Promoting Beneficial Arthropods in Urban Agroecosystems: Focus on Flowers, Maybe Not Native Plants

Abundance of Beneficial Arthropods on Woody Landscape Plants at Professionally-Managed Landscape Sites1

Eight 0.2–0.4 ha (0.5–1.0 A) sites managed by landscape professionals were monitored biweekly for beneficial arthropod activity. More than 30 generalist predator taxa were identified. Spiders and green lacewings were the most numerous taxa and both were found on all plant taxa sampled. Green lacewings, especially the egg stage, were the most numerous natural enemies detected on birch, crape myr...

Impacts of Alien Land Arthropods and Mollusks on Native Plants and Animals in Hawaii

Over 2,000 alien arthropod species and about 30 alien non-marine mollusks are established in the wild in Hawai'i, While the data are too meager to assess fully the impacts of any of these organisms on the native biota, the documentation suggests several areas of critical concern. Alien species feed directly on native plants or their products, thus competing with native herbivores and affecting ...

Arthropods on Pine Foliage in Urban Landscapes

Biocontrol Arthropods: New Denizens of Canada’s Grassland Agroecosystems

Canada’s grassland ecosystems have undergone major changes since the arrival of European agriculture, ranging from near-complete replacement of native biodiversity with annual crops to the effects of overgrazing by cattle on remnant native grasslands. The majority of the “agroecosystems” that have replaced the historical native grasslands now encompass completely new associations of plants and ...

Effects of invasive plants on arthropods.

Non-native plants have invaded nearly all ecosystems and represent a major component of global ecological change. Plant invasions frequently change the composition and structure of vegetation communities, which can alter animal communities and ecosystem processes. We reviewed 87 articles published in the peer-reviewed literature to evaluate responses of arthropod communities and functional grou...