农业景观生物多样性与害虫生态控制

现代农业的一个重要特征就是人类对农田生态系统的干扰强度及频率不断增加,严重影响农业景观的结构及其生物多样性.农业景观结构的变化及其生物多样性的丧失,必然引起生态系统服务功能的弱化,不利于实施以保护自然天敌为主的害虫生态控制.农业的集约化经营导致自然生境破碎化,减少了农业景观的复杂性,使得作物和非作物变成一种相对离散化的生境类型和镶嵌的景观格局;破碎化的生境不仅会减少某些物种的丰度,还会影响物种之间的相互关系及生物群落的多样性和稳定性.非作物生境类型如林地、灌木篱墙、田块边缘区、休耕地和草地等,是一种比较稳定的异质化环境.非作物生境较少受到干扰,可以为寄生性和捕食性节肢动物提供适宜的越冬或避难场所以及替代猎物、花粉和花蜜等资源,因此,非作物生境有利于自然天敌的栖息和繁衍,也有利于它们迁入邻近的作物生境中对害虫起到调节和控制作用.景观的格局-过程-尺度影响农田生物群落物种丰富度、多度、多样性以及害虫与天敌之间的相互作用.从区域农业景观系统的角度出发,运用景观生态学的理论和方法来研究作物、害虫、天敌等组分在不同斑块之间的转移过程和变化规律,揭示害虫在较大尺度和具有异质性的空间范围内的灾变机理,可为利用农业景观生物多样性来保护农田自然天敌,实施害虫的区域性生态控制提供新的研究思路和手段.     

论短期农作物生境中节肢动物群落的重建I.群落重建的概念及特性

农田生态系统是一个不稳定的生态系统,包括作物生境和非作物生境两个组成部分。非作物生境对作物生境中的害虫及其天敌可产生正的或负的影响。在短期农作物生境中,周期性的种植和收割使得其中的节肢动物群落亦周期性地呈现出群落重新形成、群落发展和群落瓦解３个阶段。这一群落的发展和自然群落的富替是两种不同的发展方式。因此,将短期农作生境内节肢动物群落的重新形成过程定义为群落的重建,而非作物生境内的节肢物群落称之为     

非作物植被对玉米地节肢动物群落的影响

本文从玉米地中、玉米地周围、周围大尺度这三个层次范围综述了非作物植被对玉米地节肢动物群落的影响。在不同尺度上,非作物植被对玉米地节肢动物群落影响的形式不同。在玉米地中,杂草等覆盖物能够增加天敌种类和数量,减少害虫的危害,但是杂草等覆盖物的存在同时也可能有利于害虫的发生;在玉米地周围,非作物植被可以为天敌提供栖息、越冬、捕食等场所,可以作为天敌"库"的场所;在周围大尺度上,非作物植被与作物的种植面积的比例影响着玉米地中节肢动物群落的动态,某些节肢动物可能对某一特定范围内的植被组成有响应。本文还浅析了非作物植被影响玉米地节肢动物群落的机理,并对相关问题进行了讨论。     

区域农田景观格局对麦田天敌瓢虫群落的影响

【目的】明确农田景观格局对麦田天敌瓢虫种群的影响,为开展区域性害虫生态调控提供理论依据。【方法】以山东省22个县市区域的小麦种植区为研究对象,基于遥感影像与土地覆盖分类数据以及田间调查的瓢虫种群数据,计算景观格局指数,使用负二项分布的广义线性模型从农田景观、非作物生境景观和区域景观3个方面分析区域农田景观格局对麦田天敌瓢虫群落的影响。【结果】麦田瓢虫种群数量与草地的平均斑块面积(mean patch area,AREA_MN)和面积加权平均斑块分维数(area-weighted mean patch fractal dimension,FRAC_AM)、区域景观的斑块丰富度密度(patch richness density,PRD)呈正相关,与非作物生境的面积加权平均几何最邻近距离(areaweighted mean Euclidean nearest neighbor distance,ENN_AM)呈负相关。草地、聚集的非作物生境以及多样性的区域景观有利于天敌瓢虫种群数量的增加。使用草地的平均斑块面积和非作物生境的面积加权平均几何最邻近距离可以预测瓢虫的发生量。【结论】作为非作物生境的草地、非作物生境的空间分布及区域景观的多样性是影响麦田天敌瓢虫发生的重要因素。     

多尺度空间下害虫生态调控理论与应用

不同尺度空间下农田生态系统具有不同的生境斑块组成结构,尺度性也是生态系统的重要特征之一.近年来,北美和欧洲等地区用农田生境管理与区域性景观设计相结合的研究方法实施多尺度空间下害虫生态调控,实现复合生态系统服务.其核心思想是以大区域景观设计和农田作物布局与农事管理的有机结合,通过农业景观格局的空间配置,调节种植模式、管理技术、乃至改变农业景观格局的空间配置等以切断害虫种群的生活史,建立和恢复天敌种群库与转移通道,从而最大程度地提高农业生态系统自身的控害功能.近年来,北美和欧洲对多尺度空间下农业复合生态系统服务功能都做了大量工作,尤其是田间尺度与景观尺度相结合的研究方法更是当前生境管理研究的重要内容.本文总结了多尺度空间下生态系统环境条件与天敌种群间的作用机制及假说,包括田间尺度上主要通过轮作与间套作、覆盖作物、减免耕及发展有机农业等方式提高天敌种群,景观尺度上通过生境斑块的空间配置来改变植物资源布局,最终提高天敌的控害作用.以期为深入地解析景观格局及复杂性对生物多样性的影响,揭示农业景观变化对昆虫种间关系的作用机制,在实践上为利用农田景观格局控制害虫种群发生提供新的途径与方法.     

论短期农作物生境中节肢动物群落的重建Ⅱ.群落重建的分析和调控

在短期农作物生境中,周期性的种植和收害虫使得其中的节肢动物群落亦周期性地呈现出群落重建、群落发展和群落瓦解3种阶段。影响群落的因子包括群落的种库、农事活动和环境因子等。根据作物生境中节肢动物群落的结构和动态划分群落的3个阶段,群落重建的分析方法包括群落重建速度和群落生态学的基本方法等。可以从群落的种库、各落本身和整个作物生态系统3个层次调控群落的重建。群落重建与种库、群落本身和作物生态系统的相互作用关系。是保护利用自然天敌的理论基础之一。     

农田景观格局对害虫天敌生态控害功能的调控作用

如何提升农田景观的生态服务功能是当前景观生态学和害虫防治学的前沿研究热点.基于区域农田景观格局可显著调节植物-植食性昆虫-天敌之间相互关系的理论基础,本文系统概括总结了农田景观格局及其变化对农田重要天敌多样性与生态控害功能的影响.从不同天敌类群的角度,分析了农田景观格局对捕食性天敌、寄生性天敌、有益微生物及其生态控害功能的调控作用.同时,对优化农田景观作物布局、采取合理的植被生境管理策略进行了展望.本文可为应用植被生境管理提升农田景观中天敌的生态系统服务功能提供参考,进一步促进区域生态农业响应"化学农药减量施用"的战略目标提供理论支撑.     

利用生物多样性控制作物害虫的理论与实践

生物多样性是人类可持续发展的重要基础,保护和利用生物多样性是国际社会普遍关注的问题。近年来,通过改善农田生物多样性和强化农田生态系统保益控害的服务功能,实现作物病虫害生态调控已成为国内外研究的热点。本文在总结分析国内外利用生物多样性控制害虫理论研究和实际应用的基础上,综述了该领域的研究进展、实践成果和发展前景。文中介绍了生物多样性的基本概念及其与害虫综合治理的关系,系统概述了利用农田生物多样性控制作物害虫的各种理论假说,包括天敌假说、资源集中假说、联合抗性假说、"推-拉"假说、中度复杂假说、景观缓冲假说等;从提高天敌多样性、作物多样性、非作物多样性和景观多样性等方面综合评述了利用农田生物多样性控制作物害虫的应用实践,重点介绍了我国的一些典型的实际应用案例,旨在充分展示中国昆虫学科技工作者在该领域做出的贡献;针对现代农业集约化经营导致农田生态系统结构简单、农田生物多样性不断下降等特点,对如何以农田景观为单元进一步做好利用生物多样性控制作物害虫的理论研究和应用实践进行了讨论和展望。     

半自然农田边界与相邻农田步甲和蜘蛛的时空分布

分别于小麦、玉米收获前后,采用陷阱法调查了华北地区典型农业景观中具有不同植被结构的农田边界及其相邻农田中两类重要天敌类群步甲和蜘蛛的多样性.通过比较农田生境及相邻农田边界间两类天敌群落的时空分布格局及其与相邻半自然生境植被群落的相关关系,探讨半自然农田边界对两类天敌类群的保护作用.结果表明: 整个取样季节农田边界处蜘蛛的多度显著高于农田内部;而步甲多样性在农田与边界间无显著性差异,仅呈现不同的群落结构;作物收获后蜘蛛分科数在边界处的增加以及在农田的减少,显示了蜘蛛在农田和边界之间的迁移活动.边界植被结构对蜘蛛和步甲多样性有不同影响:边界较高的草本层盖度和较低的乔木层盖度有利于增加农田中某些步甲优势种的多样性;而较高的草本层盖度有利于增加皿蛛科蜘蛛的多样性.因此,半自然生境的存在可以通过天敌在农田和边界之间的迁移运动促进农田天敌多样性的维持;但不同类型半自然生境植被群落结构可能影响其对不同天敌群落多样性的维持和保护作用.为促进农业景观对天敌的保护作用,提高其害虫控制功能,需要深入了解不同天敌的生境需求及食物需求,精心设计有利于天敌多样性维持的半自然生境.     

基于服务功能的昆虫生态调控理论

鉴于昆虫在植物传粉授精、害虫生物控制、土壤有机物分解中提供多种生态系统服务功能,本文在害虫生态调控、区域性害虫生态调控与生境管理的基础上,进一步提出基于多种生态服务功能的农田景观昆虫生态调控理论、方法与实践。认为:昆虫管理不仅仅是害虫的管理,还应包括有益昆虫(如传粉昆虫、天敌昆虫、分解昆虫)的管理,这种管理应从单一农田生态系统扩展到农田景观生态系统,充分考虑农田景观中昆虫的传粉功能、生物控害功能和分解功能,通过对功能植物、作物与非作物生境的空间布局以及时间序列上的生态设计,从空间上明确昆虫(包括害虫、天敌、传粉昆虫、分解昆虫)在不同生境中的转移扩散动态,从时间上掌握昆虫在不同寄主植物与非作物生境上的演替过程,从技术上着重发挥有利于昆虫的传粉功能、生物控害功能和分解功能的综合措施,在研究方法上突出使用稳定同位素、生态能量学、化学生态学等定量分析手段,研究景观区域内中"植物-昆虫"互作过程及其生态调控措施的作用,寻求不同时空条件下控害保益的关键措施,设计和组装出维持多功能的农田景观昆虫生态调控技术体系,创造有利于天敌控害、蜜蜂传粉、土壤分解的环境条件,以发挥昆虫类群在农田景观中最大的生态服务功能。     

Habitat linkages in conservation biological control: Lessons from the land–water interface

Terrestrial landscapes, including those with embedded agroecosystems, are a mosaic of cover types varying in size. Creating or maintaining habitats that support natural enemy populations to combat agricultural pests is the primary method of conservation biological control. Non-crop habitats can be managed in an attempt to maximize the exchange of natural enemies with adjacent agroecosystems with the expectation that they will suppress damaging pest outbreaks. Despite this goal, current habitat management relying on natural enemy spillover into crops has been unreliably effective at reducing pest abundance or increasing crop yield. Furthermore, the expansion and intensification of agriculture and changes in global climate patterns threaten the foundations of conservation biological control in future agroecosystems. However, the aquatic–terrestrial interface offers a natural boundary similar to the one between agroecosystems and their neighboring non-crop habitats that can provide useful insights to the challenges facing growers. Research of the exchanges between water and land suggests general biological and physical processes that govern the movement of organisms between disparate habitats. We propose that like aquatic insects moving from water to land, natural enemy dispersal from non-crop donor habitats into recipient crop patches on the landscape is a function of (1) the production of natural enemies in the source habitat which establishes the abundance of organisms that can disperse, (2) how and why mobile natural enemies disperse themselves into neighboring recipient habitats, and (3) the configuration of donor and recipient habitats on the landscape. We suggest that conservation biological control practitioners can focus on these main components of natural enemy production and dispersal to predict the effectiveness of conservation biological control measures and guide their adaptation to future global change.     

Hibernation of predatory arthropods in semi-natural habitats

Non-crop habitats provide important resources for natural enemies. Many natural enemies hibernate in non-crop habitats, from which they may colonise arable fields in the spring. Spring colonisation ensures annual repopulation of the crop with natural enemies, allowing them to keep pace with the development of pest populations. The availability of non-crop habitats can, therefore, be crucial to successful conservation biological control. We quantified the density of overwintering natural enemies near organic Brussels sprout crops in five different non-crop habitats (short grassy field margin, herbaceous field margin, herbaceous field margin under a tree line, ditch and forest). Soil and litter samples of non-crop habitats were taken at two sites. One site was located in an open agricultural landscape, the other in a landscape dominated by mixed forest. Insects belonging to Staphylinidae, Araneae, Carabidae, Coccinellidae and Dermaptera were the most abundant. Mean densities of predatory arthropods were higher in the open agricultural landscape (290 predators m⁻²) than in the forested landscape (137 predators m⁻²). Herbaceous habitat types supported the highest densities of overwintering predators (up to 400 predators m⁻²), whereas densities in the forest were lowest (10 predators m⁻²). These results indicate that herbaceous non-crop habitats are important refugia for predators and may play a vital role in conservation biological control. Handling Editor: Arne Janssen.     

Effects of crop species richness on pest-natural enemy systems based on an experimental model system using a microlandscape

The relationship between crop richness and predator-prey interactions as they relate to pest-natural enemy systems is a very important topic in ecology and greatly affects biological control services. The effects of crop arrangement on predator-prey interactions have received much attention as the basis for pest population management. To explore the internal mechanisms and factors driving the relationship between crop richness and pest population management, we designed an experimental model system of a microlandscape that included 50 plots and five treatments. Each treatment had 10 repetitions in each year from 2007 to 2010. The results showed that the biomass of pests and their natural enemies increased with increasing crop biomass and decreased with decreasing crop biomass; however, the effects of plant biomass on the pest and natural enemy biomass were not significant. The relationship between adjacent trophic levels was significant (such as pests and their natural enemies or crops and pests), whereas non-adjacent trophic levels (crops and natural enemies) did not significantly interact with each other. The ratio of natural enemy/pest biomass was the highest in the areas of four crop species that had the best biological control service. Having either low or high crop species richness did not enhance the pest population management service and lead to loss of biological control. Although the resource concentration hypothesis was not well supported by our results, high crop species richness could suppress the pest population, indicating that crop species richness could enhance biological control services. These results could be applied in habitat management aimed at biological control, provide the theoretical basis for agricultural landscape design, and also suggest new methods for integrated pest management.     

Connecting scales: Achieving in‐field pest control from areawide and landscape ecology studies

Areawide management has a long history of achieving solutions that target pests, however, there has been little focus on the areawide management of arthropod natural enemies. Landscape ecology studies that show a positive relationship between natural enemy abundance and habitat diversity demonstrate landscape‐dependent pest suppression, but have not yet clearly linked their findings to pest management or to the suite of pests associated with crops that require control. Instead the focus has often been on model systems of single pest species and their natural enemies. We suggest that management actions to capture pest control from natural enemies may be forth coming if: (i) the suite of response and predictor variables focus on pest complexes and specific management actions; (ii) the contribution of “the landscape” is identified by assessing the timing and numbers of natural enemies immigrating and emigrating to and from the target crop, as well as pests; and (iii) pest control thresholds aligned with crop development stages are the benchmark to measure impact of natural enemies on pests, in turn allowing for comparison between study regions, and generalizations. To achieve pest control we will need to incorporate what has been learned from an ecological understanding of model pest and natural enemy systems and integrate areawide landscape management with in‐field pest management.     

Prospects for improved off-crop habitat management for pollen beetle control in oilseed rape

There is an urgent need to develop sustainable and environmentally benign integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for arable crops. The enhancement and manipulation of naturally occurring populations of the natural enemies of crop pests through habitat management for ‘conservation biological control’, as well as habitat management to manipulate populations of the pests themselves, have the potential to become major components of successful IPM strategies. We review the studies that have contributed to our current understanding of how the crop margin, local landscape, and regional landscape can influence pollen beetle Brassicogethes aeneus (syn. Meligethes aeneus) (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) abundance and damage to oilseed rape crops (Brassica napus), and the efficacy of their natural enemies. We also discuss how habitat management across these multiple scales may improve pollen beetle control, reducing the need for insecticide use and contributing towards sustainable production of this important crop which is grown on increasing areas for both food and fuel.     

High effectiveness of tailored flower strips in reducing pests and crop plant damage

Providing key resources to animals may enhance both their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. We examined the performance of annual flower strips targeted at the promotion of natural pest control in winter wheat. Flower strips were experimentally sown along 10 winter wheat fields across a gradient of landscape complexity (i.e. proportion non-crop area within 750 m around focal fields) and compared with 15 fields with wheat control strips. We found strong reductions in cereal leaf beetle (CLB) density (larvae: 40%; adults of the second generation: 53%) and plant damage caused by CLB (61%) in fields with flower strips compared with control fields. Natural enemies of CLB were strongly increased in flower strips and in part also in adjacent wheat fields. Flower strip effects on natural enemies, pests and crop damage were largely independent of landscape complexity (8–75% non-crop area). Our study demonstrates a high effectiveness of annual flower strips in promoting pest control, reducing CLB pest levels below the economic threshold. Hence, the studied flower strip offers a viable alternative to insecticides. This highlights the high potential of tailored agri-environment schemes to contribute to ecological intensification and may encourage more farmers to adopt such schemes.     

Sustainable pest regulation in agricultural landscapes: a review on landscape composition, biodiversity and natural pest control

Agricultural intensification has resulted in a simplification of agricultural landscapes by the expansion of agricultural land, enlargement of field size and removal of non-crop habitat. These changes are considered to be an important cause of the rapid decline in farmland biodiversity, with the remaining biodiversity concentrated in field edges and non-crop habitats. The simplification of landscape composition and the decline of biodiversity may affect the functioning of natural pest control because non-crop habitats provide requisites for a broad spectrum of natural enemies, and the exchange of natural enemies between crop and non-crop habitats is likely to be diminished in landscapes dominated by arable cropland. In this review, we test the hypothesis that natural pest control is enhanced in complex patchy landscapes with a high proportion of non-crop habitats as compared to simple large-scale landscapes with little associated non-crop habitat. In 74% and 45% of the studies reviewed, respectively, natural enemy populations were higher and pest pressure lower in complex landscapes versus simple landscapes. Landscape-driven pest suppression may result in lower crop injury, although this has rarely been documented. Enhanced natural enemy activity was associated with herbaceous habitats in 80% of the cases (e.g. fallows, field margins), and somewhat less often with wooded habitats (71%) and landscape patchiness (70%). The similar contributions of these landscape factors suggest that all are equally important in enhancing natural enemy populations. We conclude that diversified landscapes hold most potential for the conservation of biodiversity and sustaining the pest control function.