Eugène Maurey, Ronan Marrec, Théo Brusse, Gaëtane Le Provost, Vincent Le Roux, Benjamin Bergerot, Gaël Caro
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Promoting pest control provided by soil arthropod communities can enhance sustainable agricultural production. Despite years of research aimed at predicting the pest control potential of these communities, few studies have described natural enemy communities composed of multiple taxonomic orders through a functional lens and identified traits involved in predator–prey interactions. Arthropod predator communities consist of individuals from several taxonomic orders exhibiting significant physical and behavioral differences that likely contribute differently to pest control. These inter-order differences justify the adoption of a functional approach, rather than a taxonomic one, to describe predator communities. However, there is no generalized functional trait identified to describe arthropod predator communities and predict the pest control potential by these communities. To address this knowledge gap, we reviewed 194 relationships from the literature, examining various traits and feeding characteristics for different groups of ground-dwelling arthropod predators (spiders, Coleoptera, and Chilopoda). We tried to determine whether a functional trait can be identified to explain the pest control potential across a multi-taxonomic assemblage. Each relationship was described in terms of the trait, the feeding characteristic, and the direction of the relationship in quantitative studies. Across all taxonomic groups, we consistently observed a positive relationship between predator body size and prey body size. This relationship was the most tested and the most shared among orders. Consequently, this study provides a proxy trait (body size) that can be used to predict a potential of predation and therefore inform on the pest control provided by multi-taxonomic assemblages of predators.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Pest Science publishes high-quality papers on all aspects of pest science in agriculture, horticulture (including viticulture), forestry, urban pests, and stored products research, including health and safety issues.
Journal of Pest Science reports on advances in control of pests and animal vectors of diseases, the biology, ethology and ecology of pests and their antagonists, and the use of other beneficial organisms in pest control. The journal covers all noxious or damaging groups of animals, including arthropods, nematodes, molluscs, and vertebrates.
Journal of Pest Science devotes special attention to emerging and innovative pest control strategies, including the side effects of such approaches on non-target organisms, for example natural enemies and pollinators, and the implementation of these strategies in integrated pest management.
Journal of Pest Science also publishes papers on the management of agro- and forest ecosystems where this is relevant to pest control. Papers on important methodological developments relevant for pest control will be considered as well.