Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions

Context: Maintaining a balance between semi-natural habitats and arable land is not always feasible for farmers. The promotion of biological control agents can be addressed through management at farm or field level, and/or by deploying lower intensity, biodiversity-friendly practices which can act e...

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Autores principales: Salat-Moltó, Agnès, Blanco-Moreno, José M., Pérez-Hidalgo, Nicolás, Michelena, José Manuel, Ferrer-Suay, Mar, Guerrieri, Emilio, Caballero-López, Berta
Formato: article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: The International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/8717
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-023-01715-w
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author Salat-Moltó, Agnès
Blanco-Moreno, José M.
Pérez-Hidalgo, Nicolás
Michelena, José Manuel
Ferrer-Suay, Mar
Guerrieri, Emilio
Caballero-López, Berta
author_browse Blanco-Moreno, José M.
Caballero-López, Berta
Ferrer-Suay, Mar
Guerrieri, Emilio
Michelena, José Manuel
Pérez-Hidalgo, Nicolás
Salat-Moltó, Agnès
author_facet Salat-Moltó, Agnès
Blanco-Moreno, José M.
Pérez-Hidalgo, Nicolás
Michelena, José Manuel
Ferrer-Suay, Mar
Guerrieri, Emilio
Caballero-López, Berta
author_sort Salat-Moltó, Agnès
collection ReDivia
description Context: Maintaining a balance between semi-natural habitats and arable land is not always feasible for farmers. The promotion of biological control agents can be addressed through management at farm or field level, and/or by deploying lower intensity, biodiversity-friendly practices which can act either directly or indirectly through their effect of the plant community. Objectives: We studied the effects on cereal aphids and their parasitoids of agricultural management at field and landscape levels. We tested the effect of organic and conventional farming, and of the within field characteristics, on the cereal aphid-parasitoid community, across a gradient of organic farming aggregation and of percentage of arable land. Methods: In spring 2015, we sampled aphid populations in 30 cereal fields in five agricultural areas in Catalonia (Spain) with contrasting levels of organic farming aggregation. In each field, we also assessed weed and crop cover. As landscape variables, we calculated the Percentage of Agricultural Land (PAL) and the Percentage of Organically Managed Land (POML) in a 500-m buffer around each field. We sampled cereal tillers 3 m from the field edges and collected all aphids detected. In addition, we reared mummies (parasitized aphids) until they hatched. Results: Our results show that management at landscape level has significant effects on parasitism rates: a higher proportion of surrounding fields under organic management increased the amount of parasitism, as did less agricultural land cover. On the other hand, aphid populations were mainly affected by two in-field factors, namely, crop density and crop variety. Differences in weed communities did not seem to have any effects on either aphids or parasitoids. Conclusions: Rather than concentrating on the individual management of fields, a coordinated implementation of organic farming at landscape level would seem to be a much better strategy for improving the biological control of aphids.
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institution Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA)
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spelling ReDivia87172025-04-25T14:49:21Z Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions Salat-Moltó, Agnès Blanco-Moreno, José M. Pérez-Hidalgo, Nicolás Michelena, José Manuel Ferrer-Suay, Mar Guerrieri, Emilio Caballero-López, Berta Semi-natural habitats Aphid-parasitoid interaction Insect-plant interaction H10 Pests of plants F08 Cropping patterns and systems F01 Crop husbandry U40 Surveying methods F40 Plant ecology Biological control Organic farming Context: Maintaining a balance between semi-natural habitats and arable land is not always feasible for farmers. The promotion of biological control agents can be addressed through management at farm or field level, and/or by deploying lower intensity, biodiversity-friendly practices which can act either directly or indirectly through their effect of the plant community. Objectives: We studied the effects on cereal aphids and their parasitoids of agricultural management at field and landscape levels. We tested the effect of organic and conventional farming, and of the within field characteristics, on the cereal aphid-parasitoid community, across a gradient of organic farming aggregation and of percentage of arable land. Methods: In spring 2015, we sampled aphid populations in 30 cereal fields in five agricultural areas in Catalonia (Spain) with contrasting levels of organic farming aggregation. In each field, we also assessed weed and crop cover. As landscape variables, we calculated the Percentage of Agricultural Land (PAL) and the Percentage of Organically Managed Land (POML) in a 500-m buffer around each field. We sampled cereal tillers 3 m from the field edges and collected all aphids detected. In addition, we reared mummies (parasitized aphids) until they hatched. Results: Our results show that management at landscape level has significant effects on parasitism rates: a higher proportion of surrounding fields under organic management increased the amount of parasitism, as did less agricultural land cover. On the other hand, aphid populations were mainly affected by two in-field factors, namely, crop density and crop variety. Differences in weed communities did not seem to have any effects on either aphids or parasitoids. Conclusions: Rather than concentrating on the individual management of fields, a coordinated implementation of organic farming at landscape level would seem to be a much better strategy for improving the biological control of aphids. 2023-09-26T06:41:30Z 2023-09-26T06:41:30Z 2023 article publishedVersion Salat-Moltó, A., Blanco-Moreno, J. M., Pérez Hidalgo, N., Michelena, J. M., Ferrer Suay, M., Guerrieri, E., & Caballero-López, B. (2023). Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions. Landscape Ecology, 38(12), 3555-3567. 0921-2973 (Print ISSN) 1572-9761 (Electronic ISSN) https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/8717 10.1007/s10980-023-01715-w https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-023-01715-w en This research was partially supported by the MICINN 2018 project (RTI2018-095597-B-I00) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the project AGRIBIOPOL (CGL2012-39442) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. A.S.-M. was supported by an APIF fellowship by the University of Barcelona. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Programa Estatal de I+D+i Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad/RTI2018-095597-B-I00/ES/INTENSIFICACION AGRICOLA Y BIODIVERSIDAD FUNCIONAL EN CULTIVOS HERBACEOS MEDITERRANEOS: DISEÑO DE SISTEMAS PARA MEJORAR PROTECCION DE CULTIVOS, POLINIZACION Y PRODUCTIVIDAD Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ openAccess The International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) electronico
spellingShingle Semi-natural habitats
Aphid-parasitoid interaction
Insect-plant interaction
H10 Pests of plants
F08 Cropping patterns and systems
F01 Crop husbandry
U40 Surveying methods
F40 Plant ecology
Biological control
Organic farming
Salat-Moltó, Agnès
Blanco-Moreno, José M.
Pérez-Hidalgo, Nicolás
Michelena, José Manuel
Ferrer-Suay, Mar
Guerrieri, Emilio
Caballero-López, Berta
Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions
title Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions
title_full Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions
title_fullStr Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions
title_full_unstemmed Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions
title_short Aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under Mediterranean conditions
title_sort aggregation of organically managed fields promotes aphid parasitism in cereal crops under mediterranean conditions
topic Semi-natural habitats
Aphid-parasitoid interaction
Insect-plant interaction
H10 Pests of plants
F08 Cropping patterns and systems
F01 Crop husbandry
U40 Surveying methods
F40 Plant ecology
Biological control
Organic farming
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/8717
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-023-01715-w
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