Multi-scale approach to biodiversity proxies of biological control service in European farmlands

Abstract

Intensive agriculture has profoundly altered biodiversity and trophic relationships in agricultural landscapes, leading to the deterioration of many ecosystem services such as pollination or biological control. Information on which spatio-temporal factors are simultaneously affecting crop pests and their natural enemies is required to improve conservation biological control practices. We conducted a study in 80 winter wheat crop fields distributed in three regions of North-western Europe (Brittany, Hauts-de-France and Wallonia), along intra-regional gradients of landscape complexity. Five taxa of major crop pests (aphids and slugs) and natural enemies (spiders, carabids, and parasitoids) were sampled three times a year, for two consecutive years. We analysed the influence of regional (meteorology), landscape (structure in both the years n and n-1) and local factors (hedge or grass strip field boundaries, and distance to boundary) on the abundance and species richness of crop-dwelling organisms, as proxies of the service/disservice they provide. Firstly, there was higher biocontrol potential in areas with mild winter climatic conditions. Secondly, natural enemy communities were less diverse and had lower abundances in landscapes with high crop and wooded continuities (sum of interconnected crop or wood surfaces), contrary to slugs and aphids. Finally, field boundaries with grass strips were more favourable to spiders and carabids than boundaries formed by hedges, while the opposite was found for crop pests, with the latter being less abundant towards the centre of the fields. We also revealed temporal modulation—and sometimes reversion—of the impact of local elements on crop biodiversity. To some extent, these results cause controversy because they show that hedgerows and woodlots should not be the unique cornerstones of agro-ecological landscape design strategies. We point out that combining woody and grassy habitats to take full advantage of the features and ecosystem services they both provide (biological pest control, windbreak effect, soil stabilization) may promote sustainable agricultural ecosystems. It may be possible to both reduce pest pressure and promote natural enemies by accounting for taxa-specific antagonistic responses to multi-scale environmental characteristics.