Comparing Insect Predation by Birds and Insects in an Apple Orchard and Neighboring Unmanaged Habitat: Implications for Ecosystem Services.

ABSTRACT: Preserving ecosystem services, such as natural enemies that can provide pest control, can positively impact crops without compromising agricultural yield. Even though controlling pests by natural enemies has been suggested to reduce pests in agriculture, growers continue using conventional pesticides that kill beneficial predators. Here we studied whether the predation of avian and insect-beneficial predators varies in an apple orchard with conventional insecticide use compared to a bordering tree stand without insecticides. We studied the predation rates of mealworm pupae as a proxy to coddling moth pupae at 42 stations in both an apple orchard and a Eucalyptus stand at three distances (0 m, 50 m, and 100 m) from the border. Half of the stations were netted to prevent bird predation but w

SUBMITTER: Nagari M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10252115 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature