Broad spectrum pesticide application alters natural enemy communities and may facilitate secondary pest outbreaks

Abstract

BackgroundPesticide application is the dominant control method for arthropod pests in broad-acre arable systems. In Australia, organophosphate pesticides are often applied either prophylactically, or reactively, including at higher concentrations, to control crop establishment pests such as false wireworms and earth mite species. Organophosphates are reported to be disruptive to beneficial species, such as natural enemies, but this has not been widely assessed in Australian systems. Neither has the risk that secondary outbreaks may occur if the natural enemy community composition or function is altered.MethodsWe examine the abundance of ground-dwelling invertebrate communities in an arable field over successive seasons under rotation; barley, two years of wheat, then canola. Two organophosphates (chlorpyrifos and methidathion) were initially applied at recommended rates. After no discernible impact on target pest species, the rate for chlorpyrifos was doubled to elicit a definitive response to a level used at establishment when seedling damage is observed. Invertebrates were sampled using pitfalls and refuge traps throughout the experiments. We applied measures of community diversity, principal response curves and multiple generalised linear modelling techniques to understand the changes in pest and natural enemy communities.ResultsThere was large variability due to seasonality and crop type. Nevertheless, both pest (e.g., mites and aphids) and natural enemy (e.g., predatory beetles) invertebrate communities were significantly affected by application of organophosphates. When the rate of chlorpyrifos was increased there was a reduction in the number of beetles that predate on slug populations. Slugs displayed opposite trends to many of the other target pests, and actually increased in numbers under the higher rates of chlorpyrifos in comparison to the other treatments. Slug numbers in the final rotation of canola resulted in significant yield loss regardless of pesticide application.DiscussionOrganophosphates are a cost-effective tool to control emergent pests in broad-acre arable systems in Australia. We found risks associated with prophylactic application in fields under rotation between different crop types and significant changes to the community of pests and natural enemy. Disrupting key predators reduced effective suppression of other pests, such as slugs, and may lead to secondary outbreaks when rotating with susceptible crops such as canola. Such non-target impacts are rarely documented when studies focus on single-species, rather than community assessments. This study represents a single demonstration of how pesticide application can lead to secondary outbreaks and reinforces the need for studies that include a longer temporal component to understand this process further.

Planting Green Effects on Corn and Soybean Production

“…Farmers can manage slugs using baits, which can include active ingredients like metaldehyde (2,4,6,8‐tetramethyl‐1,3,5,7‐tetroxocane) or iron; however, baits can be expensive (Douglas and Tooker, 2012), and may not persist in typical wet spring conditions due to water solubility (Bailey, 2002). Slug damage can also be exacerbated by insecticides, including seed coatings or broadcast applications, both of which tend to reduce populations of predators that eat slugs (Douglas et al, 2014; Hill et al, 2017).…”

Coffee Berry Borer (Hypothenemus Hampei Ferr.) Attacks in Organic and Conventional Arabica Coffee Plantations

“…This indicates that the application of various synthetic pesticides in conventional coffee plantations has a negative impact on Arthropods which acts as a natural enemy in coffee plants. Quite a lot of broad spectrum pesticides such as organophosphate have disrupted the existence of various beneficial species, such as natural enemies and have also caused secondary pest outbreaks [12]. In our previous study Hamdi et al, (2015) we found a parasitoid species that was once released in a coffee plantation in Aceh Tengah Regency, namely Phoropo nasuta (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae).…”

Identifying critical research gaps that limit control options for invertebrate pests in Australian grain production systems

“…Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has been successfully applied as a strategy across several agricultural production systems in order to optimise invertebrate pest management, encourage the judicious use of pesticides (to mitigate problems associated with resistant pest populations and environmental contamination) and improve sustainability (Ellsworth & Martinez-Carrillo 2001). Yet there are many systems for which IPM adoption has been slow or piecemeal, and farmers are still heavily reliant on prophylactic application of broad-spectrum insecticides (Zalucki et al 2009;Zalucki et al 2015;Hill et al 2017). IPM has a strong theoretical foundation in the population ecology of herbivores, and especially how herbivore abundance is related to the interactions between bottom-up resources (e.g.…”