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  • Ramsden_et_al_2016_AFE_accepted

    Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ramsden, M., Menendez, R., Leather, S. and Wäckers, F. (2017), Do natural enemies really make a difference? Field scale impacts of parasitoid wasps and hoverfly larvae on cereal aphid populations. Agr Forest Entomol, 19: 139–145. doi:10.1111/afe.12191 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/afe.12191/abstract This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

    Accepted author manuscript, 581 KB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Do natural enemies really make a difference?: field scale impacts of parasitoid wasps and hoverfly larvae on cereal aphid populations

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>05/2017
<mark>Journal</mark>Agricultural and Forest Entomology
Issue number2
Volume19
Number of pages7
Pages (from-to)139-145
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date27/09/16
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

1. Naturally occurring predators and parasitoids are known to reduce the abundance of pest invertebrates in arable crops, yet current treatment thresholds do not account for this contribution to pest management.
2. Here, we provide evidence for the presence of natural enemies correlating with a subsequent reduction in pest population growth.
3. The abundance of cereal aphid pests and two key aphidophagous natural enemies, parasitoid wasps (Aphidiinae) and hoverfly larvae (Syrphinae) were assessed at field boundaries and interiors in southeast England.
4. The highest rate of aphid population growth was associated with locations where no natural enemies were found. The presence of either Aphidiinae wasps or predatory Syrphinae larvae was associated with a reduction in the rate of aphid population growth irrespective of location within the field, and overall aphid population growth was negatively correlated with increasing natural enemy abundance.
5. This work indicates that natural enemies contribute significantly to pest control, and provides further evidence in support of using management strategies to promote their occurrence in agro-ecosystems.
6. Aphid predators and parasitoids make an important contribution to aphid pest control within cereal fields, and thresholds for insecticide application should account for this to avoid unnecessary treatments.

Bibliographic note

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ramsden, M., Menendez, R., Leather, S. and Wäckers, F. (2017), Do natural enemies really make a difference? Field scale impacts of parasitoid wasps and hoverfly larvae on cereal aphid populations. Agr Forest Entomol, 19: 139–145. doi:10.1111/afe.12191 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/afe.12191/abstract This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

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