Abstract

Agricultural landscapes are constantly changing as farmers adopt new production practices and respond to changing environmental conditions. Some of these changes alter landscape structure with impacts on natural pest control, pesticide use, and conservation of biodiversity. In rice agroecosystems the effect of landscape structure on natural enemies and pest suppression is often poorly understood. Here we investigate the effect of landscape composition and configuration on a key pest of rice, the brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens). Using N. lugens as sentinel prey coupled with predator exclusions, we investigated landscape effects on herbivore suppression and rice grain yield at multiple spatial scales in two regions of Bangladesh. Ladybird beetles and spiders were the most abundant natural enemies of N. lugens with landscape effects observed at all scales on ladybird beetles. Specifically, ladybird beetles were positively influenced by road edges, and fallow land, while spiders were strongly influenced only by rice phenology. Predator exclusion cages showed that N. lugens abundance significantly increased in caged plots, reducing rice gain yield. We also used an estimated biocontrol service index that showed a significant positive relationship with landscape diversity and a significant negative impact on pest density and yield loss. These results suggest that promoting fallow lands and fragmented patches between rice fields could lead to more sustainable insect pest management in rice agroecosystems, potentially reducing the practice of prophylactic insecticide use.

Details

Title
Landscape structure influences natural pest suppression in a rice agroecosystem
Author
Ali, M. P. 1 ; Clemente-Orta, Gemma 2 ; Kabir, M. M. M. 1 ; Haque, S. S. 1 ; Biswas, M. 3 ; Landis, Douglas A. 4 

 Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Entomology Division, Gazipur, Bangladesh (GRID:grid.452224.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 2299 2934) 
 University of Lleida, Department of Crop and Forest Sciences, AGROTECNIO Center, Lleida, Spain (GRID:grid.15043.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 2163 1432) 
 Presidency University, Department of Geography, Kolkata, India (GRID:grid.412537.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1768 2925) 
 Michigan State University, Department of Entomology, East Lansing, USA (GRID:grid.17088.36) (ISNI:0000 0001 2150 1785) 
Pages
15726
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2866963304
Copyright
© This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.