Bradley J. Cardinale*, Chad T. Harvey, Kevin Gross and Anthony R. Ives Department of Zoology, University of WisconsinMadison, Madison, WI 53706, USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] *Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected] Abstract The suppression of agricultural pests has often been proposed as an important service of natural enemy diversity, but few experiments have test...

Many theoretical and empirical studies have shown that species diversity in a trophic level can impact the capture of limited resources in ways that cascade up or down a food web. Only recently, however, have ecologists begun to consider how diversity at multiple trophic levels might act in concert to have opposing or reinforcing effects on resource use. Here, we report the results of an empiri...

Biodiversity relevant to pest management of tropical irrigated rice pests is discussed in terms of variation within rice plants, rice fields, groups of rice fields and rice associated ecosystems. It is concluded that, in the unique cropping conditions and stable water supply of tropical irrigated rice, the manipulation of a relatively few manageable components of diversity can confer stability ...

The soybean aphid Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is an invasive economic pest of soybean (Glycine max[L.] Merrill) in the United States. Research has shown the endemic natural enemy community in the United States is capable of suppressing A. glycines below EILs, but this biological control is inconsistent, especially in simple agricultural landscapes. In the course of a 3-yr pr...

The common pistachio psylla, Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer (Hem.: Aphalaridae), is one of the most important pests of pistachio orchards in Iran. Green lacewing, Chrysoperlacarnea, as a general predator found abundantly in Iranian pistachio gardens, loses its performance under the impression of pesticides spraying. Nowadays, considering environmental pollutions,...

The present study aimed to determine the selectivity of the pyrethroid lambdacyhalothrin on arthropod natural enemy populations in irrigated rice fields in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The study was conducted at three sites: districts of Cachoeira do Sul, Eldorado do Sul and Capivari do Sul during the crop years of 2007/2008 and 2008/ 2009. Each site consisted of two subareas divided into four pl...

Dana M. Blumenthal* Rangeland Resources Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service, 1701 Center Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA *Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Understanding why some exotic species become invasive is essential to controlling their populations. This review discusses the possibility that two mechanisms of invasion, release from natural en...

BACKGROUND When organisms are attacked by multiple natural enemies, the evolution of a resistance mechanism to one natural enemy will be influenced by the degree of cross-resistance to another natural enemy. Cross-resistance can be positive, when a resistance mechanism against one natural enemy also offers resistance to another; or negative, in the form of a trade-off, when an increase in resis...

1 Arthropod natural enemies provide valuable pest suppression in agricultural landscapes. Natural enemy abundance and diversity within a given crop, in turn, have frequently been shown to be positively related to the amount of semi-natural habitat in the landscape. However, other aspects of landscape structure may also influence natural enemy communities and may be more amenable to management. ...

The attraction of natural enemies towards herbivore-induced plant volatiles is a well-documented phenomenon. However, the majority of published studies are carried under optimal water and nutrient regimes and with just one herbivore. But what happens when additional levels of ecological complexity are added? Does the presence of a second herbivore, microorganisms, and abiotic stress interfere w...