Broad spectrum pesticide application alters natural enemy communities and may facilitate secondary pest outbreaks.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pesticide application is the dominant control method for arthropod pests in broad-acre arable systems. In Australia, organophosphate pesticides are often applied either prophylactically, or reactively, including at higher concentrations, to control crop establishment pests such as false wireworms and earth mite species. Organophosphates are reported to be disruptive to beneficial species, such as natural enemies, but this has not been widely assessed in Australian systems. Neither has the risk that secondary outbreaks may occur if the natural enemy community composition or function is altered.

Methods

We examine the abundance of ground-dwelling invertebrate communities in an arable field over successive seasons under rotation; barley, two years of wheat, then cano

SUBMITTER: Hill MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5740959 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature