SignificanceDecades 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.

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A B S T R A C TAgricultural management and the landscape surrounding farms impact biological diversity and ecosystem services, such as predation, in agroecosystems. Diversified coffee agroecosystems harbor biodiversity, and maintain ecosystem services, especially when in complex landscapes, and when diversity of organisms providing services is maintained. But few have examined whether biological diversity, per se, or the local and landscape habitat features are stronger drivers of the services provided. We studied the relationships between local characteristics associated with agricultural management (vegetation complexity and agrochemical use), landscape surroundings of farms, abundance and richness of ants, and predation services provided by ants in a tropical coffee landscape. Specifically, we tested whether: (1) ants remove prey items and prey removal differs in the wet and dry season, (2) ant prey removal differs in farms that vary in vegetation complexity and agrochemical use, (3) ant prey removal differs with changes in ant abundance and species richness, and (4) ant prey removal differs with changes in local and landscape characteristics. We established sites across a range of coffee management systems, at varying distances to forest fragments, and in forest fragments and examined prey removal by ants on the ground, coffee branches, and shade tree trunks in the wet and dry season. Prey removal did not differ with season. Prey removal on the ground increased within increases in ant abundance and richness, and number of hollow coffee twigs. Prey removal on coffee plants decreased with vegetation complexity, but increased with ant abundance and richness, coffee density (a local factor), and rustic coffee within 200 m (a landscape factor). Prey removal on trees declined with vegetation complexity, but increased with abundance and richness of ants. Characteristics of the ant community were consistent predictors of prey removal, whereas local and landscape habitat features were less important, and only three habitat features correlated with prey removal. Our results demonstrate the positive effects of ant diversity for predatory function, and that promoting pest control services within coffee agroecosystems may be best accomplished by manipulating ant abundance and richness, or vegetation factors that correlate with ants.

Whether an ecological community is controlled from above or below remains a popular framework that continues generating interesting research questions and takes on especially important meaning in agroecosystems. We describe the regulation from above of three coffee herbivores, a leaf herbivore (the green coffee scale, Coccus viridis), a seed predator (the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei), and a plant pathogen (the coffee rust disease, caused by Hemelia vastatrix) by various natural enemies, emphasizing the remarkable complexity involved. We emphasize the intersection of this classical question of ecology with the burgeoning field of complex systems, including references to chaos, critical transitions, hysteresis, basin or boundary collision, and spatial self-organization, all aimed at the applied question of pest control in the coffee agroecosystem.

Mexico is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, with an important proportion of endemism mainly because of the convergence of the Nearctic and Neotropical biogeographic regions, which generate great diversity and species turnover at different spatial scales. However, most of our knowledge of the Mexican ant biota is limited to a few well‐studied taxa, and we lack a comprehensive synthesis of ant biodiversity information. For instance, most of the knowledge available in the literature on Mexican ant fauna refers only to species lists by states, or is focused on only a few regions of the country, which prevents the study of several basic and applied aspects of ants, from diversity and distribution to conservation. Our aims in this data paper are therefore (1) to compile all the information available regarding ants across the Mexican territory, and (2) to identify major patterns in the gathered data set and geographic gaps in order to direct future sampling efforts. All records were obtained from raw data, including both unpublished and published information. After exhaustive filtering and updating information and synonyms, we compiled a total of 21,731 records for 887 ant species distributed throughout Mexico from 1894 to 2018. These records were concentrated mainly in the states of Chiapas (n = 6,902, 32.76%) and Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (n = 4,329, 19.92%), which together comprise half the records. The subfamily with the highest number of records was Myrmicinae (n = 10,458 records, 48.12%), followed by Formicinae (n = 3,284, 15.11%) and Ponerinae (n = 1,914, 8.8%). Most ant records were collected in the Neotropical region of the country (n = 12,646, 58.19%), followed by the Mexican transition zone (n = 5,237, 24.09%) and the Nearctic region (n = 3,848, 17.72%). Native species comprised 95.46% of the records (n = 20,745). To the best of our knowledge, this is the most complete data set available to date in the literature for the country. We hope that this compilation will encourage researchers to explore different aspects of the population and community research of ants at different spatial scales, and to aid in the establishment of conservation policies and actions. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using its data for publications or teaching events.

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Shaded coffee agroecosystems traditionally have few pest problems potentially due to higher abundance and diversity of predators of herbivores. However, with coffee intensification (e.g., shade tree removal or pruning), some pest problems increase. For example, coffee leaf miner outbreaks have been linked to more intensive management and increased use of agrochemicals. Parasitic wasps control the coffee leaf miner, but few studies have examined the role of predators, such as ants, that are abundant and diverse in coffee plantations. Here, we examine linkages between arboreal ant communities and coffee leaf miner incidence in a coffee plantation in Mexico. We examined relationships between incidence and severity of leaf miner attack and: (1) variation in canopy cover, tree density, tree diversity, and relative abundance of Inga spp. shade trees; (2) presence of Azteca instabilis, an arboreal canopy dominant ant; and (3) the number of arboreal twig-nesting ant species and nests in coffee plants. Differences in vegetation characteristics in study plots did not correlate with leaf miner damage perhaps because environmental factors act on pest populations at a larger spatial scale. Further, presence of A. instabilis did not influence presence or severity of leaf miner damage. The proportion of leaves with leaf miner damage was significantly lower where abundance of twig-nesting ants was higher but not where twig-nesting ant richness was higher. These results indicate that abundance of twig-nesting ants in shaded coffee plantations may contribute to maintenance of low leaf miner populations and that ants provide important ecosystem services in coffee agroecosystems.Abstract in Spanish is available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/btp.

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