Abstract
Improving agricultural production in response to the increasing food demand remains a major challenge in agroecology. The world has made significant efforts to meet this issue by developing several cultivation techniques, such as the use of chemical fertilizers and arable land conversion into agricultural land. However, most of these techniques have caused a significant loss of biodiversity and ecosystems services. Recent data suggest that biological conservation within and around agroforestry systems are potential solutions that can both reduce biodiversity loss and guarantee crop production. This logic is based on the hypothesis that increasing plant diversity in and around agricultural systems can limit the pest attack rate and increase crop yield. We tested this hypothesis using structural equation modeling on empirical data collected in agroforestry systems around the Pendjari biosphere reserve in West Africa. We measured crop diversity, crop yield, arthropod pest diversity, abundance, the rate of crop herbivory, and the diversity of plants in surrounding natural vegetation in 32 permanent plots. We estimated arthropod diversity and abundance using pitfall traps. We found a direct positive effect for plant diversity and a direct negative effect of arthropod herbivory on crop yield. The diversity of plants in surrounding natural vegetation had a direct positive effect on arthropod pest diversity but a marginal negative direct effect on the rate of crop herbivory. We found no significant direct or indirect effect for crop diversity. Our findings underline the important role of biodiversity conservation in agricultural production improvement. We suggest that the conservation of plant diversity around agroforestry systems may be an effective option to control herbivory damage. Its combination with other pest control techniques may further limit crop depredation and ensure the long-term conservation of wildlife.
Highlights
Introduction iationsImproving global agricultural productivity is a major concern in the current context of increasing food demand [1–3]
We found no significant effect of crop diversity, but we found a significant positive influence of plant diversity around agroforestry systems on crop yield
Consistent with the theory of biotic resistance, which suggests that increasing plant diversity will reduce crop damage caused by pests, one can expect an increase in the productivity and crop yield of agroforestry systems with higher diversity [33]
Summary
Improving global agricultural productivity is a major concern in the current context of increasing food demand [1–3]. In recent decades, advanced agricultural practices focusing on increased crop productivity rather than increasing arable land led to the improvement of world food production. The development of effective cropping techniques, including soil fertility management, agricultural intensification, crop rotation, and genetic selection contributed to increased world food production [4–7]. Oilseeds, fruits and vegetables has increased by 47% [8], with an overall yield increase of. 25% on only a 7% increase in crop land [2]. The increase in world food production seems to overlap with non-food production. 62% of the world crop production is used for human food, 35% for livestock, and 3% for bioenergy, seeds, and other industrial products, with a remarkable disparity
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