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Stimulating natural pest regulation through the diversification of cropping systems at the landscape scale SOLUTION

2014-2016 Coordinator: UMR SAVE (Adrien Rusch) BAGAP Contact: Stéphanie Aviron BAGAP Research Theme: Biodiversity and biological regulation Project Website  Keywords: natural enemies, pest control, organic farming, landscape diversification, semi-natural habitats, vineyards, crop-livestock systems

Research

Context and issues

Management strategies based on "land-sharing" put the focus on the promotion of friendly environmental farming practices (e.g. organic farming) to conciliate biodiversity conservation and agricultural productivity. However, little is known about the effectiveness of strategies based on the diversification of farming systems (including organic and conventional systems) at the landscape scale, to promote the biodiversity involved in biological control of crop pests.

Objectives and expected results

The objective of the SOLUTION project is to assess the relative effects on natural control of crop pests of farming system diversification (organic and conventional) at the landscape scale and of semi-natural elements in agricultural landscapes. The expected results are :

• to fill knowledge gaps on the ecological processes that determine levels and variability of pest control services in agricultural landscapes
• to produce technical knowledge and tools that sustain the development of innovative design strategies of agricultural landscapes and the optimization of pest control services.

Methodology

We address these issues in two regions in France, characterized by contrasted production systems: wine production in Bordeaux, and mixed crop-livestock production in Brittany. Landscape agroecology, molecular biology and modeling are combined to study and model communities of natural enemies (such as spiders, predatory beetles, parasitoids) and their interactions with crop pests.

Productions

Scientific Papers

Aviron S., Monteiro A., Baudry J., Djoudi EA., Pétillon J., Plantegenest M., Puech C. (2017) Effects of organic farming at different spatial scales on natural enemies of crop pests and pest predation levels. IOBC-WPRS Bulletin 122: 74-78.

Conferences

Aviron S., Plantegenest M., Alignier, A. (2017) Relationships between diversity of natural enemy communities and pest predation levels in different farming and landscape contexts in hedgerow network landscapes. 5th International Symposium on Biological Control of Arthropods (ISBCA), Langkawi, Malaysia, September 11-15, 2017.

Aviron S., Plantegenest M., Alignier, A. (2017) Relationships between diversity of carabid communities and pest predation levels in different farming and landscape contexts in hedgerow network landscapes. 18th European Carabidologist Meeting, Rennes, September 23-25, 2017.

Aviron S., Monteiro A., Baudry J., Djoudi A., Pétillon J., Plantegenest M., Poggi S., Puech C. (2016) Landscape heterogeneity related to organic and conventional farming systems: Effects on natural enemies of crop pests and pest predation levels. International conference on ecological sciences (SFE), Marseille, France, October 24-27, 2016.

BAGAP Staff Involved

Stéphanie Aviron (landscape agroecology)
Alexandre Joannon (agronomy)
Jean-Luc Roger (biological surveys)
Gérard Savary (agronomical surveys)

Partners

Coordination: UMR SAVE (Santé et Agroécologie du Vignoble) : Adrien Rusch

UMR IGEPP (Institute de Génétique, environnement et protection des plantes) : Manuel Plantegenest, Sylvain Poggi 
E.A. Biodiversité et Gestion des Territoires : Julien Pétillon

Funding and Support

ECOPHYTO program of the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food in partnership with the FRB (Fundation for Research on Biodiversity)