Interactive effects of pests increase seed yield.

نویسندگان

  • Vesna Gagic
  • Laura Ga Riggi
  • Barbara Ekbom
  • Gerard Malsher
  • Adrien Rusch
  • Riccardo Bommarco
چکیده

Loss in seed yield and therefore decrease in plant fitness due to simultaneous attacks by multiple herbivores is not necessarily additive, as demonstrated in evolutionary studies on wild plants. However, it is not clear how this transfers to crop plants that grow in very different conditions compared to wild plants. Nevertheless, loss in crop seed yield caused by any single pest is most often studied in isolation although crop plants are attacked by many pests that can cause substantial yield losses. This is especially important for crops able to compensate and even overcompensate for the damage. We investigated the interactive impacts on crop yield of four insect pests attacking different plant parts at different times during the cropping season. In 15 oilseed rape fields in Sweden, we estimated the damage caused by seed and stem weevils, pollen beetles, and pod midges. Pest pressure varied drastically among fields with very low correlation among pests, allowing us to explore interactive impacts on yield from attacks by multiple species. The plant damage caused by each pest species individually had, as expected, either no, or a negative impact on seed yield and the strongest negative effect was caused by pollen beetles. However, seed yield increased when plant damage caused by both seed and stem weevils was high, presumably due to the joint plant compensatory reaction to insect attack leading to overcompensation. Hence, attacks by several pests can change the impact on yield of individual pest species. Economic thresholds based on single species, on which pest management decisions currently rely, may therefore result in economically suboptimal choices being made and unnecessary excessive use of insecticides.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Influence of hydrogel polymer and NO3-: NH4+ ratios on dill (Anethum graveolens L.) seed essential oil composition and yield

     To evaluate the effects of hydrogel polymer levels (0, 10, 20, 30 g m-2) and NO3:NH4 ratios (0: 100, 25: 75, 50: 50, 75: 25, and 100: 0) on dill seed yield and its essential oil constituents, an experiment was conducted in October 2012 in the experimental field of Islamic Azad University, Jiroft, Iran. Results showed that using 30 g m-2 hydrogel polymer with 75NO3-: 25 NH4+ ratio produced ...

متن کامل

بررسی اثر تنش خشکی بر جمعیت و خسارت مگس گلرنگ ( Acanthiophilus helianthi )، شته گلرنگ ( Uroleucon carthami ) و زنجرک Empoasca decipiens

Safflower having oil with high unsaturated fatty acids is a very valuable plant. However the sensitivity of safflower to some pests as safflower fly (Acanthiophilus helianthi), particularly in drought stress conditions has limited its production. In order to evaluate the effect of drought stress on population density and damage of important safflower pests, especially safflower fly, an experime...

متن کامل

Effects of Nitrogen and Pre-Harvest Desiccation on Seed Yield and Oil Quality of Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis L.)

Disadvantages such as indeterminate inflorescence and high seed shattering during ripening are significant restrictions to introduce evening primrose as a commercial medicinal plant. Following to the last works, a pot experiment was conducted to clarify the influence of defoliation before harvest on the seed yield, oil and GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) percentage of evening primrose growing under ...

متن کامل

بررسی اثر تنش خشکی بر جمعیت و خسارت مگس گلرنگ ( Acanthiophilus helianthi )، شته گلرنگ ( Uroleucon carthami ) و زنجرک Empoasca decipiens

Safflower having oil with high unsaturated fatty acids is a very valuable plant. However the sensitivity of safflower to some pests as safflower fly (Acanthiophilus helianthi), particularly in drought stress conditions has limited its production. In order to evaluate the effect of drought stress on population density and damage of important safflower pests, especially safflower fly, an experime...

متن کامل

Evaluation of Different Levels of Nitrogen Fertilizer on Agronomic Traits of Corn (Zea mays L.) Genotypes

Corn production management including nitrogen consumption will be different at different circumstances. In order to investigate the effect of different levels of nitrogen fertilizer on yield and yield components of seed corn hybrids in Khuzestan weather conditions, this research was carried out in the summer of 2013 in the lands of Safi Abad Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center-Dez...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • Ecology and evolution

دوره 6 7  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2016