Bengtsson, Jan
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article2011Peer reviewed
The relationship between agricultural intensification and biological control: experimental tests across Europe
Thies, Carsten; Haenke, Sebastian; Scherber, Christoph; Bengtsson, Jan; Bommarco, Riccardo; Clement, Lars W.; Ceryngier, Piotr; Dennis, Christopher; Emmerson, Mark; Gagic, Vesna; Hawro, Violetta; Liira, Jaan; Weisser, Wolfgang W.; Winqvist, Camilla; Tscharntke, Teja
Abstract
Agricultural intensification can affect biodiversity and related ecosystem services such as biological control, but large-scale experimental evidence is missing. We examined aphid pest populations in cereal fields under experimentally reduced densities of (1) ground-dwelling predators (-G), (2) vegetation-dwelling predators and parasitoids (-V), (3) a combination of (1) and (2) (-G-V),compared with open-fields (control), in contrasting landscapes with low vs. high levels of agricultural intensification (AI), and in five European regions. Aphid populations were 28%, 97%, and 199% higher in -G, -V, and -G -V treatments, respectively, compared to the open fields, indicating synergistic effects of both natural-enemy groups. Enhanced parasitoid : host and predator : prey ratios were related to reduced aphid population density and population growth. The relative importance of parasitoids and vegetation-dwelling predators greatly differed among European regions, and agricultural intensification affected biological control and aphid density only in some regions. This shows a changing role of species group identity in diverse enemy communities and a need to consider region-specific landscape management.
Keywords
agricultural intensification; cereal aphid; ecosystem service; European agricultural landscapes; functional group identity and diversity; landscape complexity; parasitoid; predator
Published in
Ecological Applications
2011, Volume: 21, number: 6, pages: 2187-2196
Publisher: ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER
Bommarco, Riccardo
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Winqvist, Camilla
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Agricultural Science
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/10-0929.1
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/58394