Natural enemy interactions constrain pest control in complex agricultural landscapes

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 110; no. 14; pp. 5534 - 5539
• Main Authors: Martin, Emily A., Reineking, Björn, Seo, Bumsuk, Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences 02-04-2013; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Agriculture - methods; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biological control; Biological Sciences; Birds - physiology; Control; Crop damage; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agroecology; General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development; Herbivores; Herbivory - physiology; Insect control; Insect flight; Insecta - physiology; Landscape ecology; Landscapes; Linear Models; Natural enemies; Pest control; Pest Control, Biological - methods; Pests; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Phytophagous insects; Population Dynamics; Predatory Behavior - physiology; Protozoa. Invertebrates; Republic of Korea; Seminatural ecosystems; Social Sciences; Sustainable agriculture; Trophic relationships; biodiversity―ecosystem functioning; ecosystem service provision; Landscape; Biological control; Trophic relation; biological pest control; Agroecosystem; Complexity; Pest; Beneficial animal; land use intensification; Ecosystem services; arthropods and birds; Intraguild predation
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1215725110

Biological control of pests by natural enemies is a major ecosystem service delivered to agriculture worldwide. Quantifying and predicting its effectiveness at large spatial scales is critical for increased sustainability of agricultural production. Landscape complexity is known to benefit natural enemies, but its effects on interactions between natural enemies and the consequences for crop damage and yield are unclear. Here, we show that pest control at the landscape scale is driven by differences in natural enemy interactions across landscapes, rather than by the effectiveness of individual natural enemy guilds. In a field exclusion experiment, pest control by flying insect enemies increased with landscape complexity. However, so did antagonistic interactions between flying insects and birds, which were neutral in simple landscapes and increasingly negative in complex landscapes. Negative natural enemy interactions thus constrained pest control in complex landscapes. These results show that, by altering natural enemy interactions, landscape complexity can provide ecosystem services as well as disservices. Careful handling of the tradeoffs among multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity, and societal concerns is thus crucial and depends on our ability to predict the functional consequences of landscape-scale changes in trophic interactions.