The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis
Environmental impacts of conventional agriculture have generated interest in sustainable agriculture. Biological pest control is a fundamental tool, and ants are key players providing ecological services, as well as some disservices. We have used a meta-analytical approach to investigate the contrib...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | publishedVersion |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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The Royal Society Publishing
2022
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/8337 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.1316 |
| _version_ | 1855032772193681408 |
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| author | Anjos, Diego V Tena, Alejandro Barbosa, Arleu Carvalho, Raquel L Torezan-Silingardi, Helena Del-Claro, Kleber Perfecto, Ivette |
| author_browse | Anjos, Diego V Barbosa, Arleu Carvalho, Raquel L Del-Claro, Kleber Perfecto, Ivette Tena, Alejandro Torezan-Silingardi, Helena |
| author_facet | Anjos, Diego V Tena, Alejandro Barbosa, Arleu Carvalho, Raquel L Torezan-Silingardi, Helena Del-Claro, Kleber Perfecto, Ivette |
| author_sort | Anjos, Diego V |
| collection | ReDivia |
| description | Environmental impacts of conventional agriculture have generated interest in sustainable agriculture. Biological pest control is a fundamental tool, and ants are key players providing ecological services, as well as some disservices. We have used a meta-analytical approach to investigate the contribution of ants to biological control, considering their effects on pest and natural enemy abundance, plant damage and crop yield. We also evaluated whether the effects of ants are modulated by traits of ants, pests and other natural enemies, as well as by field size, crop system and experiment duration. Overall (considering all meta-analyses), from 52 studies on 17 different crops, we found that ants decrease the abundance of non-honeydew- producing pests, decrease plant damage and increase crop yield (services). In addition, ants decrease the abundance of natural enemies, mainly the generalist ones, and increase honeydew-producing pest abundance (disservices). We show that the pest control and plant protection provided by ants are boosted in shaded crops compared to monocultures. Furthermore, ants increase crop yield in shaded crops, and this effect increases with time. Finally, we bring new insights such as the importance of shaded crops to ant services, providing a good tool for farmers and stakeholders considering sustainable farming practices. |
| format | publishedVersion |
| id | ReDivia8337 |
| institution | Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA) |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | The Royal Society Publishing |
| publisherStr | The Royal Society Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ReDivia83372025-04-25T14:48:55Z The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis Anjos, Diego V Tena, Alejandro Barbosa, Arleu Carvalho, Raquel L Torezan-Silingardi, Helena Del-Claro, Kleber Perfecto, Ivette Beneficial insects Herbivory H10 Pests of plants U10 Mathematical and statistical methods U40 Surveying methods Crop management Herbivores Productivity Sustainability Ants Sustainable agriculture Biological control Natural enemies Crop yield Honeydew Plant damage Environmental impacts of conventional agriculture have generated interest in sustainable agriculture. Biological pest control is a fundamental tool, and ants are key players providing ecological services, as well as some disservices. We have used a meta-analytical approach to investigate the contribution of ants to biological control, considering their effects on pest and natural enemy abundance, plant damage and crop yield. We also evaluated whether the effects of ants are modulated by traits of ants, pests and other natural enemies, as well as by field size, crop system and experiment duration. Overall (considering all meta-analyses), from 52 studies on 17 different crops, we found that ants decrease the abundance of non-honeydew- producing pests, decrease plant damage and increase crop yield (services). In addition, ants decrease the abundance of natural enemies, mainly the generalist ones, and increase honeydew-producing pest abundance (disservices). We show that the pest control and plant protection provided by ants are boosted in shaded crops compared to monocultures. Furthermore, ants increase crop yield in shaded crops, and this effect increases with time. Finally, we bring new insights such as the importance of shaded crops to ant services, providing a good tool for farmers and stakeholders considering sustainable farming practices. 2022-09-08T11:44:22Z 2022-09-08T11:44:22Z 2022 publishedVersion Anjos, D. V., Tena, A., Viana-Junior, A. B., Carvalho, R. L., Torezan-Silingardi, H., Del-Claro, K. et al. (2022). The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 289(1981), 20221316. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/8337 10.1098/rspb.2022.1316 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.1316 en_US Info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Programa Nacional de Investigación Fundamental/RTA2017-00095 A.T. was partially supported by the project RTA2017- 00095 and the Conselleria d’Agricultura, Pesca i Alimentació de la Generalitat Valenciana. openAccess The Royal Society Publishing |
| spellingShingle | Beneficial insects Herbivory H10 Pests of plants U10 Mathematical and statistical methods U40 Surveying methods Crop management Herbivores Productivity Sustainability Ants Sustainable agriculture Biological control Natural enemies Crop yield Honeydew Plant damage Anjos, Diego V Tena, Alejandro Barbosa, Arleu Carvalho, Raquel L Torezan-Silingardi, Helena Del-Claro, Kleber Perfecto, Ivette The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis |
| title | The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis |
| title_full | The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis |
| title_fullStr | The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis |
| title_short | The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis |
| title_sort | effects of ants on pest control a meta analysis |
| topic | Beneficial insects Herbivory H10 Pests of plants U10 Mathematical and statistical methods U40 Surveying methods Crop management Herbivores Productivity Sustainability Ants Sustainable agriculture Biological control Natural enemies Crop yield Honeydew Plant damage |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/8337 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.1316 |
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