Diet of generalist predators reflects effects of cropping period and farming system on extra‐ and intraguild prey

Roubinet, Eve; Birkhofer, Klaus; Malsher, Gerard; Staudacher, Karin; Ekbom, Barbara; Traugott, Michael; Jonsson, Mattias

doi:10.1002/eap.1510

Cited by 83 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Weevil infestation was strongly related to seed yield, and developing pest control measures emerges as a priority. It would be interesting to identify other natural enemies to the weevil pest, such as generalist arthropod predators (Roubinet et al., ), and examine how establishment of resource providing plants influence them in clover.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual flower strips support pollinators and potentially enhance red clover seed yield

Rundlöf

Lundin

Bommarco

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Ecological intensification provides opportunity to increase agricultural productivity while minimizing negative environmental impacts, by supporting ecosystem services such as crop pollination and biological pest control. For this we need to develop targeted management solutions that provide critical resources to service‐providing organisms at the right time and place. We tested whether annual strips of early flowering phacelia Phacelia tanacetifolia support pollinators and natural enemies of seed weevils Protapion spp., by attracting and offering nectar and pollen before the crop flowers. This was expected to increase yield of red clover Trifolium pratense seed. We monitored insect pollinators, pests, natural enemies and seed yields in a total of 50 clover fields along a landscape heterogeneity gradient, over 2 years and across two regions in southern Sweden. About half of the fields were sown with flower strips of 125–2,000 m2. The clover fields were pollinated by 60% bumble bees Bombus spp. and 40% honey bees Apis mellifera. The clover seed yield was negatively associated with weevil density, but was unrelated to bee species richness and density. Flower strips enhanced bumble bees species richness in the clover fields, with the strongest influence in heterogeneous landscapes. There were few detectable differences between crop fields with and without flower strips. However, long‐tongued bumble bees were redistributed toward field interiors and during phacelia bloom honey bees toward field edges. Clover seed yield also increased with increasing size of the flower strip. We conclude that annual flower strips of early flower resources can support bumble bee species richness and, if sufficiently large, possibly also increase crop yields. However, clover seed yield was mainly limited by weevil infestation, which was not influenced by the annual flower strips. A future goal should be to design targeted measures for pest control.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual flower strips support pollinators and potentially enhance red clover seed yield

Rundlöf

Lundin

Bommarco

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…, Roubinet et al. ). Due to the curved border of the flower pot trays, these groups were effectively excluded by the trays.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Roubinet et al. ). While the importance of empirically assessing temporal dynamics of pest control is often emphasized in the literature (Tscharntke et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predation‐mediated ecosystem services and disservices in agricultural landscapes

Tschumi

Ekroos

Hjort

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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Ecological intensification may reduce environmental externalities of agriculture by harnessing biodiversity to benefit regulating ecosystem services. However, to propose management options for the production of such services, there is a need to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of net effects between ecosystem services and disservices provided by wild organisms across taxonomic groups in relation to habitat and landscape management. We studied the contribution of predatory vertebrates and invertebrates (including both carnivores and seed herbivores) to regulating ecosystem services and disservices in 16 cereal fields in response to a local habitat contrast and a landscape complexity gradient. From May to November 2016, we provided weed (predation reflects an ecosystem service) and crop (predation reflects a disservice) seeds, as well as pest (predation reflects an ecosystem service) and beneficial (predation reflects a disservice) invertebrate prey to predators. Seed predation was dominated by vertebrates, while vertebrates and invertebrates contributed equally to predation of animal prey. Before harvest, predation steadily increased from very low levels in May to high levels in July independent of the resource type. After harvest, ecosystem services declined more rapidly than disservices. The presence of adjacent seminatural grasslands promoted crop seed predation, but reduced pest prey predation. Predation on beneficial prey decreased with increasing proportions of seminatural grassland in the landscape. Predatory vertebrates and invertebrates provide important ecosystem services due to the consumption of pests. However, beneficial invertebrates and crop seeds were often consumed to a similar or even higher extent than harmful invertebrates or weed seeds. Our results therefore raise concerns that management options aimed at enhancing service providers may simultaneously increase levels of disservices. By considering positive and negative effects simultaneously, this study addresses an important knowledge gap and highlights the importance of interactions between local management, landscape composition, and service and disservice provision across taxa and over time. Considering trade-offs between ecosystem services and disservices when evaluating the net effects of biodiversity conservation measures on ecosystem service provision is crucial. Future agri-environment schemes that offer payments for seminatural habitats may need to provide higher compensation for farmers in cases where net effects are likely to be negative.

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“…They were emptied approximately once a week and left open in the interim; see Roubinet et al. () for further details on sampling.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem function in predator–prey food webs—confronting dynamic models with empirical data

Curtsdotter

Banks

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Most ecosystem functions and related services involve species interactions across trophic levels, for example, pollination and biological pest control. Despite this, our understanding of ecosystem function in multitrophic communities is poor, and research has been limited to either manipulation in small communities or statistical descriptions in larger ones. Recent advances in food web ecology may allow us to overcome the trade-off between mechanistic insight and ecological realism. Molecular tools now simplify the detection of feeding interactions, and trait-based approaches allow the application of dynamic food web models to real ecosystems. We performed the first test of an allometric food web model's ability to replicate temporally nonaggregated abundance data from the field and to provide mechanistic insight into the function of predation. We aimed to reproduce and explore the drivers of the population dynamics of the aphid herbivore Rhopalosiphum padi observed in ten Swedish barley fields. We used a dynamic food web model, taking observed interactions and abundances of predators and alternative prey as input data, allowing us to examine the role of predation in aphid population control. The inverse problem methods were used for simultaneous model fit optimization and model parameterization. The model captured >70% of the variation in aphid abundance in five of ten fields, supporting the model-embodied hypothesis that body size can be an important determinant of predation in the arthropod community. We further demonstrate how in-depth model analysis can disentangle the likely drivers of function, such as the community's abundance and trait composition. Analysing the variability in model performance revealed knowledge gaps, such as the source of episodic aphid mortality, and general method development needs that, if addressed, would further increase model success and enable stronger inference about ecosystem function. The results demonstrate that confronting dynamic food web models with abundance data from the field is a viable approach to evaluate ecological theory and to aid our understanding of function in real ecosystems. However, to realize the full potential of food web models, in ecosystem function research and beyond, trait-based parameterization must be refined and extended to include more traits than body size.

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Diet of generalist predators reflects effects of cropping period and farming system on extra‐ and intraguild prey

Cited by 83 publications

References 78 publications

Annual flower strips support pollinators and potentially enhance red clover seed yield

Annual flower strips support pollinators and potentially enhance red clover seed yield

Predation‐mediated ecosystem services and disservices in agricultural landscapes

Ecosystem function in predator–prey food webs—confronting dynamic models with empirical data

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