Effect of flower identity and diversity on reducing aphid populations via natural enemy communities.

ABSTRACT: Floral plantings are often used in agriculture to attract pollinator communities, but they also play an important role in recruiting and establishing natural communities for natural pest control. Inconsistent effects of floral plantings for pest control may be a result of an absence of mechanistic insights and a reliance on the idea that simply increasing flower diversity will benefit these services. A more tailored set of flower species may be needed to benefit the natural enemies through provision of nectar and alternative prey. We used an outside pot experiment to investigate the effect of three flower plants (Fagopyrum esculentum, Vicia faba, and Trifolium pratense) on reducing aphid pests on four different plant cultivars of barley (Hordeum vulgare), over t

SUBMITTER: Zytynska SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8717347 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature