Biodiversity

focus on function

Felix Wckers Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

Biodiversity
fbIOocBIBus on function

Felix Wckers Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

Biodiversity

Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel: Agriculture and nature conservation must find ways to work together hand-in-hand."

Agriculture

and the

Environment

Loss of Biodiversity
On the landscape level: Larger fields Loss of non-crop elements On the field level: Fewer crop varieties Increased use of agrochemicals

Agri Environment Schemes

All species 120 Woodland species Farmland species

Index (1970=100)

110 100 90 80 70 60 50

70

73

76

79

82

85

88

91

94

97 19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

Source: RSPB, BTO, DEFRA

20

00

Wheat price

Increasing commodity prices put agri-environment schemes under pressure as the economic return (subsidies) for uncropped land is outweighted by crop value. Guardian, Wednesday May 7 2008:

The 500,000 hectares of set-aside land and other uncropped land in England has dropped to an estimated 250,000 hectares this year. As a result many plants and animals are at risk.

Functional Biodiversity
Agriculture
and the

Environment

Functional Biodiversity
Biodiversity on the scale of agricultural fields or landscapes, which sustains agricultural production and other ecosystem services.

biological pest control pollination water use efficiency erosion control nutrient cycling

How to optimize services?

Traditional paradigm: Enhance diversity (diversity = services)
Altieri, M.A. 1994 Biodiversity and Pest Management in Agroecosystems. Haworth Press, Inc., NY.

Biodiversity in agroecosystems performs a variety of ecological services, including regulation of insect pests, pathogens and weeds.

Pimentel, D. (1961) Diversity-Stability hypothesis: The stability of a community increases with increasing biological diversity

Blackbox

Biodiversity

Ecosystem Services

Does it work?

Does it work?
Andow D.A. (Ann. Rev. Entomol. 36: 561-586)
Vegetational diversity and arthropod population response

Effects variable and unpredictable

52% of published studies on agroecosystem diversification report reduced pest populations 33% had no effect or variable effects 15% resulted in increased pest populations.

Biodiversity

Ecosystem Services

How to optimize services?

Traditional paradigm: Enhance diversity Functional biodiversity: Selectively enhance diversity Different organisms have different requirements - Identify resource requirement of target organisms providing ecosystem services - Identify resource bottlenecks in the agro-ecosystem - Change the agro-ecosystem to alleviate these constraints

Bottleneck: Lack of nectar and pollen in many cropping systems

Consumer benefits The impact of nectar sources on biocontrol efficacy

30

average number parasitized caterpillars

Control 1 (N=6)
25

Control 2 (N=5) Nectar 1 (N=6)

20

Nectar 2 (N=6)

15

10

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

age wasp [days]

Winkler et al., (2006)

Biological control agents depending on nectar/pollen feeding.

Type Plantfeeding stage adult Arthropod examples can be found within: Type of plant food utilised nectar, pollen nectar, pollen nectar nectar nectar nectar nectar, fruit nectar nectar, pollen plant-juice

Life-history omnivory

Neuroptera: Diptera:

Hymenoptera:

Coleoptera: juvenile Heteroptera:

Chrysopidae (green lacewings) Syrphidae (hoverflies) Cecidomyiidae (gall midges) Tachinidea (parasitoid flies) Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, a.o. (parasitoid wasps) Vespidae (social wasps) Formicidae (ants) Meloidae (blister beetles) Pentatomidae (predatory bugs)

Temporal omnivory

adult

Hymenoptera: Coleoptera:

Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, a.o. (host feeding parasitoids) Cicindelidae (tiger beetles) Araneidae (orb web spiders)

nectar seeds pollen

juvenile

Araneae:

Permanent omnivory

adult & juvenile

Acari:Mesostigmat Heteroptera:

Neuroptera: Thysanoptera: Coleoptera:

Phytoseiidae (predatory mites) Pentatomidae (predatory bugs) Miridae (mirid bugs) Geocorinae (big-eyed bugs) Anthocoridae (flower bugs) Chrysopa, Hemerobiidae (brown lacewings) Aeolothripidae, Phlaeothripidae Coccinellidae (ladybirds) Carabidae (ground beetles)

nectar pollen plant juice plant juice plant juice pollen nectar, pollen leaves, pollen nectar pollen seeds

Do diverse bird conservation margins benefit biological pest control?

Meteorus autographae

Parasitoid feeding at a vetch nectary

overall sugar levels in Meteorus autographae

ug/wesp

40

Conclusions
High diversity field margins for bobwhite quail conservation failed to provide food to a biological control agent and did not enhance biological pest control in the adjacent crop. Parasitoids did clearly benefit from pure stands of cahaba white vetch.

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 control bobwhite cahaba vetch

Impact on Biocontrol is a function of flower suitability, rather than diversity.

Parasitoid feeding at a vetch nectary

Not all flowering plants provide suitable food for all insects Accessible nectar Inaccessible nectar

Attractive

Aegopodium podagraria

Vicia sativa

Leucanthemum vulgare

Galium mollugo

Select to optimize BC benefits

Non-attractive

Daucus carota

Trifolium pratense

Medicago lupulina

Trifolium repens

Origanum vulgare

Erigeron annuus

Achillea millefolium

Potential pitfall: Its not only predators out there!

Enhancing biological control

Without supporting pests?

survival (days)

10

12

14

16

18

20

on tro l( w at er )

C en ta ur ea ja ca e

O rig an um vu lg ar e

O rn ith op us sa tiv us

M ed ic ag o Tr ifo liu m C en ta ur ea cy an us pr at en s e sp .

D au cu s ca ro ta

An et hu m Fa go py ru m es c gr av eo le ns ul en tu m

Pieris rapae

Pest

Cotesia glomerata

Biological control agent

Karin Winkler

Summary

Study individual plant species with regard to the resources they provide Focus on benefits to biological control agents and/or pollinators while also considering insect pests, pathogens and weed pressure Based on these studies generate (crop-) specific seed mixtures

Functional agro-biodiversity (FAB).

Large scale biodiversity project in the Hoekse Waard. Addition of annual and perennial field margins to existing landscape features (polders, dikes, creeks, canal borders).

Perennial field margins with combined agronomical and ecological benefits for vegetable rotation schemes

Thanks