An aggressive nonconsumptive effect mediates pest control and multipredator interactions in a coffee agroecosystem.

ABSTRACT: Natural pest control is an alternative to pesticide use in agriculture, and may help to curb insect declines and promote crop production. Nonconsumptive interactions in natural pest control that historically have received far less attention than consumptive interactions, may have distinct impacts on pest damage suppression and may also mediate positive multipredator interactions. Additionally, when nonconsumptive effects are driven by natural enemy aggression, variation in alternative resources for enemies may impact the strength of pest control. Here we study control of the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei, by a keystone arboreal ant species, Azteca sericeasur, which exhibits a nonconsumptive effect on CBB by throwing them off coffee plants. We conducted two experiments to in

SUBMITTER: Morris JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9788006 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature