Stability lies in flowers: Plant diversification mediating shifts in arthropod food webs

Haro, Marcelo Mendes; Silveira, Luís Cláudio Paterno; Wilby, Andrew

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0193045

Cited by 24 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…A heavy presence of leguminous sap‐sucker Alydidae (Ventura et al 2000) in the RP sites appeared to be responsible for the positive correlations between herbivore abundance and plant species diversity. Similar observations were reported by Haddad et al (2001; 2011), Hertzog et al (2016), and Haro et al (2018). Although C 4 grasses are generally less palatable (Haddad et al 2009) this positive correlation suggests abundant herbivore populations can be supported by habitats with rich forb and grass diversity as exhibited in the RP sites, which may supply both nutritional food resources (forbs) and refuge (grass/forb mix) needs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Role of plant diversity on arthropod communities in a restored tallgrass prairie of the U.S. Midwest

Kelleher

Choi

2020

Restoration Ecology

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We investigated the effects of enhanced plant species diversity on prairie restoration on arthropod community assembly in a restored tallgrass prairie of the U.S. Midwest. Despite weak correlation with the arthropod taxon, enhanced plant species diversity in the restored prairie (RP) promoted the evenness and diversity of arthropod functional groups and led to a divergence of arthropod assemblage in comparison to the ones in old field (OF) and monospecific stand (reed canary grass [RCG]) of exotic reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacia). Pollinators were most and least abundant in RP and RCG, respectively, and exhibited a positive correlation to plant species diversity. Herbivore abundance, highest in RP, also increased with plant species diversity. The diversity of arthropod functional groups was likely facilitated by structural complexity of the RP vegetation that resulted from the enhanced plant species diversity, particularly flowering and nectar-producing forbs. Predator abundance, highest in RCG, decreased with plant species diversity and increased with C 3 grass cover. The presence of small-body sized herbivores seemed to attract predators in the RCG site, which has a monospecific vegetation structure of C 3 reed canary grass. Our results demonstrate a positive effect of prairie restoration on the diversity of arthropod functional groups. We recommend increasing the diversity of native plant species and reduction (or eradication if possible) of exotic plants in the OF and RCG sites.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Role of plant diversity on arthropod communities in a restored tallgrass prairie of the U.S. Midwest

Kelleher

Choi

2020

Restoration Ecology

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“…On our selected bund plants, we found pollinating flies that can also act as a predator in rice fields. Increasing community stability and functioning can prevent pest outbreaks due to the coupled increase in specialist and generalist predators [ 52 ]. At the same time, interconnecting bunds and increasing number of rice patches can lead to lower herbivore abundance [ 53 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Pesticides and Increasing Crop Diversification Offer Ecological and Economic Benefits for Farmers—A Case Study in Cambodian Rice Fields

Sattler

Schrader

Flor³

et al. 2021

Insects

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Rice production is often associated with high pesticide input. To improve farmers’ practice, sustainable management approaches are urgently needed, such as ecological engineering (EE), which aims at enhancing beneficial arthropods while reducing pesticides. Here, we implemented and tested EE in Cambodian rice fields by comparing: (i) fields not treated with pesticides (control); (ii) fields not treated with pesticides but with non-rice crops planted in the surrounding (EE); and (iii) conventionally farmed fields using pesticides (CR). Using benefit-cost analysis, we compared the economic value of each treatment. The non-rice crops preferred by men and women farmers as well as farmers’ willingness to implement EE were assessed using surveys. We sampled arthropod abundance and richness in rice fields and bunds during two seasons. During the dry season, we compared EE and CR among three Cambodian provinces. During the wet season, we specifically assessed the differences in EE, control and CR in arthropod abundance and rice yield in one province. While withholding from using pesticides did not result in a decrease in yield in EE and control treatments, parasitoid abundance was higher in both treatments during the wet season. The benefit–cost ratio was highest for EE and control treatments. Pesticides were likely the main driver causing low arthropod abundance, without any benefit towards increased rice yield. The proper implementation of EE coupled with farmers’ knowledge of ecologically based pest management is a promising solution towards sustainable rice production.

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“…That means our scientific question differed considerably to that in diversity studies, e.g. Haro et al (2018), Buhk et al (2017) and Wezel et al (2014). Diversity studies analyse diversity of cropping or natural systems concerning flora and fauna and ask for the main characteristics of these systems.…”

Section: Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first one is based on an explicit theoretical concept: e.g. diversification is useful to improve biological pest control (Hooks and Johnson 2001;Haro et al 2018). This perspective applies for most of the experiments that analyse the possibilities to influence and understand interactions in food webs by crop diversification ('agroecological perspective').…”

Section: The Lack Of a Concept Of Crop Diversificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An extensive metastudy at global scale analysed the effects of crop diversification on numerous parameters , and many of the articles evaluated do not use the term diversification. Although the term has recently been shown more frequently in agronomic studies (Hatt et al 2018;Haro et al 2018;Kumar et al 2017;Hondrade et al 2017), many publications still mention only the tested diversification measure, e.g. intercropping.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Diverse approaches to crop diversification in agricultural research. A review

Hufnagel

Reckling

Ewert

2020

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

173

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Agricultural intensification increased crop productivity but simplified production with lower diversity of cropping systems, higher genetic uniformity, and a higher uniformity of agricultural landscapes. Associated detrimental effects on the environment and biodiversity as well as the resilience and adaptability of cropping systems to climate change are of growing concern. Crop diversification may stabilize productivity of cropping systems and reduce negative environmental impacts and loss of biodiversity, but a shared understanding of crop diversification including approaches towards a more systematic research is lacking. Here, we review the use of 'crop diversification' measures in agricultural research. We (i) analyse changes in crop diversification studies over time; (ii) identify diversification practices based on empirical studies; (iii) differentiate their use by country, crop species and experimental setup and (iv) identify target parameters to assess the success of diversification. Our main findings are that (1) less than 5% of the selected studies on crop diversification refer to our search term 'diversification'; (2) more than half of the studies focused on rice, corn or wheat; (3) 76% of the experiments were conducted in India, USA, Canada, Brazil or China; (4) almost any arable crop was tested on its suitability for diversification; (5) in 72% of the studies on crop diversification, at least one additional agronomic measure was tested and (6) only 45% of the studies analysed agronomic, economic and ecological target variables. Our findings show the high variability of approaches to crop diversification and the lack of a consistent theoretical concept. For better comparability and ability to generalise the results of the different primary studies, we suggest a novel conceptual framework. It consists of five elements, (i) definition of the problem of existing farming practices and the potential need for diversification, (ii) characterisation of the baseline system to be diversified, (iii) definition of the scale and target area, (iv) description of the experimental design and target variables and (v) definition of the expected impacts. Applying this framework will contribute to utilizing the benefits of crop diversification more efficiently.

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Stability lies in flowers: Plant diversification mediating shifts in arthropod food webs

Cited by 24 publications

References 72 publications

Role of plant diversity on arthropod communities in a restored tallgrass prairie of the U.S. Midwest

Role of plant diversity on arthropod communities in a restored tallgrass prairie of the U.S. Midwest

Reducing Pesticides and Increasing Crop Diversification Offer Ecological and Economic Benefits for Farmers—A Case Study in Cambodian Rice Fields

Diverse approaches to crop diversification in agricultural research. A review

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