Management intensity affects insect pests and natural pest control on Arabica coffee in its native range

Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och botanik Stockholms universitet, Bolincentret för klimatforskning (tills m KTH & SMHI) Department of Horticulture & Plant Sciences, Ethiopia 2023

1. Agroforestry systems provide opportunities to reduce the trade -off between agricultural production and biodiversity, for example by enhancing a diverse community of species potentially acting as natural pest control agents. While management of agroforestry systems is intensifying across the globe, we lack insights into the impact of management intensity on pest levels and natural pest control, especially along broad management gradients and as compared with nat- ural forests. 2. We assessed the impact of management intensity on major insect pests (the coffee blotch miner, the serpentine leaf miner, the coffee leaf skeletonizer and damage by other free-feeding herbivores) and natural pest control by parasitoid wasps across sixty sites in the centre of origin of Arabica coffee in southwestern Ethiopia. Within this region, coffee is growing along a broad management gradi- ent ranging from little or no management in the natural forest to intensively man- aged commercial plantations. 3. In the wet season, pest levels were largely similar in the natural forest, semi-forest and semi-plantation systems, whereas pests reached outbreak densities in the most intensively managed plantation system. In contrast, management intensity did not significantly affect pest levels in the dry season. The insect pests differed in their seasonal dynamics, consistently declined with elevation and were largely unaffected by shade levels. Parasitism rate of the coffee blotch miner was lower, and the parasitoid community was distinct, in the most intensively managed plan- tation system. 4. Synthesis and applications : Our findings support the hypothesis that the weaker top -down control by parasitoids in the intensively managed plantation sites leads to higher pest levels, and that - at least for some pest species - there is a threshold in the effect of management intensity on pest levels and natural pest control. It is important to consider such non-linear relationships to maintain or enha

agroforestry; elevation; Ethiopia; insect pests; management intensity; natural biocontrol; natural pest control; parasitism; Ecology; Ekologi; Agricultural Science; Jordbruksvetenskap; Article in journal; info:eu-repo/semantics/article; text

10.1111.1365-2664.14410

Open access content. Open access content
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess

English

UPE oai:DiVA.org:su-217021
0000-0002-6020-916x
0000-0002-4658-7850
0000-0002-1215-2648
0000-0002-3550-1070
doi:10.1111/1365-2664.14410
ISI:000968773300001
Scopus 2-s2.0-85152690087
1400004873

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