Evidence that organic farming promotes pest control

Muneret, Lucile; Mitchell, Matthew G. E.; Seufert, Verena; Aviron, Stéphanie; Djoudi, El Aziz; Pétillon, Julien; Plantegenest, Manuel; Thiéry, Denis; Rusch, Adrien

doi:10.1038/s41893-018-0102-4

Cited by 147 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Our findings therefore suggest that in these two contrasting contexts, different communities of predators consuming Ephestia eggs could be at play leading to the same intensity of pest control but with different underlying ecological processes. In a recent meta-analysis approach, Muneret et al [46] showed that organic cropping systems had more weeds, less pathogens and an equivalent level of animal pests, which overall translated to a higher total level of pest infestation compared to conventional cropping systems. A possibility is therefore that a low intensive situation locally provides more resources for some natural enemies, but less for others.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local pesticide use intensity conditions landscape effects on biological pest control

et al. 2019

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Complex landscapes including semi-natural habitats are expected to favour natural enemies thereby enhancing natural pest biocontrol in crops. However, when considering a large number of situations, the response of natural biocontrol to landscape properties is globally inconsistent, a possible explanation being that local agricultural practices counteract landscape effects. In this study, along a crossed gradient of pesticide use intensity and landscape simplification, we analysed the interactive effects of landscape characteristics and local pesticide use intensity on natural biocontrol. During 3 years, using a set of sentinel prey (weed seeds, aphids and Lepidoptera eggs), biocontrol was estimated in 80 commercial fields located in four contrasted regions in France. For all types of prey excepted weed seeds, the predation rate was influenced by interactions between landscape characteristics and local pesticide use intensity. Proportion of meadow and length of interface between woods and crops had a positive effect on biocontrol of aphids where local pesticide use intensity was low but had a negative effect elsewhere. Moreover, the landscape proportion of suitable habitats for crop pests decreased the predation of sentinel prey, irrespectively of the local pesticide use intensity for weed seeds, but only in fields with low pesticide use for Lepidoptera eggs. These results show that high local pesticide use can counteract the positive expected effects of semi-natural habitats, but also that the necessary pesticide use reduction should be associated with semi-natural habitat enhancement to guarantee an effective natural biocontrol.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local pesticide use intensity conditions landscape effects on biological pest control

et al. 2019

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“…Although no ideal model of ecological intensification does exist, organic farming is often seen as a good prototype (Tittonell, ). While organic farming is on average 19%–25% less productive than conventional fields (Ponisio et al, ), it supports higher levels of biodiversity and ecosystem services than conventional farming (Muneret, Mitchell, et al, ; Tuck et al, ). Organic farming increases natural enemy abundance and richness as well as pest control services, but its effect is highly context dependent and we lack a good understanding about the mechanisms underlying this context dependency (Lichtenberg et al, ; Muneret, Mitchell, et al, ; Tscharntke et al, ; Tuck et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic farming expansion drives natural enemy abundance but not diversity in vineyard‐dominated landscapes

Muneret

Auriol

Bonnard

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Organic farming is seen as a prototype of ecological intensification potentially able to conciliate crop productivity and biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. However, how natural enemies, an important functional group supporting pest control services, respond to organic farming at different scales and in different landscape contexts remain unclear. Using a hierarchical design within a vineyard‐dominated region located in southwestern France, we examine the independent effects of organic farming and semi‐natural habitats at the local and landscape scales on natural enemies. We show that the proportion of organic farming is a stronger driver of species abundance than the proportion of semi‐natural habitats and is an important facet of landscape heterogeneity shaping natural enemy assemblages. Although our study highlights a strong taxonomic group‐dependency about the effect of organic farming, organic farming benefits to dominant species while rare species occur at the same frequency in the two farming systems. Independently of farming systems, enhancing field age, reducing crop productivity, soil tillage intensity, and pesticide use are key management options to increase natural enemy biodiversity. Our study indicates that policies promoting the expansion of organic farming will benefit more to ecological intensification strategies seeking to enhance ecosystem services than to biodiversity conservation.

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“…; species richness generally decreaes with N fertilization, with the exception of organic N fertilizers, while nematode numbers increase with all fertilization, but the most with organic ones; from this we also derived the positive signal for low-input systems that come with less N. Lori et al 2018 Soil microbial biomass is the average of microbial N and C increases; abundance of soil microbial communities and soil microbial activity are derived from various proxies reported in the paper (activity is based on 4 values at 74%, 84%, -4% (not significant) and 32% -we grossly capture this in 50%). Muneret et al 2018Crowder et al 2010 shows similar results but assumingly covers partly the same and less data, hence we did not cover it. Looks at conservation agriculture, which is no-till, residue retention and crop rotation; in general, no-till leads to lower yields, while the other two aspects lead to increases again.…”

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confidence: 93%

The potential of agroecology to build climate-resilient livelihoods and food systems

Darmaun¹,

Leippert²,

Bernoux³

et al. 2020

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The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) or Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO or Biovision in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO or Biovisioin.

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Evidence that organic farming promotes pest control

Cited by 147 publications

References 50 publications

Local pesticide use intensity conditions landscape effects on biological pest control

Local pesticide use intensity conditions landscape effects on biological pest control

Organic farming expansion drives natural enemy abundance but not diversity in vineyard‐dominated landscapes

The potential of agroecology to build climate-resilient livelihoods and food systems

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