Species diversity and food web structure jointly shape natural biological control in agricultural landscapes

• Published in: Communications biology Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 979 - 11
• Main Authors: Yang, Fan, Liu, Bing, Zhu, Yulin, Wyckhuys, Kris A. G., van der Werf, Wopke, Lu, Yanhui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18.08.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/158/2456; 631/158/2458; 631/158/2463; Animals; Aphids; Biodiversity; Biological control; Biology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; China; Crops; Crops, Agricultural - growth & development; Ecosystems; Food Chain; Food chains; Food webs; Hyperparasitism; Land use; Landscape; Life Sciences; Parasitoids; Pest control; Pest Control, Biological - statistics & numerical data; Species diversity; China
• ISSN: 2399-3642; 2399-3642
• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02509-z

Land-use change and agricultural intensification concurrently impact natural enemy (e.g., parasitoid) communities and their associated ecosystem services (ESs), i.e., biological pest control. However, the extent to which (on-farm) parasitoid diversity and food webs mediate landscape-level influences on biological control remains poorly understood. Here, drawing upon a 3-year study of quantitative parasitoid-hyperparasitoid trophic networks from 25 different agro-landscapes, we assess the cascading effects of landscape composition, species diversity and trophic network structure on ecosystem functionality (i.e., parasitism, hyperparasitism). Path analysis further reveals cascaded effects leading to biological control of a resident crop pest, i.e., Aphis gossypii . Functionality is dictated by (hyper)parasitoid diversity, with its effects modulated by food web generality and vulnerability. Non-crop habitat cover directly benefits biological control, whereas secondary crop cover indirectly lowers hyperparasitism. Our work underscores a need to simultaneously account for on-farm biodiversity and trophic interactions when investigating ESs within dynamic agro-landscapes. Yang, Liu, Zhu et al. analyzed a dataset of 3-year parasitoid-hyperparasitoid trophic networks from 25 different agro-landscapes. Using path analysis, they uncover how species diversity and food web structure shape ecosystem functionality.