Natural enemies partially compensate for warming induced excess herbivory in an organic growth system

Orsolya, Beleznai; Dreyer, Jean-Luc; Tóth, Zoltán; Samu, Ferenc

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-07509-w

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…The plastic mulch provided a more favorable microclimate around the plants, thus increasing plant mass and reducing losses (Parmar et al, 2013). Weather changes can influence arthropod populations (Beleznai et al, 2017) and disease pressure. In our study, insect pest pressure was lower in 2014, possibly because of the lower spring temperatures and heavy rains throughout the season.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Rowcovers and Strip Tillage for Pest Management in Summer Squash and Muskmelon Production

Skidmore

Wilson

Williams

et al. 2019

hortte

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Pest management in cucurbit (Cucurbitaceae) cropping systems is challenging. As a result, pesticides are heavily used for managing insect pests and diseases. This work focused on the application of integrated pest management (IPM) techniques to control pests and reduce reliance on insecticide sprays while maintaining the quality and quantity of marketable yields in two commonly grown cucurbit crops: muskmelon (Cucumis melo) and summer squash (Cucurbita pepo). Plasticulture (raised beds covered in black plastic mulch) and strip tillage, two soil management systems commonly used for cucurbit IPM production, were compared to determine their impact on yield and pest numbers during the 2013–14 growing seasons. Additionally, the use of early season rowcovers and their impact on yield and pest pressure were investigated. Plasticulture use increased marketable yields compared with strip tillage for both summer squash and muskmelon, but strip tillage resulted in fewer total pests for both crops. Rowcover use did not have a consistent effect on insect pest numbers and showed a negative impact on the yield of both summer squash and muskmelon. No significant impacts on yield were observed when the interaction between rowcovers and the tillage system was investigated. The use of rowcovers impacted pest numbers, but these impacts were not consistent between insect pest species. Insecticide use was reduced in covered treatments, but only by one application. We concluded that these management techniques have the potential to be used in an IPM system, but the reduced marketable yield of strip tillage systems may reduce the adoption of this IPM technique for these crops.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Rowcovers and Strip Tillage for Pest Management in Summer Squash and Muskmelon Production

Skidmore

Wilson

Williams

et al. 2019

hortte

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“…Climatic conditions, such as temperature and precipitation, can also alter the intensity of interspecific interactions and trophic cascades as shown in various terrestrial ecosystems (Beleznai, Dreyer, Tóth, & Samu, ; Liu et al, ; Pekár, Michalko, Loverre, Líznarová, & Černecká, ; Rodríguez‐Castañeda, ). Under warmer climates, trophic interactions may be more intense because of higher activity rates of ectotherms (Pekár et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global patterns in the biocontrol efficacy of spiders: A meta‐analysis

Michalko

Pekár

Duľa

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

109

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Aim To investigate the overall effect of spiders on pest suppression and crop performance, and to explore the extent to which the biocontrol efficacy of spiders depends on the characteristics of spiders, pests, agroecosystems, climate and geography. Location Global. Time period 1970–2017. Major taxa studied Spiders. Methods We performed a meta‐analysis of 58 published studies where we investigated (a) the overall effect of spiders on pest density and crop performance; (b) the extent to which the biocontrol efficacy of spiders depends on the taxonomy of pests (aphids, leafhoppers, beetles, and lepidopteran larvae), the hunting strategy of spiders (hunters, web‐weavers), crop type (vine, cabbage, wheat, rice), climate, and geography. Results Spiders suppressed agricultural pest insects in 79% of cases. The mean effect size of increased spider density on pest suppression was large (Hedge's d = 0.89; 95% confidence interval (CI95 )= 0.66–1.12). Spider pest suppression efficacy slightly increased also with taxonomic diversity (d = 0.33; CI95 = 0.05–0.61). The effects of spiders cascaded down and improved crop performance (d = 2.3, CI95 = 0.70–3.84). The effects of spiders seemed to escalate rather than attenuate down through the agricultural food‐chains (regression slopes > 1). The biocontrol efficacy of spiders was highest in rice followed by grape, cabbage and wheat. The pest suppression efficacy of spiders and the positive effect of spiders on crop yield slightly increased towards the tropics and with mean annual temperature. Spiders suppressed the four pest groups with similar efficacy. Main conclusions The meta‐analysis provides strong evidence that spiders are effective in natural pest control and improve crop performance. However, the efficacy of spiders differed among crops. Our study substantiates the few earlier findings that predation pressure and the intensity of trophic cascades in terrestrial ecosystems intensify towards the tropics.

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“…When natural enemies are used as biological control agents for pest management, diffusion of antipredator responses among prey may substantially reduce predation rates rendering these practices less effective and profitable. Besides, it may also mitigate the expected positive impact of the non-consumptive effects of predators (NCEs; Preisser et al 2007;Sih et al 2009) such as decreased crop damage due to reduced feeding rate in pests (Beleznai et al 2017;Tholt et al 2018). This inflation of NCEs due to information spread can generate discrepancies in the findings of largescale field studies and laboratory experiments (see in Weissburg et al 2014), and should be taken into consideration in investigations that aim to evaluate how NCEs may trigger trophic cascades in different ecosystems (Hermann and Landis 2017;Haggerty et al 2018;Pessarrodona et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social information-mediated population dynamics in non-grouping prey

Tóth

Csöppü

2022

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Inadvertent social information (ISI) use, i.e., the exploitation of social cues including the presence and behaviour of others, has been predicted to mediate population-level processes even in the absence of cohesive grouping. However, we know little about how such effects may arise when the prey population lacks social structure beyond the spatiotemporal autocorrelation originating from the random movement of individuals. In this study, we built an individual-based model where predator avoidance behaviour could spread among randomly moving prey through the network of nearby observers. We qualitatively assessed how ISI use may affect prey population size when cue detection was associated with different probabilities and fitness costs, and characterised the structural properties of the emerging detection networks that would provide pathways for information spread in prey. We found that ISI use was among the most influential model parameters affecting prey abundance and increased equilibrium population sizes in most examined scenarios. Moreover, it could substantially contribute to population survival under high predation pressure, but this effect strongly depended on the level of predator detection ability. When prey exploited social cues in the presence of high predation risk, the observed detection networks consisted of a large number of connected components with small sizes and small ego networks; this resulted in efficient information spread among connected individuals in the detection networks. Our study provides hypothetical mechanisms about how temporary local densities may allow information diffusion about predation threats among conspecifics and facilitate population stability and persistence in non-grouping animals. Significance statement The exploitation of inadvertently produced social cues may not only modify individual behaviour but also fundamentally influence population dynamics and species interactions. Using an individual-based model, we investigated how the detection and spread of adaptive antipredator behaviour may cascade to changes in the demographic performance of randomly moving (i.e., non-grouping) prey. We found that social information use contributed to population stability and persistence by reducing predation-related per capita mortality and raising equilibrium population sizes when predator detection ability reached a sufficient level. We also showed that temporary detection networks had structural properties that allowed efficient information spread among prey under high predation pressure. Our work represents a general modelling approach that could be adapted to specific predator-prey systems and scrutinise how temporary local densities allow dynamic information diffusion about predation threats and facilitate population stability in non-grouping animals.

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Natural enemies partially compensate for warming induced excess herbivory in an organic growth system

Cited by 7 publications

References 63 publications

Integrating Rowcovers and Strip Tillage for Pest Management in Summer Squash and Muskmelon Production

Integrating Rowcovers and Strip Tillage for Pest Management in Summer Squash and Muskmelon Production

Global patterns in the biocontrol efficacy of spiders: A meta‐analysis

Social information-mediated population dynamics in non-grouping prey

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