Abstract
Increased homogeneity of agricultural landscapes in the last century has led to a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, management practices such as wildflower borders offer supplementary resources to many beneficial arthropods. There is evidence that these borders can increase beneficial arthropod abundance, including natural enemies of many pests. However, this increase in local habitat diversity can also have effects on pest populations, and these effects are not well-studied. In this study, we investigated how wildflower borders affect both natural enemies and pests within an adjacent strawberry crop. Significantly more predators were captured in strawberry plantings with wildflower borders versus plantings without wildflowers, but this effect depended on sampling method. Overall, herbivore populations were lower in plots with a wildflower border; however, responses to wildflower borders varied across specific pest groups. Densities of Lygus lineolaris (Tarnished Plant Bug), a generalist pest, increased significantly in plots that had a border, while Stelidota geminata (Strawberry Sap Beetle) decreased in strawberry fields with a wildflower border. These results suggest that wildflower borders may support the control of some pest insects; however, if the pest is a generalist and can utilize the resources of the wildflower patch, their populations may increase within the crop.
Highlights
Complex agricultural landscapes support a diverse community of beneficial insects and ecosystem services that in turn support crop productivity [1,2,3,4]
In this study we explore the effect of adding wildflower borders to strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) plantings on natural enemy and pest populations
Vacuum sampling within the strawberry plantings revealed that wildflower strip borders had different, sometimes opposing effects, depending on the pest species and functional group (functional group x treatment F(3,5) = 14.79, p = 0.006)
Summary
Complex agricultural landscapes support a diverse community of beneficial insects and ecosystem services that in turn support crop productivity [1,2,3,4]. For most of the 20th century agricultural landscapes have become increasingly homogeneous due to increased expansion of specialized, monoculture production systems [5]. The loss of habitat diversity in agro-ecosystems leads to a reduction in the abundance and diversity of beneficial insects including pollinators and natural enemies [4,8,9,10]. There has been significant interest in practices that increase farmland diversity in ways that restore ecosystem services while maintaining crop productivity [7,11,12].
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