Maize-bean intercropping mediates reduction in arthropod intraguild predation better than low-intensity farming-Stable isotope evidence.

ABSTRACT: Crop-field structural management for boosting arthropod pest bio-control is increasingly recognized as an environmentally sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides. However, how natural pest regulation outcomes may be undermined by intraguild predation among pest natural enemies is seldom investigated in cereal crops-fields. Here we use δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analyses to assess intraguild predation amongst five arthropod taxa, comparing this to their consumption of three pest taxa, and test how such patterns relate to farming system (low-intensity/conventional) or cropping method (monoculture/intercropping) across 15 small non-transgenic maize fields. Overall, consumption of pests exceeded intraguild predation, especially Lepidoptera contribution to wasp, predatory beetle and pr

SUBMITTER: Otieno NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12364319 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature