinator management, essential to fruit production, has, in the past, not been a priority but is now increasingly recognized through integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM). This review focuses on the impacts on pest regulation and pollination services in fruit crops through the delivery of natural enemies and pollinating insects by provisioning areas of fruiting crops with floral resources. Most of the studies in this review highlighted beneficial or benign impacts of floral resource prevision to fruit crops. However, placement in the landscape and spill-over of beneficial arthropods into the crop can be influential and limiting. This review also highlights the need for longer-term ecological studies to understand the impacts of changing arthropod communities over time and the opportunity to tailor wildflower mixes to specific crops for increased pest control and pollination benefits, ultimately impacting fruit growers bottom-line with less reliance on pesticides.