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Dissertation
Spatial diversification of agroecosystems towards biological control of insect pests : a focus on intercropping and wildflower strips
Authors: ---
Year: 2018 Publisher: Gembloux Université de Liège. Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech

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Dissertation
Spatial diversification of agroecosystems towards biological control of insect pests : a focus on intercropping and wildflower strips

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Abstract

Facing the limits of input-intensive agriculture, agroecology aims at thinking ways to design a sustainable agriculture that is economically viable and socially relevant. It notably invites to mobilize ecological processes within agroecosystems in order to enhance the delivery of ecosystem services towards reducing the use of external inputs - among others insecticides. For enhancing biological control of insect pests, a strategy is to spatially diversify agroecosystems at the field scale. Whereas increasing plant diversity could directly negatively affect pest development on the one hand (i.e. bottom-up effect), providing flowering features could allow the enhancement of natural enemies and their direct effect on pest populations on the other hand (i.e. top-down effect). The present thesis focused on intercropping (i.e. the cultivation of at least two crop species simultaneously in a same field) as a way to diversify crop habitat, and the sowing of wildflower strips as a non-crop feature. A systematic analysis of the literature revealed that, in most of studies, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-based intercropping allows a reduction of insect pests on crops, without necessarily favouring their natural enemies, compared to pure-stands. Besides, the provision of flowering resources, by for instance sowing wildflower strips, can attract and support flower visiting predators and parasitoids. Hence, in a first set of field experiments, combining the two tactics of increasing crop diversity and providing flowering resources was tested. First in China, wheat crop was associated with oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.), but it neither allowed reducing aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) abundance nor enhancing their natural enemies compared to pure stands. Instead, aphid density - independently from the treatments - affected natural enemy abundance, and interspecific relations between aphids and their natural enemies were observed. Second in Belgium, wildflower strips were sown within a wheat field, which led to a reduction of aphid density in wheat plots in between flowering features and an increase of aphidophagous hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) compared to pure-stand wheat. Nevertheless, the presence of flowering strips did not affect the other natural enemies, i.e. lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), ladybeetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Therefore, a second set of field experiments focussed on ways to compose mixtures of wild flowers attractive to a diversity of natural enemies. Flower functional traits were considered due to their effect on insect behaviour. First, the hypothesis that mixtures with high functional diversity attract and support a high abundance and diversity of aphid flower visiting predators was tested. This hypothesis was not verified. Instead, the high density in the plots of some flower species (especially the Asteraceae Leucanthemum vulgare Lam.) known to be attractive to flower visitors was supposed to have overwhelmed the effect of functional diversity. Second, a methodology was developed to identify which flower traits significantly affect natural enemy abundance - in this experiment parasitoids of oilseed rape beetle pests (i.e. Meligethes spp. [Coleoptera: Nitidulidae] and Ceutorhynchus spp. [Coleoptera: Curculionidae]) - in flower mixtures. Among seven traits, visual traits (i.e. colour, ultra-violet reflectance) and the one related to food availability (i.e. corolla morphology) were found to significantly affect parasitoid abundance. These results highlight that (i) increasing plant diversity at the field scale can - but not systematically - favour a reduction of insect pests, (ii) including flowering features can enhance some - but not all - of their natural enemies, and (iii) in order to compose flower mixes attractive to natural enemies, specific flower traits - rather than functional diversity at the mixture level - can be considered. These results are discussed in a broader perspective. Indeed, strategies to spatially diversify crop and non-crop habitats in agroecosystems are various, as well as the ways to compose, manage and design such habitats. Also, processes at larger scales than the field may be determinant. Moreover, insects are not the only pests, and pests are not the only biotic or abiotic elements that need to be regulated in agroecosystems. Controlling multiple pests simultaneously but also enhancing the provision of multiple regulating services represent challenges for future research in agriculture.

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Dissertation
Des bandes fleuries pour la lutte biologique : étude du comportement du syrphe face à des stimuli visuels et de l'effet de trois mélanges fleuris sur les pucerons et leurs ennemis naturels
Authors: --- --- --- --- --- et al.
Year: 2017 Publisher: Liège Université de Liège (ULiège)

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Actuellement, les dispositifs de bandes fleuries sont subventionnés par la politique agricole commune (PAC) principalement pour leur soutien à la biodiversité et pour la préservation des paysages agricoles. Mais ces dispositifs pourraient également favoriser le contrôle biologique des ravageurs par le soutien du développement de leurs ennemis naturels. Afin d’optimiser les mélanges fleuris, il est essentiel de connaître les traits floraux bénéfiques aux ennemis naturels. Dans un premier temps, le comportement de recherche de nourriture du syrphe Episyrphus balteatus (Diptera : Syrphidae) a été étudié après conditionnement sur du jaune, du rouge ou du vert (i.e. toujours trouver la nourriture sur une même couleur) afin de savoir si le comportement de ce dernier pouvait être modifié suite à des expériences positives de recherche de nourriture. Dans cette étude, hormis les syrphes conditionnés pour la couleur rouge qui ont été significativement plus attirés par la couleur jaune, aucune attirance pour l’une des couleurs testées n’a pu être démontrée suite au conditionnement. Dans un second temps, trois types de bandes fleuries ont été semés dans une parcelle de froment à Gembloux (Belgique). Les pucerons, criocères ainsi que leurs ennemis naturels ont été recensés (à l’aide de pièges jaunes, par observations directes dans le froment et par des transects dans les bandes fleuries) afin de tester l’attractivité d’un mélange de fleurs (annuelles, bisannuelles et pérennes), ainsi que de deux espèces florales avec des potentiels débouchés économiques, Dimorphotheca pluvialis (L.) et Camelina sativa (L.). C’est dans le froment à proximité des bandes constituées du mélange que les pucerons ont été significativement les moins abondants. Les ennemis naturels les plus abondants ont été les coccinelles, suivies des chrysopes puis des syrphes et enfin les parasitoïdes. Les différents mélanges ont attiré les ennemis naturels de la même manière tant dans les bandes que dans le froment, sauf pour les coccinelles qui ont été plus abondantes dans les pièges situés dans le mélange. Cette étude renforce l’hypothèse selon laquelle, les bandes fleuries pourraient également soutenir la lutte biologique et donc potentiellement réduire la dépendance des agriculteurs aux insecticides.

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