2018 journal article

Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 115(33), E7863–E7870.

By: D. Karp*, R. Chaplin-Kramer*, T. Meehan*, E. Martin*, F. DeClerck, H. Grab*, C. Gratton*, L. Hunt* ...

author keywords: agroecology; biodiversity; biological control; ecosystem services; natural enemies
MeSH headings : Animals; Crops, Agricultural / growth & development; Crops, Agricultural / parasitology; Ecosystem; Models, Biological; Pest Control, Biological
TL;DR: Analysis of the largest pest-control database of its kind shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. (via Semantic Scholar)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
2. Zero Hunger (Web of Science)
13. Climate Action (Web of Science)
15. Life on Land (Web of Science; OpenAlex)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: October 19, 2018

Significance Decades of research have fostered the now-prevalent assumption that noncrop habitat facilitates better pest suppression by providing shelter and food resources to the predators and parasitoids of crop pests. Based on our analysis of the largest pest-control database of its kind, noncrop habitat surrounding farm fields does affect multiple dimensions of pest control, but the actual responses of pests and enemies are highly variable across geographies and cropping systems. Because noncrop habitat often does not enhance biological control, more information about local farming contexts is needed before habitat conservation can be recommended as a viable pest-suppression strategy. Consequently, when pest control does not benefit from noncrop vegetation, farms will need to be carefully comanaged for competing conservation and production objectives.